While careful and precise installation is pivotal to a leak-free system’s success, the product you select can make or break it — and that product usually doesn’t work on its own. Choosing a product with certain protective features or that works with specific accessories allows you to put together a leak-free system for pneumatic conveying, laboratory exhausting, machining, and more. With its clamp and gasket design, US Tubing offers an airtight seal for a flexible, safe, and leak-free solution.
So clamp together, spiral, and flanged ductwork don’t cut it — what next?
Many available ductwork systems seem comparable on paper, but in practice, they often don’t stand up to the demands of creating a truly leak-free environment. Clamp together ductwork is quick fitting and uses a gasket-style connection; however, the clamps fit a preset tension around the gasket — so they can only get so tight. Spiral ducting connections and flanged ducting with metal-on-metal connections are prone to leaking, especially at joints that are tap-screwed or spot-tacked (welded).
These ductwork styles are a suitable solution for industrial ventilation of dust and other dry particulate, but in applications with heavy, wet effluent, the effluent will find its way out.
Try US Tubing — an airtight and modular tubing system
US Tubing has a clamp-and-gasket joining system that creates The Ultimate Seal®. Each ductwork component has a Vanstone-flanged end, meaning the end is turned at a 90-degree angle to the pipe. Rather than embedding the gasket within the clamp or applying it to the face of the lip (as it is commonly done with rolled lip duct), it’s applied directly to the end of the flanged duct. Its v shape allows it to fit snugly around the end of the pipe as it fully encompasses the edge.
Seal...and clamp
With the gasket snug and secure around the end of the flanged duct, a high-strength, torque-tightened clamp is applied around the pieces. This force compresses the pipe and gasket together more strongly than securing the gasket with a pre-set tension, ensuring that the system is airtight and leak-free. For safety purposes, a latch on each handle helps to protect the fixture from any accidental release.
Sometimes, you just need some extra coverage
When it comes to wet, heavy, or oil mist applications, you can package US Tubing with a few items to ensure your system is strong and leak-free:
Accumulators
Solid streams of effluent are inevitable with high-speed systems, but they can be managed. Oil mist accumulators are designed to reduce the amount of fluid that enters the mist collection system, thus allowing them to function more efficiently. By reducing the amount of effluent flowing through the ductwork, accumulators allow collectors to better scrub the air and provide an extra level of protection against leaks.
Curbs
Oil mist curbs are another product used to manage excess, unwanted elements. Given that the flex hose is positioned at the ductwork connection point, it will always leak. Curbs are responsible for catching the unavoidable run-off mist from the flex hose and returning it back to the machine, rather than letting it fall to the floor and create a safety hazard.
Looking to upgrade a tired or leaky system? A Duct Guy would love to talk more about what products can help make your specific application truly leak-free.
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Got leaks?
Everyone does. But not everyone knows how to handle them.
With the right knowledge and tools, anyone can mitigate the risks associated with leaky ductwork. Our guide takes you through what to consider — from common causes to the most secure connections — for effectively managing leaks and maintaining safe, healthy work environments.