What are the disadvantages of silicone tubing How to determine whether it is suitable for industrial equipment procurement?

A maintenance team replaced a rubber coolant line on an air compressor with a silicone one. The new hose was lighter, stayed flexible in a cold workshop, and looked like a clear upgrade. Six weeks later the hose near the gearbox had gone soft and puffy. The cause was oil mist from a worn shaft seal, and nobody had thought to ask whether silicone tolerates it.Silicone is a very good hose material, but only in the right places. Most complaints about it come from putting it where its weak points show. This guide covers how a reinforced silicone pipe is built, where silicone falls short, how it compares with other hoses, and how to decide whether it suits your equipment.

What Is a Reinforced Silicone Pipe and How Is It Built

A reinforced silicone pipe has three parts: an inner silicone liner, one or more layers of textile reinforcement, and an outer silicone cover. The silicone gives temperature range and flexibility. The reinforcement carries the pressure. Without it, a plain silicone tube would balloon at a few bar.

In a braided silicone hose the reinforcement is a woven or knitted sleeve of yarn. Layers are separated by thin silicone skims so that they bond into one wall. The number of layers (plies), the yarn type and the weave angle decide how much pressure the hose can take and how it behaves when bent.

Hoses are usually made one of two ways. Hand-wrapped hoses use fabric sheets laid over a mandrel, which allows shaped parts such as elbows and reducers. Machine-braided hoses use a continuous braid and suit straight lengths with consistent output.

Polyester vs Aramid vs Fiberglass Reinforcement

Polyester is the common choice. It costs less, flexes well, and covers most coolant, air and intake applications. A polyester reinforced silicone hose usually works up to around 180 °C continuous.

Aramid (the fiber family that includes Nomex and Kevlar) tolerates more heat and carries more pressure at the same wall thickness. An aramid braided silicone hose is the usual pick for high-boost turbo systems and engine bays that run hot.

Fiberglass handles very high temperatures but does not like repeated flexing. It appears in specialty ducting more than in moving or vibrating installations.

 Reinforcement types compared 

The Real Disadvantages of Silicone Hose

Silicone is not the right answer everywhere, and a supplier who says otherwise is selling, not advising. These are the four limits that matter in practice.

Poor Resistance to Oil and Fuel

This is the biggest one. Standard silicone swells when it meets mineral oil, diesel, petrol and many hydraulic fluids. The rubber softens, loses strength, and the inner liner can separate from the reinforcement. Swelling is slow and often goes unnoticed until the hose fails.

That is why the question "can silicone hose handle oil and fuel" has an awkward answer: a little splash or short contact is usually survivable, but constant exposure is not. Fluorosilicone is a possible fix for fuel-contact jobs, though it costs a good deal more. For ordinary fuel and oil lines, NBR or a fluoroelastomer hose is the safer choice.

Lower Tear and Abrasion Strength

Silicone is soft. It cuts, scuffs and tears more easily than EPDM or NBR. A hose that rubs against a bracket, a sharp edge or another line will wear through its cover sooner than a rubber hose would. Good routing and protective sleeves help, but in rough environments such as mining, construction or agricultural machinery, the cover is a real weak spot.

Higher Gas Permeability

Silicone lets gases pass through its wall more readily than most rubbers. In air and coolant lines this rarely matters. In systems where gas loss or contamination counts, such as refrigerant circuits or vacuum lines, it can. If you need low permeation, check the application before choosing silicone.

Higher Price

A silicone hose usually costs two to four times as much as a comparable EPDM hose. Part of that is raw material, part is the curing process and part is the cost of quality reinforcement. Over a long service life in a hot application the price difference can pay back. Where the hose runs cool and the system is simple, it often does not.

Silicone Hose vs Rubber Hose

Most buyers are really choosing between silicone and EPDM, with NBR and PVC-reinforced hose as other options. The table below shows how they differ.

SiliconeEPDMNBR and PVC reinforced hose compared

When EPDM Is the Smarter Choice

For standard engine coolant below roughly 120 °C, EPDM is hard to beat on cost, and it has a long record in automotive and industrial cooling circuits. It also holds up better against abrasion. If your system is not pushing temperature or pressure limits and has no food-contact requirement, EPDM will probably serve you well for less money.

Silicone makes more sense when temperatures run high, when the hose has to stay flexible in the cold, when it needs to be hygienic, or when you want a long life with fewer changes.

Temperature and Pressure Rating Explained

Datasheets list two pressure numbers, and mixing them up is a common and expensive mistake.

Working Pressure vs Burst Pressure

Working pressure is what the hose should carry in daily use. Burst pressure is the point where it fails in a test. The gap between them is the safety margin, normally 3:1 or 4:1. A hose with a burst rating of 12 bar should not be used above 3 to 4 bar. Treating burst pressure as a limit shortens hose life and risks failure.

Temperature and pressure also interact. A hose rated for 5 bar at room temperature will carry less at 180 °C because the silicone and the yarn both lose strength as heat rises. For turbo applications, ask the supplier for ratings at your operating temperature, not at 20 °C.

How Wall Thickness and Plies Affect Rating

More plies and thicker walls raise pressure capacity, but they also stiffen the hose and increase its minimum bend radius. A very thick-walled hose can kink or pull on its fittings in a tight installation. Larger diameters need more plies to keep the same rating, because pressure acts on a larger area and puts more stress on the yarn.

