Installing and assembling a hose is more than just tightening the metal fittings. Hoses do not last forever, but observing a few tips before final installation can help maximise their service life.
Metal tubing has a much longer service life than a hose, but there's no doubt that is not flexible, which is required in many conditions. When flexibility underneath stress is needed, the hose is the very best choice. Hydraulic hose is designed to switch fluids while the hose itself is in motion.
When a hose is installed, the place of routing is basically a straight path, the size should be longer than the gap from port to port. When the hose is pressurized, the diameter will increase to include the force and the length will decrease. Based on the pressure, the size can decrease by up to four percent.
Therefore, if there is not enough slack, the hose connections will tighten causing a leak or worse... the hose can come loose from the connection causing catastrophic failure. Allowing enough slack is important, but too much slack could introduce new risks of hose abrasion or snagging on other nearby components.
Hydraulic hose is flexible but it should be noted that it has mechanical properties that limit its flexibility due to wire reinforcement. One such limitation is the minimum bend radius of the hose (how much the hose can bend before the wire reinforcement starts to bend from a smooth arc to a sharp corner).
Another important rule to follow when installing a flexible hose has to do with the area where the metal end meets the flexible hose. When you need the hose to bend immediately near the end fitting, the rule is to keep the hose straight for twice the outside diameter of the hose.
Although the hydraulic hose is flexible, it has mechanical properties that limit its flexibility just like the Metal Hose due to the steel wire reinforcement. There's one easy approach to decrease the mechanical stress is to stay away from twisting the hose. The continuous writing on the side of the hose is called the "lay line". When installing the hose, observe the lay line.
If it appears as a stripe on a candy cane, then the hose was kinked during installation. Loosen the ends and retighten it using two spanners or "double starters" (one to keep the hose from kinking and the other to tighten the connection).
At the same time, it should be noted that it is recommended to limit hose movement to a single plane. However, if your application requires hose movement to cross multiple planes, consult with the professionals for a customised option to suit your needs.
Planning for preventive maintenance can be a real-time saver. Take, for example, an installation where multiple flexibles are stacked on top of each other in a confined space. To reach the hose connections at the back, the ones at the front need to be removed first.
This could be avoided by using different combinations of hose ends and pipe fittings. There are short and long straights as well as short and long elbows that could make the job much easier. This is just a small example of how to follow the planning rules so that future maintenance can be done in a quicker way reducing downtime.