The No-Leak MLT bulkhead design - Page 9

**tre9er** · 02-08-2012, 03:26 PM

I know silicone caulk won't adhere to the wall of the cooler, but it should serve as a custom gasket, right? In that it will conform to the contours/cracks/crevices available prior to curing. I was thinking of putting some around the nipple on either side of the inner cooler wall, then adding silicone washer on both sides, then ss washers behind those, locknut behind inner assembly, PVC behind exterior, then locknut and ball valve on outside. Should work well, right?

**tre9er** · 02-09-2012, 02:41 PM

Bought two pack of small baby bottle nipples. Cut just after widest point. Placed this against inner cooler wall, followed by ss washer, locknut. PVC union between cooler walls, ss washer, ball valve. No leak so far with 3 gallons of water and some beer bottles for extra displacement. Also: triple wrapped threads, even though the locknut is probably bottomed out and the new "gasket/washer" is very tight on the nipple. From earlier leaks using o-ring, I feel the water was NOT travelling the threads, rather coming in from the sides. This new washer seems to easily solve that, and being food grade silicone that is normally boiled to sanitize, I know it can withstand the temps.

wgeronimo · 05-19-2012, 12:33 PM

I was hoping somebody here could offer some advice. After fiddling with this design for a few hours I am pretty frustrated. The point of weakness for me in building this design appears to be between the locknut and the ball valve. Water travels down through the spigot, hits the closed ball valve and looks for somewhere to go. This is the only spot that does not have a oring on it. So it just seeps between the cracks and out over the lock nut. After a lot of testing I am fairly convinced the actual seal between the cooler walls is sound.

Has anybody else run into this?

My current configuration is as follows.

ball valve ------ lock nut -------oring -------cooler wall-------oring------igloo washer-----stainless washer-----barb

I am using this kit from Ritebrew.

Other than constantly reapplying teflon tape what can i do?

**Palefire** · 05-19-2012, 10:39 PM

So you think water is leaking out of the back of the ball valve? If so, I'm not sure what else would fix that, other than teflon tape. Give the nipple 6-7 good layers of teflon tape before you screw anything onto it. That's always fixed whatever problems I've had.

I'm no plumber, though, so maybe someone else will have a better idea,

**Bobby_M** · 05-21-2012, 05:13 AM

All you need is teflon tape on the threads under the locknut.