Typical plies and ratings by inner diameter

So, is silicone hose good for high pressure? Within limits, yes. Aramid braided constructions handle boost pressure well in automotive use. But silicone is not a substitute for a steel-braided hydraulic hose, and it should not be used in systems running tens or hundreds of bar.

Real-World Scenarios

Turbocharger and Intercooler Piping

This is where silicone does best. Charge air pipes see heat, vibration and pressure pulses, and silicone handles all three. A silicone hose for a turbocharger also copes with the engine movement that cracks stiffer materials. Aramid reinforcement is common here because boost levels keep rising. Use hose clamps with a wide band and a bead on the pipe end, since silicone is slippery and can creep off a smooth spigot.

Food, Beverage and Pharma Lines

Platinum-cured silicone is odorless, tasteless and does not leach plasticizers, which makes it popular for beverage dispensing, dairy, brewing and pharmaceutical transfer. It tolerates steam and repeated sterilization. For these lines, ask for the compliance papers (see the standards section) and check that the hose is built with a smooth bore that is easy to clean. Reinforced versions allow longer runs under pressure than plain silicone tubing.

A Failure Case Near Oil Mist

Return to the compressor line from the start. The hose was a polyester reinforced silicone hose rated well above the coolant temperature, so heat was not the problem. The line ran within a few centimeters of a gearbox breather that leaked a fine oil mist. Over several weeks the cover absorbed oil, softened and swelled, and the clamp lost its grip. The hose never burst, but coolant seeped out and the unit overheated.

The fix was simple. The team switched that short section to an NBR-lined hose, moved the breather vent, and kept silicone elsewhere in the cooling circuit. The lesson is that the working medium is only half of the question. What the hose touches on the outside matters just as much.

How to Judge If Silicone Hose Fits Your Equipment

Five questions settle most selection decisions.

Medium. What flows inside, and what touches the hose outside? Water, glycol, air and food-grade liquids suit silicone. Fuel, mineral oil and oil mist do not.

Temperature. What is the continuous temperature, and what are the peaks? Above about 150 °C continuous, silicone starts to show its advantage. Below 100 °C, EPDM is often enough.

Pressure. What is the real working pressure, including spikes? Pick the hose from working pressure with a 3:1 or 4:1 margin to burst, not the other way round.

Bend radius. How tight is the route? Check the minimum bend radius for the hose size and ply count, and use a molded elbow for sharp turns instead of forcing a straight hose.

Expected life. How often can you afford to change it? If a failure means line downtime, a longer-lasting silicone hose is worth the price. If the hose is easy to reach and cheap to swap, a rubber one may do.

How long does a silicone hose last? In a clean, hot application with good clamping, five years or more is realistic, and many last longer. Exposure to oil, abrasion or poor installation can cut that to a few months. Service life depends more on the environment than on the hose.

Standards and Compliance

Ask for the paperwork that matches your market and application.

FDA 21 CFR 177.2600 covers rubber articles for repeated food contact in the US.

LFGB is the German food-contact standard, widely requested in Europe and generally stricter on migration tests.

REACH regulates chemical substances in the EU. Ask for a declaration covering substances of very high concern.

RoHS restricts hazardous substances such as lead and cadmium, often requested for equipment sold in Europe.

ASTM D2000 classifies rubber materials by heat, oil and mechanical properties, and appears in many automotive specifications.

ISO 1402 sets out hydrostatic testing for rubber and plastic hoses, including proof and burst pressure.

A compliance certificate for one batch does not prove the next batch passes. Ask which tests are repeated per lot and which were done once at qualification.

Industry Trends

Three developments are changing what buyers ask for.

Electric vehicles need thermal management for batteries, power electronics and motors. These systems use lots of coolant hose, and silicone suits the temperature swings and the need for flexible routing around tight packaging.

Turbocharged engines keep pushing boost up while shrinking in size. That puts more heat and pressure on charge air hoses and moves demand from polyester toward aramid braided silicone hose.

Hygiene rules in food, beverage and pharmaceutical plants keep tightening. Buyers now ask for traceable materials, batch certificates and validated cleaning behavior as a starting point, not as extras.

How to Choose a Reliable Reinforced Silicone Hose Manufacturer

Price differences between suppliers often come from what is inside the wall. Look at three things.

Raw materials and reinforcement yarn. Ask which silicone grade is used (platinum-cured or peroxide-cured) and where the yarn comes from. Cheap hoses often use filler-heavy compound and thin yarn, which look fine on day one and fail early.

Batch testing. A supplier should test every production lot for hardness, tensile strength, burst pressure and dimensions, and be able to show records. One-off tests at launch are not enough.

Samples and reports. A sound supplier sends samples before you commit and gives test reports that match the sample. Be careful when a quote arrives without questions about your application.

Reliable vs high-risk suppliers

Get Samples and a Quote

If you are unsure whether silicone suits your system, send us the medium, working temperature, working pressure, inner diameter and length. We will check the structure against your conditions, tell you honestly if another material is a better fit, and arrange a sample and quotation. For repeat orders, we also supply braided silicone hose wholesale in standard and custom sizes

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