Chris Hodges wrote in message o.uk...

......why on earth would a US laser manufacturer fit a
water-cooling circuit using a fitting that's never used for anything
except garden hoses - even in the US? (OK so that was more of a rant
than a question!)

My involvement with Swagelok also came about because of laser cooling.
The lasers were cooled with DI water connected to a plate heat
exchanger. The heat exchanger itself was cooled with the primary
'house' chilled water (containing anti-freeze, inhibitors, etc..) via
a constant-temperature secondary circuit.

The threads used on the laser side were standard NPT. I don't know of
'garden hose' threads, I'd be surprised if they're anything different
to the 'common or garden' NPT, but trust you're more familiar with
this problem. You could also try Radiospares (http://rswww.com), they
had an range of hose and fittings, including the strange US snap-fit
hose connectors.

Wades also did brass compression fittings, but are a UK company & I'm
not aware that they did any/much NPT stuff.