Tubing Life Technical Data and Selection Guidelines

Selection Guidelines

Tubing life performance is just one of many factors present in your pumping applications. These helpful reference charts will assist you in selecting tubing for your pumping application.

Tubing life is shown in hours at various motor speeds while continuously pumping water at 21°C (70°F) and 0 bar (psig). Masterflex® life data is calculated from time to failure or reduction to 50% flow rate, whichever comes first.

In General:

• The Norprene^® and PharMed^® tubing materials offer the best tubing life in all applications where the fluid being pumped is chemically compatible.
• High-performance precision tubing has a 20 to 30% increased tubing life over Precision tubing.
• High-pressure Norprene and PharMed have the best life in pressure applications.
• Peroxide-cured silicone tubing offers up to 40% more tubing life. Platinum-cured silicone tubing offers better biocompatibility and fewer extractables. Biopharm Plus platinum-cured silicone tubing lasts up to five times longer than other platinum-silicone tubings.

Other factors to consider when determining the best tubing for your application include:

• Fluid compatibility
• Fluid temperature
• System pressure
• Motor rpm
• Clarity of tubing
• Duty cycle
• Maintenance periods
• Tubing purity
• Viscosity

Once tubing has been selected:

1. Test it in your application.
2. Monitor tubing life in duty cycle, look for signs of tubing fatigue (e.g. small pin hole leaks, abrasion, etc.)
3. Set up maintenance schedule to anticipate tubing failure.

Monitor the time tubing is in the pump. Advance it 8 to 12 inches on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, depending on your experience with your maintenance schedule.

Testing Parameters

These charts indicate the average life of Masterflex^® tubing used in our Standard style pump heads. The tubing life is shown in hours at various motor speeds while continuously pumping water at 21°C (70°F) and 0 bar (0 psig). This data has been collected from years of testing Masterflex peristaltic pumps. Masterflex life data is calculated from time to failure or reduction to 50% flow rate, whichever comes first.

These charts are best used as a general comparison only. It is not guaranteed that you will achieve the results shown. Generally, the life of all types of tubing is adversely affected by temperature, pump motor rpm, chemical compatibility and pressure.