I am building a filtered water dispensing system out of 1/2" copper pipe, and I thought it would be interesting to use a beer faucet for dispenser. See
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However, I have not been able to figure out from web search the type and size of the male thread at the input end of the faucet. It looks like it may be meant to be pressed up against a rubber washer the way a garden hose screws into an utility faucet, only backwards.
Does anyone know what it is, or what usual plumbing part it would fit into? Thanks.
It looks like you guessed right, [garden hose]. I would take it to a hardware store and try to match the thread to be sure. Can't visualize how it will be supported but if you are determined to use this you should be able to pick up a brass piece [made to slip inside hose], have it machined to fit and silver solder it.
Are beer faucets rated for municipal water pressure? I would assume so, but it may behave a little differently than desired.
It _seems_ to be some sort of 3/4" fitting (by assuming it's compatible with the other hardware on that page), but the thread pitch in the image looks a bit too fine to be a male water hose fitting.
Short of phoning and asking, the OP's best bet is to buy one, and then go to an old fashioned hardware store and match the fitting. There'll _probably_ be something that fits. There's at least three possibilities (assuming standard threads - 3/4" hose, NPT or straight thread), and some of them may be a bit rare as "standard fittings".
I've done a fair amount of copper-to-hose thread connections. I always find it a PITA to find copper-to-hose thread adapters - even simple 1/2" copper- to-male, because _most_ water hoses connect to male threads on a faucet body. If you're not using a faucet you're into the "odd ball" zone. Half the time I have to make it up out of two fittings.
They do make 1/2" copper to _female_ hose thread fittings (which may be exactly what the OP needs), but they're quite a bit harder to find.
1/2" copper to NPT female will be easy. 1/2" copper to straight thread female, I dunno. Maybe in the air compressor section ;-) Or, you may start looking around the "utility sink faucet adapter for water hose" section.
I bottle all my beer now, so it's been a few years since I dealt with dispensers, but my recollection is that many of them are metric. As I recall, coming from the keg, there is a plastic tube going into a tailpiece that has a coupling on the tube side. The coupling fastens the tailpiece to the faucet or tap, I can't remember whether there was a washer involved or not, but I would guess yes.
Some complications you may run into are finding a way to match the water pressure to the capacities of the fixtures, and finding a way to mount the faucet if you don't have a stand. Mine was mounted through the wall of an old refrigerator. I think it might be a challenge to find a way to mount one to a sink, that having a horizontal surface.
Good luck with your project. I would call the supplier and expla> I am building a filtered water dispensing system out of 1/2" copper
I couldn't tell the pitch but I guessed that it was 3/4 hose.
Recently bought a brass male with serrated end to slip into hose. Cut off the serrated part and counter bored it to fit a garage faucet, then brazed it. Worked out fine.
Frank Retired machinist with too much time on his hands. :)
Heh. For a month or two every year, I have access to a HS machine shop. Could easily machine up my own fittings from the stockpile of brass I've accumulated from auctions - like all the fittings I've made for my shop-built air compressor (manifold, checkvalve etc).
But that's seldom convenient for a fitting I need right _now_. :-(
Someone else suggested it may be metric (going from a different unit on a different web site). If that were the case, you may have struck a real roadblock if you can't get one made. Or go thru several adapters. Or bodge something up yourself.
Machining brass is quite easy, and you could probably make your own fitting simply as a brass block with one threaded and one "slip" holes on opposite sides. The tap you'd need is reasonably easy to get and not too expensive, no matter what the thread is. Perhaps the hardest part is finding a drill/bit combination big enough to prebore the tap without spending a ridiculous amount of money. Finding the correctly sized (near 3/4") drill bit isn't too hard (but a bit pricy). Finding something to turn it is (if you don't have access to a drill press already with the appropriate chuck or taper) can be, um, unpleasant.
With the right equipment, it'd take you 20 minutes with about a dollar worth of material. Without the right equipment... Ugh.
How many "typical homeowners" (or even serious DIYers) have a metal lathe in their workshop? I wish I did, but I don't. I know two people with metal lathes. One homebuilt. Neither one of them can do threads - the other lathe has a broken gear in the threader feed.
Taper threads are a b**ch to do on a lathe. Heck, even cutting straight threads on a lathe is an acquired art that many non-professional metal bashers haven't particularly mastered.
The assumption was that:
1) He didn't have a lathe, otherwise, he wouldn't be asking, he'd be doing.
2) Getting a machine shop to make the adapter will cost more than the project is worth.
3) He might be willing to spend as much as $25. That'd probably be enough to acquire the tap, a suitable drill, and a chunk of brass. Given access to a drill press, he can do it.
I'm pretty good in a machine shop (tho, not a professional by any stretch), and take the same "evening metal working course" a couple of times every year just to get access to the equipment. There's a bunch of 5 or 6 of us been doing the same course over and over for years.
I've done a fair amount of thread cutting on a lathe, and am reasonably good at it. Using a tap or die is so much faster (especially in brass) than cutting on a lathe, it's simply not worth it. Thread cutting is usually most suitable for when you're doing something strange, like an unusual pitch or thread profile. Like rocket motor end closures in 6" aluminum pipe (yup, we do things like that ;-). Like knife threads in stainless steel for a shopmade screw chuck.
Faced with this job, I'd use a lathe to construct the outside profile and make it look "pretty", bore out the ends, and then stick a tap in the tailstock, and hand-rotate the chuck to do the threads.
For example, I made a check valve for my compressor in about 2 hours using this technique (lathe plus tap or die). If I'd had to do the four sets of threads on the lathe, it'd have taken 3-4 times as long. And I couldn't have done taper threads.
If I didn't have a lathe, I'd drill out a block on a drillpress, then stick the tap into the drillpress and again rotate the drill chuck by hand to do the threads.
Unless it was some wierd metric size. Okay, get out the thread cutting lathe toolbit.
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