Heating element not fitting

I picked up my keggle earlier this week from my welder. It has been a long week with not much free time. I did have a bit of time to dabble with it though, by attaching all the various parts.

In the back is a 1" half coupling for my heating element. At about half way in the element seems tight. I put a wrench on it and only get 3/4 s in before I am too concerned to crank any harder. The element sits about 1 thread proud of having the o-ring seat on the outside of the coupler.

Anyone else run into this? I am contemplating adding a washer to get the o-ring compressed against the coupler or maybe cranking a little more on the element. As i have said I have not had much time to tinker with it but, I am trying to get all my ducks in order to get it running this weekend.

I believe the half coupling is tapered pipe thread....it should seal well w/ teflon tape...the threads are the seal.

Thanks, will give it a try.

+1

Most of us are doing the weldless thing. We need the o-ring to make the seal. If you have a welded 1/2 coupling you should not need the o-ring. Put on some teflon tape and give it a water test.

The question is whether or not it seated prior to welding. If it did, you had a little heat warping. Running a 1" pipe tap through should help.

If not, the problem is that you're threading a male NPS thread into a NPT female thread. I think that's why some folks go with a 1" locknut welded in. I'm sure with enough teflon tape on the threads, you' can get a thread seal rather than seating the oring.

Thanks Bobby,
Not sure if it fit before hand, don't think I even had an element before the keg was handed off. My welder is a professional sanitary welder and he cut the holes and welded it for me. His work is beautiful. My guess is he did not do anything to alter the threads by his welding.

Learned something new from you today though: NPT vs NPS. I have been looking at learning to weld today but can't find any classes that work for me. My next step is to use your polishing techniques to make it look beautiful.

Thanks

The element is NPS and the fitting is NPT. You do not seal it with teflon tape. You use an O-ring to seal it. Usually it is not a problem to get a good seal. It is possible that the fitting may have warped when welded in. If your welder has a 1" NPT tap, you could have him run it thru the threads until you can get the element to seal.

See Swagman's post in this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/1-inch-npt-element-sought-144470/

Just a thought you stated you used a 1 inch half coupler. I make my own out of a full coupler. If you think about it a coupler the threads are reversed from a male pipe. The wider thread is at the beginning and the taper is farther in. I will check but a 1/2 coupler made from a full coupler may have more threads and taper farther in. All the elements I buy state right on the package NPS National Pipe Straight and all the element's I thread into a 1 inch half coupler made from a full coupler. I would second the suggestion of running a Tap Thur it.


Just my option on the coupler but a fact in how I put them together


Dominus Vobiscum

Swagman

I wish it were that easy. Next week is my 3rd week in a row that I will be out of town for at least 4 days. I was supposed to have a day off this week but had to work instead. My welder is an hour north of me and does not work weekends. So I will have to work on other brew rig projects this weekend.

I guess i could bring the keg with me on the plane and see if i can get someone to work on it in Idaho next week. This schedule is negatively affecting my ability to both brew and drink beer.