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chemist308 · 03-22-2008, 03:40 AM

So I got this Kewler Kitz conversion for my cooler and found out the bazooka screen won't fit my 5 gallon and the walls were way too thick for the conversion to be used on my Igloo 50. So I went out and bought a rectangular Rubbermaid 48 quart cooler.

Now I got this thing together and the thing leaks slightly. When I saw that I tightened the crap out of it, and then when that didn't work, took it all apart and cleaned everything. Still has a slight leak. It's not pronounced, maybe a drop every few seconds. Is this common? Does it affect anything with the extraction?

**Sea** · 03-22-2008, 03:42 AM

Use Teflon Tape.

chemist308 · 03-22-2008, 04:04 AM

Teflon tape is on it.

FlyGuy · 03-22-2008, 04:37 AM

Maybe you have over-tightened it. That is a really common cause of leaks. You have to find that narrow sweet-spot between too loose and too tight, sometimes.

If that's not it, how does the seal look on the inside wall of the cooler? Is everything flush, or does it appear a bit lop-sided looking (if you know what I mean)?

McKBrew · 03-22-2008, 05:45 AM

I had this problem initially on mine. Try this first.

1) Put way more teflon tape than you would think and actually take it back onto the fitting past the internal washer. This worked for me.

I upgraded to a larger ball valve and purchased some food grad silicone from McMaster-Carr, so now it's permanently fixed.

**Denny's Evil Concoctions** · 03-22-2008, 08:02 AM

Instead of white teflon tape, use Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) gas tape (yellow). It's thicker, you need less and it works 10 times better.

http://www.antonline.com/p_017065-GP_344100.htm
http://www.argco.com/cgi-bin/item/6010170.html

There's also a pink type of PTFE tape that is often used for water lines, but the yellow stuff is pretty cheap and is the best (more dence).

Moonpile · 03-22-2008, 12:30 PM

Was there a factory gasket that was used on the original spigot that you removed from the cooler? If so try using that in conjuction with the rest of your kit.

**Bobby_M** · 03-22-2008, 01:09 PM

That's really the inherent flaw of weldless kits. They have no built in way of stopping liquids from getting in between the coupling and washer. Once it gets past there, it has access to the threads on the nipple, then between the nipple and washer. The workaround is to literally fill the thread space with teflon. This is why I hate weldless, even if it works, it's a jury rig.

**Denny's Evil Concoctions** · 03-22-2008, 07:29 PM

Teflon tape is pretty useless. As I said earlier, try the gas tape. Night and day difference with that stuff. It is used on natural gas connections after all.

chemist308 · 03-23-2008, 11:23 PM

Thanks for all the advice. I figured this one out. For one the piping going through the cooler was too short, not allowing for a good grip of the threads. The way I solved it was over-tightening, which ended up leaking.

So I went to Lowes and got a brass piece that was a little longer, and also got an assortment of o-rings. The assembly looks a little different that what the kit suggests, but now it doesn't leak.

What I've learned: DON'T spend $40 on one of these things. It's too easy to just assemble your own...