Boiler material

[johnd]

Hi All,
I have been looking for some boiler barrel tube 4” Dia x 13SWG (0.092” or 2.337mm).
Have contacted all the usual ME suppliers (9) but only one has it all the others have only 10SWG (0.128” or 3.251mm) available. The one supplier that has it is asking almost twice the price than that for the 10 gauge. There seems to be a general shortage of large diameter tube, lots of tube is shown online but not available when trying to order.
I know that i can alter the design slightly to cater for the thicker boiler shell but is there any other practical/design reason while this should not be changed.
Any advice gratefully received.

[kipford]

Apart from checking the increased wall thickness does not interfere with anything else there are no design issues. My Aspinall boiler uses thicker sheet material in places because it was cheaper to limit the amount of different thickness materials used. Practically no problems except it will may need a little bit more heat to solder.

[johnd]

Thanks for the info.
That just gives me confidence i need to purchase the 10g tube as its quite pricey.

[chiptim]

Don't forget the thicker gauge will require more heat and you don't want too much of a difference between it and the plates else it will become tricky to solder. It depends partly on your experience and set-up.

Tim