We are far from experts in plastic and its capabilities and limitations, but after over a year of providing sight glasses based on polycarbonate, we've come to understand quite a bit. In an effort to extend the life of your sight glass kits, there are few things you should be aware of regarding the handling and care of your kit.

The good news is that polycarbonate is an ideal plastic for this application and is durable, clear, and can handle exposure to high heats and typical cleaning chemicals within reason. The failure rate for these kits in a homebrewing setting is less than .2% over the course of a year and almost all the failures can be attributed to extreme exposure conditions. Let's review some of the situations that may increase the chance of a failure.

We made a video to show a typical installation of a weldless sight glass kit but this is also a written step by step guide. Our advice is to watch the video and then read the instructions (or print them out and follow along during the install). The install instructions are slightly different for a keg vessel vs. a normal pot so please be aware of the differences noted. This also includes tips for threaded the thermometer into the combo kits as well as how to cut