Weldless fittings and leakage

Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em....

If you've used weldless fittings on your boil kettle, have they leaked on you?

If they have, did you ever figure out why (didn't clean the burr on the drill hole and screwed up the o-ring, etc)?

I would much prefer welded fittings, but my weldless are fine for now. I've had to fix a few leaks, but overall they are fine.

I really wanted to vote for Nader.

I've got weldless on my boil kettle and my HLT. Boil kettle they are fine. No leaks. HLT I have minor leaks, but I believe that was due to placement. I have them too close to the bumps on the keg and I can't get them flat.

1 for Nader...maybe he can win this election

I voted
"I've used weldless fittings, had a leak, fixed it and I'm good"
But that one leak was in the middle of a boil causing severe annoyance. I have since went welded. It's likely you won't get a leak if installed properly, but the $25 per keg I paid was well worth the piece of mind.

I have 3 keggles with 6 weldless fittings and the only one to even remotely leak is one of the Thermosights. I had a hell of a time getting them to seal because of the stainless nipples. I had to add 2-3 SS washers on each side of the keg wall to get it to seal (after buying replacement nipples). The only leak is from my HLT and it's a slow drip, so overall I'm content with it.

I'd say for ball valves, weldless was the easiest and most cost effective, but it's a toss-up for the thermomter/sight gauge.