Cheap, food-safe plumbing to an external tap

[Dusty Dave]

Hi gang,

I need to mount a tap on the exterior wall of my workshop, to water the veggie patch (regs permitting) and also to supply water to the home brewery. We are just renting so the job needs to be as cheap as possible.

I'm hoping I can just run some suitable hose from an existing tap on the wall of the house, along the fence and up over the workshop door. It would live there 'permanently' though so I'm concerned about UV damage, as well as potential leeching of plasticcy nasties into the brew in hot weather. There would probably be about 30 metres of it, all exposed to the elements.

Any suggestions for the type of hose I need, or suppliers in Melbourne?

[Claw Hama]

Dusty needs water, most new houses these days have some of the new poly products put through. Here is just one from the Plumbers Co Op web site.




Choose one of the following Iplex products below:

Iplex Pro-fit
The evolution of hot and cold water plumbing materials have been the result of demand for improvements in performance and ease of installation.

The plumbing industry has moved from lead to galvanised iron, then to copper. Iplex PRO-FIT Polybutylene is the move for the future.

One of the main advantages of the PRO-FIT system is its ability to absorb water hammer and flow noises.

An effective and secure jointing system is an integral feature of Iplex PRO-FIT, guaranteeing that the product is tamper proof and extremely quick to install.

Hope that helps loose the dust Dusty

[Master Splinter]

Food-safe grade PVC hose inside 19mm irrigation tube (irrigation tube is there to protect the PVC from UV) would be the cheapest I could think of.

Unless I needed flexibility, I'd just go for copper pipe.

[wonderplumb]

All your mainstream poly water pipes are not UV resistant and the code says it must be protected from such, you could use the "blue line" poly pipe, but dont you use purified water for brewing??

[scooter]

Would go the blue line stuff meself, the fittings are bulky though so stand out visually if that's a hassle?

[Dusty Dave]

Thanks everyone, looks like the 'blue line' poly might be the go, I had no idea there were so many variants of poly pipe these days! Looks like $70 or so should get me a 50m roll so that's pretty fair.

Not sure about the fittings but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I imagine I can just add a T-piece behind the existing tap and I'm sure something just as simple will get me into the new tap at the other end. Not too bothered about their appearance.

So far I haven't been filtering the brewing water, although I suspect the levels of chlorine in our supply have been steadily increasing over the last few years so a charcoal canister is on the list for the near future. I'd rather use the right hose though and be confident that I'm not adding any avoidable nasties.

Thanks again (and cheers!)
Dave