Air couplings and head scratching

I've cleaned out the garage, well I can see the floor now which was becoming
a worry. While I was at it I found the missing pack of couplers and the new
flexi curly hose was just sat sitting there in the packet so it seemed like
a good time to introduce them. Easy peasy then clip into the compressor wack
on a tyre inflator and squeeze the trigger............ no air coming out
just a gentle hiss from the rotating coupling on close inspection I discover
I have two sizes of almost identical quick coupler 1/4 and 3/8 ends and the
3/8 fits a 1/4 female socket but doesn't open the valve and guess what size
all my tools are fitted with yep 3/8.
It would be nice if they marked the buggers clearly but what is the correct
term for that coupling or should I be talking metric 10mm ?. I blame
Brussels myself and I still haven't forgiven them for the sprouts.
Derek

Derek wrote:
> I've cleaned out the garage, well I can see the floor now which was becoming
> a worry. While I was at it I found the missing pack of couplers and the new
> flexi curly hose was just sat sitting there in the packet so it seemed like
> a good time to introduce them. Easy peasy then clip into the compressor wack
> on a tyre inflator and squeeze the trigger............ no air coming out
> just a gentle hiss from the rotating coupling on close inspection I discover
> I have two sizes of almost identical quick coupler 1/4 and 3/8 ends and the
> 3/8 fits a 1/4 female socket but doesn't open the valve and guess what size
> all my tools are fitted with yep 3/8.
> It would be nice if they marked the buggers clearly but what is the correct
> term for that coupling or should I be talking metric 10mm ?. I blame
> Brussels myself and I still haven't forgiven them for the sprouts.
> Derek
>
>
I think you have Baden-Powell to blame for those...
Stuart

Srtgray wrote:

> I think you have Baden-Powell to blame for those...
> Stuart

Wasn't he scouts not sprouts?

But on rather than off topic - yeah I have just discovered there are
two flavours of metric fittings as well. (I'm in Spain). The guys here
differentiate them as 'french' or 'german' type. They *look* the same
but won't couple together. The quick release couplings have a different
knurl/grip pattern on close inspection, but there's no way to tell the
male ends apart at a glance.

I thought the whole point was standardisation... did I get it wrong
somewhere?
And how many different ways to measure air pressure are we up to now,
LOL?

> But on rather than off topic - yeah I have just discovered there are
> two flavours of metric fittings as well. (I'm in Spain). The guys here
> differentiate them as 'french' or 'german' type.
>
> I thought the whole point was standardisation... did I get it wrong
> somewhere?

LOL - similar problem when I was plumbing in France, I thought I'd buy
a load of 15mm copper in the UK and take it over cos it was easier, only
to find that French plumbing uses either 14mm or 16mm! Surprising
what you can do with electrical insulation tape tho 3 years and
still holding strong!

Matt