Drying hoses

[DaveB]

I have a couple sets of hoses for my filter press - one set of short hoses for working in my kitchen and another longer set for pumping drums outside of the kitchen. On the longer set, when I am done pumping syrup I rinse out the line and pump with hot water for a minute or two. I try to make sure that the hose is emptied but there is always a small amount of water drops in the line and because of the length, I can't really shake out the whole length.

The problem is that the next time I go to use the hose there is always a pocket of water sitting somewhere in the coil. When I start pumping, I need to throw out the first little bit because I don't want that "old" water mix in my canning unit.

So, what do other do with longer lengths of hose to make sure that they are dry between uses?

[WVKeith]

I have a half-dozen or so 20 ft long 1" and 3/4" diameter clear plastic hoses and a couple 40', 3/4' clear hoses for running sap, concentrate and permeate between pumps, tanks, RO and evaporator. As you did, I rinsed these all out, but figured any water sitting in them would go bad in time. I also have a 12 year-old son (part monkey). A few weeks ago, I sent him up a maple tree in the yard and we looped the hoses over a few branches so that they were totally suspended vertically. I figured at least they would drain very well, but I was not very confident they would dry way back in a thin hose. I left them in the tree for a week, or so, in the sun and wind (and rain on the outside), and I was pleasantly surprised that they all completely dried on the inside. I rolled them up and stored them for next season. Without a tree-climber in the family, you could probably use a rope thrown over the branches, or the rafters in a barn or such. If I understand correctly, old fire houses used to have a tower for drying their hoses.

[lpakiz]

I fastened a pulley 15'? up in a tree near the sugar house. When I unhook my 1 1/2 hose from a tote or the pump, I hook the open end to the rope and hoist it up. I have a fastener system at the base of the tree to quickly hook the rope to, to keep the hose suspended. The pulley could also be on the end of the building.
Right now, 2 hoses are suspended from their mid-point. Pretty sure they are dry inside.

[DaveB]

Thanks for the thoughts. I might looking into erecting a flag pole next to my packing house and figure out how I can run the hose up there so it can fully dry. I was thinking about something like they used to have at fire houses (maybe they still do) but wasn't sure if there was another way.

[markcasper]

When dairy farmers used to use stap-savers, there was a hot air "line dryer" to hook up to dry the milk hoses. I have one in my garage on the wall for a quick blast of air if needed. There was a timer on it, used to be an industry standard. Still a few around, but getting less all the time. If there was a Bender releaser, there was a line dryer too.

[lpakiz]

Thanks, Mark. I have 2 of thiose things. Never knew what they were or how they worked, only that someone once told me they were "line dryers" and that's as far as it went.
The nose cone makes a Jim-dandy, stainless steel funnel.