1" aluminum NPTF Weld-In Flange?

I'm looking for a flange for my heating element to weld onto my aluminum kettle, but I'm having trouble sourcing one.

I have the 5500 camco element and I believe the lock nut for it is 1" npt. My issue is that my pot is too thick to fit the element through the wall and add the o ring and locknut.

So my question is for the guys who weld on their fittings: is the 1" aluminum NPTF Weld-In Flange what i'm looking for? What shape do I need? I imagine I need a flange with a lip so it can be easily welded on. I looked on mcmaster and found they have flanges for curved tanks (no 1", but only 1-1/4") and regular weld on's, but at 21$ each for a 1".

Some advice/direction would be useful here. Btw I am not the welder, rather I have a friend who will weld it for me.

Thanks in advance

Just a word of caution...the thread on an element as you're describing is a 1" NPS thread. NPT threads have a taper on the thread and rely on that and a pipe sealant such as teflon tape to seal the threads. NPS threads rely on an O-ring seal. I've heard of a few success stories of threading NPS threads into an NPTF fitting, but I wouldn't recommend it.

You might think about going with something like what is offered here. Hope this helped!

What you want is a 1" NPSL aluminum locknut. Mcmaster 44705K416 $9.31
Weld to the face of your pot while clamping it tightly with a bolt, nut and two large fender washers.

I like the idea of tri-clover, but can't swing it yet. In the future i'm going to dump my equipment and go stainless but not at the moment. Especially since the fittings are stainless and my kettle is aluminum.

As far as the threads, I didn't know that. I followed Kal's site in purchasing my equipment for the element. I have the oring and washer which would fit between my element box and the new flange. If that makes a difference. Right now I have the hex locknut inside and the oring outside.

Thanks for the advice

Edit: thanks Bobby. Looking into that now.

Bobby_M said:

What you want is a 1" NPSL aluminum locknut. Mcmaster 44705K416 $9.31
Weld to the face of your pot while clamping it tightly with a bolt, nut and two large fender washers.

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Or - You might silver solder a 1.5 Triclover port into the vessel using Model: ETC4S. Silver solder and Harris Stay Clean Liquid flux also works very well on alumnum.

Interesting. I had discounted silver soldering as an option because my bottle of harris stay clean says "not recommended for aluminum". I never questioned why or tried it myself due to the warning but who knows what that is based on.

Bobby_M said:

Interesting. I had discounted silver soldering as an option because my bottle of harris stay clean says "not recommended for aluminum". I never questioned why or tried it myself due to the warning but who knows what that is based on.

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You are right - My bad. I named the wrong flux.
Use Harris Stay Clean Aluminum liquid flux with the silver solder. This flux works very well with aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass and other metals.

I just realized that I don't think soldering/welding the lock nut on will work out. The camco element is low on the kettle and because of the ripple shape it won't be able to spin into place.

Looks like tri clover is the way to go, but i'd rather not spend another 100$ on a kettle I don't plan to keep forever.

Mojzis said:

I just realized that I don't think soldering/welding the lock nut on will work out. The camco element is low on the kettle and because of the ripple shape it won't be able to spin into place.

Looks like tri clover is the way to go, but i'd rather not spend another 100$ on a kettle I don't plan to keep forever.

Click to expand...

If you don't plan on keeping it, go weld-less. The kit from brewhardware.com is $30.

From the original post, it says the pot wall is too thick for weldless. Just how thick are we talking about?

According to amazon it is 4.75 mm thick. Just a hair too thick for being able to do weldless.