Extreme Rigs Soft Tube Test – Take 2 – Final Update

The Comparisons

In photos with both the tubes side by side:
Mayhems tubing will always be on the LHS
Advanced LRT tubing will always be on the RHS.

In photos of the rig, Mayhems tube has been fitted to the front loop.

Friday 5th February 2016 – Photos taken in preparation for Take 2 Tube test.

let’s start at the very beginning by look at the tubing as purchased.

Mayhems Ultra Clear Tubing (3/8 – 5/8) 10/16mm

From now on this will be referred to as Mayhems OR Mayhems Tube.
Despite my retailer advertising they sold the Mayhems Tube in bulk lengths, when I went into the store to purchase what was required, their stock of Mayhems tubing (all sizes) had inconveniently been pre-cut into 1 meter lengths. Luckily 1m was about perfect for the longest run on the rig. The price of just $5 AUD per meter was fantastic value and was less than half of what the Adv. LRT cost per meter.

PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Flexible Tubing – 3/8in.ID x 5/8in.OD – Retail (10ft pack) – Crystal Clear.
From now on referred to as Adv. LRT.
No surprises with the Adv. LRT 3 meter retail pack when I purchased this tube. Fancy retail packaging and SysPrep included bumped up the retail price to $32 AUD.

As purchased, here are the two products side by side:

Now let’s see some closer up side by side images.

The first and most obvious difference is the color difference between the two. As we saw in Test 1, Mayhems has a bluish tint and Adv. LRT has a subtle yellow tint.

Mayhems seems to have a thinner wall making the ID of the hose appear larger than the Adv. LRT. Given that both are meant to be the same size we’ll have to take some measurements.

Mayhems: 10mm ID x 16mm OD and a wall thickness of 3mm.
The measurements taken on the Mayhems tube were virtually a perfect match to the metric specs of 10mm x 16mm.
Whereas as true conversion of 3/8″ x 5/8″ to metric would be 9.5mm x 15.85mm.
Therefore I believe that Mayhems Tube is manufactured to metric specs.

Adv LRT:  9.15mm ID x 15.75mm OD and a wall thickness of 3.2mm.
If we convert those measurement to imperial we get 23/64″ x 5/8″ with a wall thickness of 1/8″.
With the ID measure being just 1/64″ short of 3/8″ I think it is fairly clear the Adv. LRT is manufactured to imperial specs.

So we do not see optical illusions, the two tube types do differ slightly in size. This difference should not prevent a problem fitting either tube on the barbs of our compression fittings. What could potentially be an issue is how far the locking collars screw down.
On a white background Adv. LRT does not have the yellow tinge it does on the black background.

One of the differences which can not be shown is the difference in stiffness between the two tubes. Mayhems is very soft and flexible while the Adv. LRT is hard and stiff in comparison.
After photographing, these samples were bagged up and stored in a safe place to be brought back out again for comparison photos with each update.



Saturday 6th February 2016

The rig gets it’s plumbing completed.

As noted yesterday when measuring the tube sizes, neither caused too much drama when fitting to the compression fittings. The Adv. LRT was slightly harder to push onto the barb, partly due to being a lot stiffer and partly I suppose due to the smaller ID.  Both locking collars screwed down sufficiently without running out of thread and are plenty tight enough.

The bluish tinge of Mayhems tube at the front is evident, while the Adv. LRT look ever so slightly grey.

The Adv. LRT looks to have the edge on clarity over the Mayhems.

Close up of the pump ports with fitting and tube. Unfortunately the tubing caught some nasty reflections.

Time to fill ‘er up.
Here the reference fluid has been placed with the tubes full.

A close up of both tubes after filling. It’s pretty hard to spot any difference at this stage. The blue tinge of the Mayhems (bottom tube) is perhaps making the fluid appear slightly darker than the fluid in the Adv. LRT

I doubt you would be able to pick the difference if both tubes were installed in a system. They appear very similar.

Sunday 7th February 2016:

The rig was moved to it’s operating location and powered up for the long haul. No leaks were detected on either loop and after topping up a couple of times after air bleeding from the loops the rig is again up and running.

Take 2 has begun, so now we wait and let time takes it course.

We’ll try to get updates out at least once per month, so keep an eye out for them, or even better, sign up to our Twitter feed to be advised when we have put out an update.

On behalf of the ER team,

fast_fate

Wednesday 9th March 2016:

Take 2 has been running for just over a month now, so it’s time for the first update.

In it’s working location I really haven’t noticed much change at all in the past 4 weeks. Both loops required topping up just once, with the Mayhems loop needing slightly more coolant than the Adv. LRT.
With only 4 weeks having past, I didn’t expect to see any major changes, but strange things sometimes happen so let’s take a look.

Prior to cutting out this month’s tube sections I took the rig up to the photo booth for a couple of pictures.

Quick reminder that the Mayhems loop is at the front and Adv. LRT at the back.

Maybe, the Adv. LRT on the right is starting to yellow off just a little bit, which if anything was what I expected to happen given what was seen in the Original Soft Tube Test.

After a partial drain of each loop (keeping coolant separate to go back into the same side) a small length of tube was cut from each type of tubing. Mayhems on the left, Adv. LRT on the right.

With no coolant running through the tubes, it is evident that each tube type is starting to stain from the dye. This was expected, or at least hoped for, so we could see make comparison between each tube type. This was the reason why pink/red dye has been used as it has the worst stainability.

Now, lets take a look at the Update 1 sections next to new pieces of tube.

Mayhems:
Adv. LRT:

and finally all sections side by side:

After the first month I think it’s fair to say that both tube types have absorbed dye and the Mayhems looks slightly darker due to its blue tint. Neither tube has discolored apart from the staining in any noticeable way and it is too early for any potential plasticizer issues to start wreaking havoc.

And that folks brings us to the end of the first update for our Take 2 Soft Tube Test.
We’ll do it all again about the same time next month, maybe with more to report on, so please check back, sign in and/or follow.