So I'm trying to determine what I should get for beer lines to run from my basement to the bar on main level. Kegs will be in the freezer downstairs and will require about 12-15 feet of beer line to get upstairs (approx 10-ft rise). I've been doing a bit of research on this topic (should be studying), and I've came across a couple calculators to figure it out.
The formula is L = (P - (H * .5) - 1)/R ... for those that dont know:
L = length of beer line
P = Pressure
H = Height
R = Beer Line Resistance
This seems to be pretty easy, but am scared it may not work for complicated setups.
As of now, I'm not going to bother insulating the lines, although I know I probably should get some sort of glycol setup, but jsut going to try and see how it turns out ... first glass I'd assume will be pure foam, which I realize.
I'm a little caught up on beer line resistance ... My two options of beer lines seem to be 3/16 pr 1/4 inch, providing 2.7 and 0.7 as resistance respectively. This doesn't seem to make much sense to me and wondering if anyone could explain further.
If I'm running the beer approx 12 or 15 feet, would it make more sense to have more or less resistance as a starting point?
There seems to be alot of factors to take into account here such as required volumes of CO2, temp, rise, etc ... also what if I'm running the lines not only up, but across a couple feet?
All I'm getting at is that there seems to be more factors in my situation than this simple equation is taking into account (ie. unchilled lines and tower, height and distance, etc) ... I just want to get some beer lines and experiment ... would I be better of going with 3/16 or 1/4?