Field notes, sizing guides and component teardowns — written by engineers, for engineers.

Food-grade hose: the certificate matters as much as the hose

On food, beverage and potable duty the material is only half the requirement. What the regulations actually cover, and what an auditor will ask you for.

Steam hose: why the coupling matters more than the hose

Steam hose failures hurt people, and most of them happen at the ends rather than in the middle. What steam service demands, and why push-on couplings have no place on it.

Chemical transfer hose: how to read a compatibility chart properly

The liner decides everything. How compatibility charts work, why concentration and temperature change the answer, and what else has to be right before the hose is safe to use.

Excavator hose failure: which circuit went, and how to tell

Boom, arm, bucket, swing or travel — the symptom tells you which circuit failed before anything comes apart. How to read it, and how to identify the hose without the dealer part number.

Industrial hose is not hydraulic hose: selecting on the medium, not the pressure

Hydraulic hose is chosen on pressure. Industrial hose is chosen on what is going through it, at what temperature, and whether it has to suck as well as blow.

Hose routing: bend radius, twist and the failures they cause

Three installation faults account for a large share of premature hose failure, and all three are free to avoid at fitting time. What they look like and how to design them out.

Hydraulic hose inspection: what to look for, and what it means

A walk-round that takes ten minutes finds most of what is about to fail. What to look at, what each finding actually indicates, and where the judgement calls are.

Getting a hydraulic hose made: what to bring and what we measure

Bring the old hose if you have it. If you do not, four measurements and two photographs will get the assembly built correctly first time.

JIC vs ORFS vs NPT vs BSP: the four connector families, compared

Four families cover almost every hydraulic connection you will meet. What each one seals on, which are re-makeable, and which pairs will thread together and still fail.

Why hydraulic hoses fail: six modes, and what each one leaves behind

A failed hose usually tells you why it failed. Abrasion, kinking, heat, cold-set, wrong routing and fitting problems each leave a different signature — and each has a different fix.

BSPP vs BSPT: why a parallel thread needs a seal and a tapered one does not

They share a thread form and a size designation, and they do not seal the same way. How to tell them apart on the bench, and what happens when they are mixed.