Going to Extremes in Our Hose Cell

Last year our Hose Assembly Team built thousands of hoses here in Fremont. Check out the extremes our hose—and people—go to.

Hot or cold, these guys can ensure safe surface temperatures with a myriad of options.

- Hose Assembly customer, Swagelok Northern California

Some customers' eyebrows shoot up when they see our Hose Assembly Department, aka Hose Cell. They see a 2,500 square foot space bustling with 15 certified associates building thousands of hoses to customer specifications. A new CNC hose-cutting machine automatically cuts hose faster and with four times better accuracy than cutting hose by hand. (So when you need multiple copies of the same hose, you can be sure that each one will be the same length.) 

Overall, we doubled our hose capacity in 2017.

Sometimes our customers come in requesting a hose designed to handle a relatively moderate temperature range, then push the installed hose to the limits of its rating. A much better approach is to discuss your application with us so that we can deliver a hose designed for the environment where you plan to use it.

Going to extremes

Inside, we build hoses to handle temperature extremes from -325°F (-200°C) up to 1000°F (537°C). Some hose materials are especially good at retaining heat, while other materials are especially good at keeping things cold.

Our hose experts can suggest the material that's right for your job. For some hose applications, we wrap the hose with an ultra-low density fabric so that you don't have to worry about burn hazards when handling the hose, or condensation that could create problems by dripping on sensitive nearby equipment.

We've set up a liquid nitrogen system for testing under extreme cold conditions, and we recycle the nitrogen so there's no waste.

Bigger, faster, more accurate

We've also changed our manufacturing process to a one-piece flow system. Instead of performing each step in batches, we now use an assembly-line system that increases efficiency while maintaining quality. If you need 50 identical hoses, we'll first make the first one individually and check it to make sure everything is right, before building hoses 2-50. This insures that each hose is built to your exact specifications. 

With our huge warehouse on site, it's easy to assemble as many hoses as you need, with exactly the right length, the right end connections and the right style of labeling.

One stop shop

We can even add insulation to third-party hose if you need something special that Swagelok doesn't make. That might include things like specialty hose for the medical field, where the tube wall is thicker on one side than the other. Or you might need vacuum-jacketed hose, which is basically a hose inside another hose, with a vacuum cavity in between. That means you can get these specialty hoses with insulated covers that you need, and you don't need to track down another supplier for a special order.

What's next: We'd love to build hose for you. Learn more at our new Hose Assembly page and check out examples in the Case Studies section:

(Prefer to talk live? Please give us a call at 510-933-6200.)

More on this topic:

• How this OEM stopped backward hose installation (case study)
• Hose vs tubing—which is best for an application? (blog article)
• Why you shouldn't judge a Swagelok hose by its cover (blog article)