How Do I Select the Correct Silicone Hose for My Needs?
Selecting the right silicone hose is vital for safety, compliance, and efficiency in industrial, pharmaceutical, food, and life sciences applications. With a wide variety of silicone hose types, constructions, and specifications available, making an informed choice can be challenging.
This comprehensive guide will help you understand the key factors in silicone hose selection, using Flextech’s expertise and product range as your reference.
For a detailed overview and product support, visit our silicone hose selection guide.
Understanding Your Application: The Foundation of Silicone Hose Selection
Every effective silicone hose selection starts with a clear understanding of your application. Consider the type of media you need to transfer, such as liquids, gases, or solids, and the specific process requirements. For example, pharmaceutical and food applications demand hoses that are easy to clean, certified for hygiene, and resistant to contamination. Chemical processing may require hoses with robust chemical resistance and the ability to withstand sterilisation or aggressive cleaning regimes.
Environmental factors such as temperature extremes, exposure to UV or ozone, and the need for flexibility or vacuum resistance are also important. Flextech’s technical team can help you define your application and recommend the best hose for your needs.
For tailored advice, consult our silicone hose selection guide.
Key Material Properties: Why Silicone is an Industry Standard
Silicone is chosen for its unique combination of flexibility, temperature resistance, purity, and chemical stability. Platinum-cured silicone, used in Flextech’s silicone hose assemblies, is tasteless, odourless, and non-reactive, making it ideal for sensitive and hygienic applications. It maintains its properties from -60°C to +200°C, resists yellowing, and is unaffected by ozone, UV, and many chemicals.
These properties make silicone hoses a preferred choice for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and medical industries, as well as for applications requiring repeated sterilisation or exposure to harsh environments.
Flextech’s hoses are manufactured in dedicated facilities to ensure nil cross-contamination and the highest levels of purity, supporting compliance with FDA, USP Class VI, and EU Pharmacopoeia standards.
Sizing and Flow Requirements: Getting the Dimensions Right
Selecting the correct hose size is critical for maintaining optimal flow and minimising pressure drop. An undersized hose can restrict flow and increase wear, while an oversized hose may be unnecessarily bulky and costly. Consider the viscosity of your media, required flow rate, and total hose length, including bends and routing.
Flextech provides detailed sizing charts and technical support to help you calculate the ideal hose diameter and length for your application. Our silicone hose selection guide offers practical tools to ensure your hose performs efficiently and reliably.
Pressure and Vacuum Ratings: Ensuring Safe Operation
Silicone hoses are rated for specific working pressures and vacuum levels. Exceeding these ratings can result in premature wear, leaks, or even catastrophic failure. Always check the maximum working pressure and vacuum rating against your process requirements, including any potential surges or spikes.
For high-pressure or vacuum applications, reinforced silicone hoses with steel wire or polyester braid layers may be necessary.
Flextech’s silicone hose selection page includes detailed specifications to help you choose the right hose for your operational needs.
Temperature Range and Thermal Cycling
Silicone hoses excel in environments with extreme or fluctuating temperatures. They remain flexible and durable from -60°C to +200°C, and some specialist grades can withstand even higher peaks. This makes them suitable for autoclaving, steam-in-place (SIP), and clean-in-place (CIP) processes, as well as for outdoor or refrigerated installations.
Remember to consider the temperature requirements of your application, including both media and ambient conditions, to ensure the hose you select will maintain its performance over time.
Flextech’s platinum-cured silicone ensures high transparency and no yellowing, even after repeated thermal cycling.
Chemical Compatibility and Media Resistance
Ensuring the hose material is compatible with the media being transferred is vital. Silicone is resistant to many chemicals, but certain solvents, oils, and acids can degrade it over time. For aggressive chemicals, consult Flextech’s chemical compatibility guide or consider alternative materials such as PTFE or UHMWPE.
Flextech’s chemical hoses are available for applications requiring enhanced chemical resistance, while our silicone hose range is ideal for high-purity and hygienic processes.
Reinforcement and Construction Options
Silicone hoses can be customised with various reinforcement options to meet specific pressure, flexibility, and anti-kinking requirements. Flextech offers hoses with close pitch steel wire or open mesh polyester braid layers, providing high pressure ratings, anti-kinking properties, and enhanced flexibility.
Custom end connections, such as Tri-clamp, RJT, BSP, and BSPT fittings, can be permanently swaged to ensure hygienic, leak-free operation.
Our custom hose assemblies are manufactured to your exact specifications, supporting unique process requirements in any industry.
Compliance and Certification: Meeting Industry Standards
Flextech’s silicone hoses are manufactured to meet or exceed leading international standards, including FDA, USP Class VI, EU Pharmacopoeia, and ISO 9001:2008. Compliance with these standards is essential for regulated industries and helps ensure product safety and audit readiness.
