Leaking black steel fittings

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DB junkie

DB junkie

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Jan 27, 2007
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So I decided to try to tap into plumming in the house I recently moved in, to install my drip system.

I used black steel fittings as I've heard you want to avoid galvanized in fish set ups, and seem to be having some troubles getting them to seal up. I'm using that white liquid teflon type pipe sealant crap.

Am I doing something obviously wrong or do I need to just try resealing for the 4th time?

Thanks for any help.
 
DB junkie;4866469; said:
So I decided to try to tap into plumming in the house I recently moved in, to install my drip system.

I used black steel fittings as I've heard you want to avoid galvanized in fish set ups, and seem to be having some troubles getting them to seal up. I'm using that white liquid teflon type pipe sealant crap.

Am I doing something obviously wrong or do I need to just try resealing for the 4th time?

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Teflon paste and lots of torque is all you should need, but you could try some thread tape as well.

I would use galvanized fittings (if the rest of your plumbing is galvanized one fitting won't make a difference). Black fittings are normally used for natural gas or propane, not water systems.
 
at work we put a couple of wraps of teflon tape on, then we follow up with the paste
 
Dan Feller;4866549; said:
Teflon paste and lots of torque is all you should need, but you could try some thread tape as well.

I would use galvanized fittings (if the rest of your plumbing is galvanized one fitting won't make a difference). Black fittings are normally used for natural gas or propane, not water systems.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Match up to what you have. There might be some difference in the thread depth that might be letting a little bit of water slip through.
 
OK.... 1st off (and unfortunately probobly the most important)
The house is a rental. IF it was mine I woulda jumped through the wall already to reveal what I have to work with. The wall is finished with nothing but a stupid washer hookup sticking out. It's a stupid deal with hot AND cold both there with a single shut off lever that of course leaks. BUT this ordeal has a lil trough that is sealed to a drain so the drip here is no biggie, but the plumming I added sticks out far enough that it now drips on the floor.

IF I had to guess I'd say I need to tighten it more. Problem being the awfull noises the pipes make when you start man-torqueing them. Scared I'm gonna bust some stuff in the wall making this whole idea nothing shy of an EPIC fail.

I asked about the black steel cause a guy here at work said the same thing. For use with gas. My reply was how the hell can it work for gas but not water? What's good for one should be good for the other right?

I have the 2 male hose thread hookups for the washer. I went with female hose thread to male pipe thread adapters. 3/4" black steel "T" then MPT to MHT adapters. Problem is the adapters to the "T".

Maybe replace black steel with PVC? Or Galvanized? Or it's gonna keep leaking till I grow some balls and start horse torquing regardless of what I'm using for fittings?
 
I switched from Teflon to liquid. When putting together the carbon block pods I couldn't get tape to seal, liquid worked first time.

Liquid has never let me down in the auto world either. BUT IF you fix anything for a living you KNOW there's a first time for everything. I'll try tightening with some real tools today, if that fails I'll reseal. If that fails I'll give the tape a try and if that still doesn't work and I haven't destroyed the entire wall/room/plumming then I'll give the tape under goo a try.

Then maybe I'll post some pics..... IF it still drips it may be pics of broken stuff but hey.... Any broken stuff is cool right? As long as it's not YOURS.

:)

Thanks for the advice guys.... Sounds like user error to me. IF I'm still dripping on the floor tomorrow I will look into seeking professional attention.
 
Thank you to those of you that replied with information. I appreciate it.

Culprit of the leaks wasn't even the fittings, turns out I was overtightening the FHT>MPT fittings, causing the seal/Orings to get cut. Turned out if I put the tools away and hand tightened they seem to seal fine.

2 tanks dripping, 2 more to plum. If anyone's intrested I can throw up a pic of this contraption. Will be dripping all the FW systems in the house (3 different locations in the house)
 
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