coil and water recirculation

[tacomaguy20]

I made a 1/4" double coil for a boka mini and am curious as what everyone uses for water recirculation. Specifically, which connections do you use for the 1/4" copper to hose. I've searched the threads but there are so many posts I can't find my exact answer. Also, I don't have a pump yet but it seems to me that the connection from the pump is either 1/2" or 3/4". If that is the case, which hose do you use from the pump to the coil and then which connections on the coil do you use to connect the hose? It's just confusing me because of the different sizes and not sure what to buy. Some posts say garden hose but how would you connect a garden hose to a 1/4" copper pipe? Also I notice that certain pumps come with adjustable gallon per hour flow. Do you keep in on the max when recirculating water or keep the flow slow?

[airhill]

Vinyl or silicone pipe will stretch over the 1/4 (vinyl lets you see water flowing and is cheaper). Then get a male to male upsizer ( for vinyl pipes)which will fit in a hosepipe. Connections to the pump will usually take retic fittings male thread to barb. You will need to tee off the hose and put a tap back to your water supply as this will allow you to adjust flow and not stress the pump.

The only time you will need head is on startup as once the water has gone through the coil and back to the water supply it is reducing head to almost zip by siphon action. Head is measured from the top of the water to the height you need to go not from where the pump is located.

[airhill]

Sorry one more thing when a pump quotes headmax figure ie 3m that means it stops at 3m so the headmax should be greater than your highest point when sourcing a pump ( unless you want to suck on the end of the hose )

[HookLine]

You should be able to get 1/4" to 1/2 or 3/4" copper fittings at the local air-con trade supplies store. Then you just take it straight into a normal 1/2 or 3/4 hose fitting.

[tacomaguy20]

thanks for the answers guys, I went to home depot today and got some supplies. Think I'll be good now