Heater Hose Gauge

[StevenGuthmiller]

Anybody have a definitive answer on what gauge wire would look best for heater hose?

I have some 18 gauge but it seems a bit too small.

16 gauge looks about right to me.

I've been using up a bunch of stuff I got from "Preston's Car Parts" but the black wire from them is a little too small & looks......like wire!

The older red hose that I have seems to be the right size & looks more like hose than wire......but it's red.

I wanted to order some wire for heater hoses, & I found some nice looking stuff on ebay, but I just want to be sure of the gauge.

 

Steve

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Definitive answer...as definitive as possible with the info we have. 

Heater hose on real cars is usually either 5/8" or 3/4" ID, so call the 3/4" ID stuff about 1" OD on average.

Divide 1 inch by 25 for 1/25 scale.

That's .040", or forty thousandths.

You need wire that's around .040" outside diameter, or OD to be scale-correct.

"Wire gauge" should technically refer to the diameter of the CONDUCTOR INSIDE THE INSULATION, not the outside diameter of the insulation.

"18 gauge" is listed as .040".

"16 gauge" is .051". multiply that by 25 to see that it would be 1.275" in reality, or about 1 and a quarter inch OD hose...kinda fat.

All of which is meaningless if we don't know if the "gauge" wire you have is being called by its conductor or by its OD.

This is why a cheap digital caliper is a really nice tool to have on your bench. Saves a lot of guessing and second-guessing.

For example, "16 gauge" wire, with a correctly-labeled 16 gauge CONDUCTOR, can have differing thicknesses of insulation...which will give different ODs.

That's a problem because you need to know the OD to know what to use to look right on a model.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[StevenGuthmiller]

Definitive answer...as definitive as possible with the info we have. 

Heater hose on real cars is usually either 5/8" or 3/4" ID, so call the 3/4" ID stuff about 1" OD on average.

Divide 1 inch by 25 for 1/25 scale.

That's .040", or forty thousandths.

You need wire that's around .040" outside diameter, or OD to be scale-correct.

"Wire gauge" should technically refer to the diameter of the CONDUCTOR INSIDE THE INSULATION, not the outside diameter of the insulation.

"18 gauge" is listed as .040".

"16 gauge" is .051". multiply that by 25 to see that it would be 1.275" in reality, or about 1 and a quarter inch OD hose...kinda fat.

All of which is meaningless if we don't know if the "gauge" wire you have is being called by its conductor or by its OD.

This is why a cheap digital caliper is a really nice tool to have on your bench. Saves a lot of guessing and second-guessing.

For example, "16 gauge" wire, with a correctly-labeled 16 gauge CONDUCTOR, can have differing thicknesses of insulation...which will give different ODs.

That's a problem because you need to know the OD to know what to use to look right on a model.

The wire that I have is 1mm thick & to me it looks too small.

on the comparison charts that I had seen, 1mm = 18 gauge.

That's why I was thinking 16 gauge.

I have some vinyl cord that looks to be a perfect size but it's not bendable so it's unsuitable to be used for the hoses. That is just slightly over 1mm, (1.3mm).

The old red hose that I have is the stuff I used on my last build, (the '65 Dodge) & appears to be about 1 1/2 mm & looks a little too large.

I was going to order the 16 gauge wire online so I really have no way to check it's outside diameter.

I was going to have to rely on the gauge in the discription.

That's why I needed some help with the gauges.

I assumed that the gauge was the outside diameter of the insulation.

After all, that's what you'd be measuring with a wire gauge.

I'm sure I have a wire gauge......somewhere, but in this case it would do me no good anyway without having the wire in hand to measure.

 

Steve

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Wire "gauge" terminology is used for electrical-engineering reasons, so you know how much current the conductor INSIDE the insulation will carry, so you'll specify the correct "gauge" wire for the design load.

It usually doesn't make any difference to an engineer how thick the insulation is, or what the OD is, as circuits aren't designed according to how "big" the wire is outside.

If you use a "wire gauge" (the tool) correctly, you use it to measure the wire inside the insulation, NOT THE OD.

ANY electrical wire that's correctly labeled is labeled according to the diameter of the wire INSIDE the insulation.

SOME wire will specify an OD for the insulation too, but not that frequently. It's more likely to list the insulating capability of the insulation, and again, that can be all over the board depending on the material the insulation is made of, and its thickness.

Wire for other purposes, non-current-carrying purposes, like jewelry beading wire, is described by both gauge AND outside diameter. Sometimes confusing, at best.

Of course, our Chinese friends and ebay resellers sometimes don't know or care what wire "gauge" actually MEANS, so you roll the dice when you buy this stuff.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[StevenGuthmiller]

Thanks for your help Bill.

I guess I'll just have to "roll those dice".

 

Steve

[afx]

Steve I picked up a set of digital calipers on sale at Harbor Freight for $10.  Not sure how I got along without them before.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=calipers

[gtx6970]

Mopar heater hose is 5/8" for 1969 and earlier for both

Then in 1970 they have 1 is 5/8". The other is only 1/2"

 

Sorry dont know what gauge would be correct

I have some i can measure if fit helps

[BigTallDad]

 

The older red hose that I have seems to be the right size & looks more like hose than wire......but it's red.

 

 

Steve

 

There's nothing wrong (for older vehicles, that is) with red hoses. I can remember seeing them on 1:1 cars, but I'm probably a tad older than you.

[hedotwo]

Because I use a caliper (not digital but good nonetheless) so often while building I leave it clamped in a small vise on my bench.  That way, having only two hands most of the time, I'm able to operate the caliper while holding the wire or whatever I'm measuring more easily. 

Edited February 26, 2016 by hedotwo

[StevenGuthmiller]

Thanks guys, but a caliper does me no good if I'm ordering wire on line.

I guess I'll just have to take a shot.

I can't measure it until it gets here.

 

Steve

[Kit Basher]

I have used telephone wire, the kind they wire your house with, for heater hoses. I don't know what gauge it is, I would guess 22. There are four insulated conductors in the cable: red, black, yellow, and green. If you can't find any, let me know. I have a ton of it.

Edit: I measured a piece of phone wire. The insulation is about 1mm OD.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Kit Basher