All Flextech silicone hoses come with full documentation and traceability, supporting your quality assurance processes and helping you meet regulatory requirements.
For more details, or to help you choose, see our silicone hose selection guide.
Selecting the Right End Connections and Fittings
Choosing the correct end connections and fittings is vital for operational safety and efficiency. Flextech offers a full range of hygienic and industrial fittings, including Tri-clamp, RJT, BSP, and custom options. Selecting the right fitting ensures leak-free performance and compliance with industry standards.
Our team can advise on the best solution for your application, whether you require permanently swaged stainless steel fittings or custom connectors.
For more information, visit our end connections page.
Maintenance, Inspection, and Hose Asset Management
Routine inspection and maintenance are essential for extending the life of silicone hoses and ensuring ongoing safety. Look for signs of wear, bulging, cracking, or leaks, and we recommend scheduling regular pressure testing and cleaning, especially in critical applications.
Flextech provides hose asset management and hose inspection and testing services to help you track hose condition and schedule timely replacements. Our proactive approach minimises the risk of unexpected failures and supports regulatory compliance.
Comparing Silicone Hoses to Other Industrial Hose Materials
Selecting the right hose material is critical to ensuring safety, performance, and compliance in demanding industrial and hygienic applications. With a wide range of options available, understanding the strengths and limitations of each material is key. Below, we compare silicone hoses with commonly used alternatives—including butyl rubber, PTFE, and composite hoses—to highlight where silicone stands out and when it may be the preferred choice.
Silicone hoses offer a unique combination of flexibility, temperature resistance, and purity when compared to other materials such as butyl rubber, PTFE, and composite hoses.
Butyl-lined hoses are well-regarded for their chemical resistance and are commonly used in brewing and beverage applications; however, silicone provides superior hygiene and a wider temperature range.
PTFE hoses excel in handling aggressive chemicals due to their exceptional chemical resistance, but silicone is often preferred where greater flexibility and transparency are needed.
Composite hoses, while ideal for fuel and chemical transfer, are generally unsuitable for hygienic or high-purity processes.
If you need more information or advice, Flextech’s technical team can help you select the most suitable solution for your application. Have a look at our full range of industrial hose products.
Customisation and Specialist Silicone Hose Assemblies
Every application is unique, and Flextech specialises in custom silicone hose assemblies tailored to your requirements. Our Pharmaflex™, PharmaSil™, and Pharmafluor™ hoses are designed for the most demanding pharmaceutical, biomedical, and life sciences applications, with options for multiple layers of reinforcement, colour coding, and a variety of end fittings.
We also offer silicone ducting, braided silicone tubing, and specialist solutions for high-pressure, anti-kinking, or extra flexibility needs.
For more information, see silicone hose assemblies or give us a call.
Typical Applications for Silicone Hoses
Silicone hoses are used across a broad spectrum of industries, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food and beverage, cosmetics, life sciences, and medical device manufacturing. Their versatility extends to laboratory research, chemical processing, and high-purity water transfer.
Typical applications include fluid transfer, peristaltic pump lines, vacuum and pressure lines, filling and dispensing, and sterile sampling.
Flextech’s silicone hose assemblies are engineered to meet the demanding requirements of each sector, ensuring safety, compliance, and efficiency.
Frequently Asked Questions: Selecting Silicone Hoses
What information do I need to select the correct silicone hose?
You should know the media, pressure, temperature, flow rate, environment, and any regulatory requirements. Flextech’s silicone hose selection guide can help.
Are silicone hoses suitable for high-pressure applications?
Yes, with the appropriate reinforcement, Flextech’s silicone hose assemblies can handle high pressures while maintaining flexibility and hygiene.
Can silicone hoses be used for food and pharmaceutical transfer?
Absolutely. Our food grade hoses and silicone hose assemblies meet FDA, USP, and EU standards for purity and safety.
What end connections are available for silicone hoses?
We offer a full range of hygienic and industrial fittings, including Tri-clamp, RJT, BSP, and custom options. See our end connections page for details.
How do I ensure compatibility with my process chemicals?
Consult our chemical compatibility guide or speak to our technical team for expert advice.
Conclusion: Trust Flextech for Your Silicone Hose Selection
Selecting the correct silicone hose is essential for operational safety, efficiency, and compliance. By considering your media, application, material compatibility, pressure and temperature ratings, construction, sizing, fittings, and regulatory requirements, you can ensure your hose performs reliably in any environment.
Flextech’s silicone hose selection guide and expert support will help you make the best decision for your business, with a full range of compliant, high-performance hoses and assemblies.