EUROPEAN HOSE

W.E. Couplings Ltd have been established since 1991, specialising in the supply of bespoke hose and fittings.

W.E. Couplings manufacture and stock a wide range of industrial rubber and PVC hose in long lengths,

which can be assembled to your individual requirements.

storage tank floating roof drain rubber hose system flanged ballasted nitrile viton industrial articulated swivel pivotmaster pivot joint

swager swaging hose assembly fittings crimping large bore flange rubber industrial flanged hydraulic pneumatic roof drain system nitrile viton

European Hose Ltd is W.E. Couplings Ltd's sister company, that specialises in hose assembly and other manufacturing processes, working in unison with W.E. Couplings Ltd on many projects, from small scale like hydraulics and dosing hoses to the very large, such as floating suction and tank drain systems.

Draining rain water from an external floating roof is important to make sure the external floating roof will not build up too much water on top, which could even cause sinking of the roof in the worst cases. W.E.Couplings Ltd offer an economic solution by manufacturing rubber tank drain hoses specifically for this application, from a material compatible with the stored medium - i.e. Nitrile rubber or for more aggressive mediums a high quality Viton®. The major advantage of a hose is that it has a minimum number of connections, therefore eliminating much of the potential problems with other drain systems. As the drain hose is a complete system, including the connections, the lead ballast cable system is installed prior to dispatch. Each hose is individually hydrostatically tested prior to shipment, to ensure its performance. As a result of the flexible nature of the drain hose, it will even be able to deal with frozen rain water inside.

Applications:

Flexible hose assemblies for immersion inside storage tanks to drain rainwater from the floating roof. Specially compounded covers are used to resist immersion in high aromatic or corrosive liquids.

Lining:

Smooth bore, mandrel built, Nitrile (NBR) or Viton® (FKM) lined hose, depending on the type of hose specified or required

Reinforcement:

Textile cord reinforcement with a high tensile stainless alloy wire helix, to resist collapsing by external pressure when immersed

Pressure:

Although these hoses are rainwater drains experiencing low pressures when in use, the integrity of the hose assemblies is checked, after ballasting, by testing to 10 bar with water and vacuum testing to -0.85 bar. Full and detailed test and material certificates are supplied as a standard.

Covering:

Smooth wrapped finish in the following materials:

PVC/Nitrile Aromatic content up to 80%

Viton® Aromatic content up to 100%

(Tolerance to hazardous environments high in hydrocarbon content)

Lead ballast and branding:

Each hose assembly incorporates a permanently attached lead covered stainless steel cable to prevent the hose from floating in the stored product. A longitudinal white stripe is permanently branded on the cover of each hose to ensure correct alignment. All hoses are supplied electrically continuous. Clamps and chains for roof attachment are also supplied.

Flanges:

Generally mild steel nipples with fixed ASA150 R/F flanges are supplied. Other flanged drillings and material types are available, including swivel flanges. The ballast connection is a stainless steel threaded section permanently welded to the hose nipple. The ballast is secured with two threaded stainless steel nuts.

We also design and manufacture our own versions of the traditional articulated system, that incorporate greater lateral stability and fold flatter than other designs, to allow the roof to get lower and therefore potentially save many barrels of expensive fuel, or whatever fluid is being stored in the tank.

Swaging / Crimping

A large quantity of Euro-Hose's work involves swaging (or crimping) hose assemblies with a multitude of configurations. We primarily work with carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminium and brass variations of most of the major fitting categories: BSP, NPT, RJT, DIN, Triclover, Victaulic, Bauer, Camlock etc. in every size from 0.5" to 24". These larger sizes is where our two supermax swagers come into their own - considering a normal size swager is only able to crimp up to a few inches, this is a picture of our huge versions:

When manufacturing hose assemblies for industries like oil and fuel, a high safety factor is applied, to make sure that even under abnormal operation the fixtures and features do not fail. This means in some cases exceeding the standard working pressure by a multiple to show it can take anything that may happen to it in the field. We can also 'destructive test' example hoses and fittings to literally test them to breaking point - to get an indication of the ultimate limits of a setup.

Whereas the basic layflat consists of just PVC and nylon thread, as the hose spec increases its makeup and configuration becomes more complex; depending on the application required from it. High tensile steel braiding is added to provide superior stiffness and burst resistance when under pressure, and multiple layers of nylon and rubber or PTFE are put between these steel structures to prevent it rubbing and abrading itself during flexing. On applications that require a lot of flexibility, a steel helix is wound around the interior and exterior in an alternating pattern, allowing the hose wall to bend in a shorter radius than normal whilst maintaining an equivalent amount of layered protection. Because of the shorter bend radius it can be used in the 'Pivot Joint' style articulated drain systems, where it is encased in a hinge and attached between pipe arms that fold up as the roof lowers.

16" Triple band swaged material handling hose assembly

Floating roof storage tank

2D CAD & 3D Design to simulate articulated drain system working in tank

Animation of quadruple flexible hose drain system in a huge 110 Meter diameter storage tank

Articulated 4 swivel joint roof drain system

Articulated 4 swivel joint roof drain system, reinforced by supporting chain

Example of a three swivel articulated system

Quadruple flexible rubber drain hose system in a huge 110 Meter diameter tank

18" Flanged hosee tail inserted into hose ready for external band swaging

Our two 'supermax' swaging machines with custom made die sets - capable of swaging a 24" bore hose assembly.

WEFlat with quick release safety clamps under hydrostatic pressure test, and then a destructive pull test that pits the hose construction vs. the couplings. We have never lost yet.

A 3D Render of the reinforcement layers and components involved in a tank drain hose - with a red stripe denoting Viton® material

European Hose Ltd stocks a wide range of hose types to suit many applications; from super flexible layflat hose for water to super durable hard-walled suction & discharge hose for aggressive chemical mediums.