Water system, help please?

SiteSurfer said:
Oh. I was hoping that indicated that it wasn't the tapered jobby. Back to school for me.
If this was code I'd have invented a workaround in minutes.
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It's only on the other side of the pond that they have something different which is typical.

If it would scred on more that a thread of two its compatible. There is some sizes that have the same pitch but thread form is different but will still fit OKish
 
I think with that sort of straight fitting you just need to use more PTFE. Ive done the same in the past and the only solution was more turns. try and get some all the way over the threaded end of the stub from the tank to make sure it doesnt wind the ptfe onto the stub and not into the female thread. I cant see any loose ptfe poking out of many of your joints and thats usually a sign that its only just enough. mine look awful with loads of excess hanging out but the hold water pressure.
 
owen-cox said:
I think with that sort of straight fitting you just need to use more PTFE.
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If you're going to bodge it by sealing parallel fittings on the threads (and it is sometimes unavoidable) then a liquid thread sealant is better than just chucking lots of teflon tape into it.

Pete
 
curious,

anyone uses or knows cannabis (not the one you smoke, the one you thread around pipes to seal them...)

looks like this:

Hennepvezel_Cannabis_sativa_fibre.jpg


and will simply do what the OP wants with a bit of PTFE tape on top to avoid painting and making a mess of pipework and surrounding surfaces.
Also easy to undo and foolproof.

V.
 
vas said:
curious,

anyone uses or knows cannabis (not the one you smoke, the one you thread around pipes to seal them...)

looks like this:

Hennepvezel_Cannabis_sativa_fibre.jpg
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I know that as "plumber's hemp", which will probably be a more useful search term than "cannabis" :)

Not used it, but I guess it's a traditional precursor to the liquid thread-sealants. Like most organic materials it presumably swells when wet to make a better seal :encouragement:

Pete
 
This all sounds rather ' wing and a prayer ' to me, things either fit or they don't.

Female to female joins surely require a male adaptor inbetween - probably with a 70' s moustache and accompanied by a dodgy photographer.

I worked in emergency plumbing for 5 years ( so have some stories to tell, look out for the book ) - everyone I ever knew swore by PTFE tape but regarded LSX or anything else as amateur bodge stuff.
 
I'm very confused. I've carefully tried to follow the advice from my learned and esteemed forumites - and despite some of it being the equivalent of obfuscated source code - I think I have learnt a great deal.

However - it does rather seem that we have come full circle and that the addition of LSX - whilst being regarded as an amateur bodge by some - is in reality an 'ok' thing to do to get around the issue of what would appear to be a bit of a mismatch of fittings - for which I can not do a great deal about (easily anyway).

So.. given that the LSX cured 99% of the drips, and I'm left with a really really tiny one - should I take that female collar off, reseat it and see if a bit more carefully applied LSX does the job? Or - just leave it and live with a very very small amount of water in the bilge. I do also wonder what is going to happen when the joints warm up - will expansion exacerbate the situation?
 
SiteSurfer said:
I do also wonder what is going to happen when the joints warm up - will expansion exacerbate the situation?
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Dunno about thermal expansion of the fittings, but you will probably get an increase of pressure from expansion of the water. The first time my calorifier got properly hot after I replaced all the plumbing, one of the freshwater hoses blew off and pumped the whole tank out all over the engine bay :(. We were on our way over to St Vaast at the time, so after clamping the hose back in place had to make a quick detour via Haslar to re-fill with water.

Pete
 
prv said:
Dunno about thermal expansion of the fittings, but you will probably get an increase of pressure from expansion of the water. The first time my calorifier got properly hot after I replaced all the plumbing, one of the freshwater hoses blew off and pumped the whole tank out all over the engine bay :(. We were on our way over to St Vaast at the time, so after clamping the hose back in place had to make a quick detour via Haslar to re-fill with water.

Pete
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Been there done that! Replaced heads shower/mixer and blew off the hot water connection. Still, it proved the bilge alarm and auto pump worked!
 
prv said:
The first time my calorifier got properly hot after I replaced all the plumbing, one of the freshwater hoses blew off and pumped the whole tank out all over the engine bay :(.
Pete
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Thanks.. I was nervous about my plumbing before this - now I have the spectre of water spouts and an inboard swimming pool to worry about. :rolleyes:

I have fitted a non return/pressure relief valve on the calorifier and at some stage am aiming to fit one of those red expansion tank jobbies, will see how it goes first as 15L isn't the hugest calorifier on the market.

42f7f94a584e15ad62d3b6c2f08aaea3.jpg
 
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Am back on boat and have rebuilt the collar bit with lsx and nipped it up. Will pressurise the system in the morning and see if it still leaks. If it does I'm off to a plumbers merchant somewhere near hayling.
 
Success! No leaks. Took the advice and didn't over tighten it.
Thanks all for the advice no matter what - all taken on board and problem solved.

Am happily now waiting for fibreglass to cure on fridge install :)
 
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