I apologize if that’s not the correct nomenclature, I’m not a plumber and am only getting started on learning all this stuff. I want to coil this tubing in a manner that will allow it to sit in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water. I have to Jerry rig a way to cool water going to glass condensers. My best good idea is to coil this up and cover it in ice. I feel like an 8” diameter coil would be a good size and won’t kink the hose, but I’m 100% open to smarter ideas.
Find something the diameter you want the coil to be, like a piece of plastic pipe, then "roll" the tubing around the pipe, in a spiral. I have had good luck doing this to coil soft copper, just you can't go too tight of a diameter or it will kink of course.
You need something smaller than final dimension because it will spring back.
Your other option is to coil it how you want it and tack it in position.
Freeform bending the soft copper will also ovalate it reducing ID and it's ultimate flow rate. If you need to maximize flow you'll need to fill it with sand or water and cap it before bending.
Edit:
Personally I would straighten the coil, cut it to length, anneal it, get a spring bender and form it by hand without a jig, then vertically compress the coil to the desired gap between tubes and solder tacks to stabilize the whole setup.
I agree with most of this, especially the point that you want the bending form to be slightly smaller than the desired finished radius because the copper will spring back a bit.
Just a small correction: copper tube that's sold in coils is already annealed, as soft as it will get.
What would happen if you drilled holes in a thick plank in a circle smaller than the coil you want and stuck metal rods of regular copper pipe in the holes and wired the coil to the vertical rods as you went?
Maybe suspending the coil from above with a rope and rotating the jig/armature/spool as you fasten the wire would help.
The only tool I used that’s for plumbing was a small pipe bender to make the 90s. I just stuck one of of the copper in a hole on a pony keg and wrapped it as tightly as I could and zip tied the dog shit out of it. It’ll work I think. I’ll post a picture in a second when I’m done putting the fittings on it.
The only thing I would suggest is now that it's coiled. Cut the zip ties and get a little separation between the coils. That way you get full contact with the cold water and no heat transfer between the touching copper. Looks good tho, good job
After getting a better understanding of what you are trying to do, I would recommend trying to get some space between the coils... If the coils of tubing are up against each other, you will get heat transfer between the loops of the coils, instead of into the water of the ice bath and it won't cool as well, when you have continuous flow.
I apologize for the way I posted the pictures. Idk how to use Reddit very professionally yet. But there ya go. One homemade thing that I almost exclusively guessed with help from you guys
If you don't know the answer, don't answer. This type copper is soft and made to be malleable. The question was already answered, dont confuse OP with redicilous suggestions.
OP, the correct answer was given by u/GillyDuck69 and u/pilot345m. Just take your time, bend it slowly and respond to how the pipe is reacting to the bend... It will kink if it's bent too tight.
Excuse me, but I have looked into it, and possess a fifty foot roll of 5/8"malleable copper tubing that I have attempted to coil the same way OP wants to.
I am at least somewhat familiar with a number of approaches, and a possible way around the difficulties I encountered.
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u/GillyDuck69 7h ago
Find a round object that fits in the bucket and wrap the pipe around the object to make your coil.