Gear Update - Kettle and Manifold Done!

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Cheesefood

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Finished my projects. I'm getting a leak in my ball valve. Can anyone tell me if thread tape will fix it?

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Looks good. Not sure about the leak. Would it be easier to bend the copper that connect with elbow joints? I have a pipe bender at work that is at my disposal, this is the reason I ask.


Dan
 
Willsellout said:
Looks good. Not sure about the leak. Would it be easier to bend the copper that connect with elbow joints? I have a pipe bender at work that is at my disposal, this is the reason I ask.


Dan

Don't know, depends on your design and your cooler. I'm using a round igloo cooler.
 
Looks more like the o-ring isn't sealing against the side of the kettle, Cheese. Perhaps you could loosen and very carefully re-tighten the weldless fitting, paying special attention to the o-ring. I've had similar problems in the past with those kind of fittings - a little trial and error always seems to fix it.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Looks more like the o-ring isn't sealing against the side of the kettle, Cheese. Perhaps you could loosen and very carefully re-tighten the weldless fitting, paying special attention to the o-ring. I've had similar problems in the past with those kind of fittings - a little trial and error always seems to fix it.

Just the person I wanted to answer! OK, there's no leak by the washer. The leak is happening where the nut meets the valve.

Just keep futzing with it, or should I crank it tighter or get a better O-ring?
 
In that case, teflon tape is definitely the way to go. Pipe threaded fittings can be finicky. Use plenty of tape (very evenly applied), and tighten it down quite snug. That should fix it.
 
Manifold looks good cheese. Did the flow seem to be pretty good through it? Not that speed is an issue... May consider some cuts in the center section too but probably not all that necessary. Whens the virgin voyage?
 
Yuri_Rage said:
In that case, teflon tape is definitely the way to go. Pipe threaded fittings can be finicky. Use plenty of tape (very evenly applied), and tighten it down quite snug. That should fix it.
Agreed. On all of mine, I had to tighten the hell out of them. Your o-ring doesn't look nearly flat enough.
 
Cheese,
your system looks good.your leak problem may be your weldless fitting,try tightening some more.If that leak continues apply teflon tape to threads of fitting,
npt threads (National Plumbing Taper)are tapered threads and require threads to bottom out to seal if no sealant is applied
 
horhay said:
Cheese,
your system looks good.your leak problem may be your weldless fitting,try tightening some more.If that leak continues apply teflon tape to threads of fitting,
npt threads (National Plumbing Taper)are tapered threads and require threads to bottom out to seal if no sealant is applied

I'm going to play with it some after tomorrow. I think tape will solve the problem, but I'm also going to get a bigger wrench so I can tighten the hell out of those nuts. I'm hoping to do a test run by next weekend when it warms up.
 
Cheesefood said:
... but I'm also going to get a bigger wrench so I can tighten the hell out of those nuts...

Are you going to work on the kettle afterwards?
 
Wrapped the threads in thread tape and tightened it all back up, but I think I destroyed my O rings in the process. Do they sell the high-temp ones at Home Depot? I have a Grainger right by my office if it's cheaper to get them there.
 
Cheesefood said:
Wrapped the threads in thread tape and tightened it all back up, but I think I destroyed my O rings in the process. Do they sell the high-temp ones at Home Depot? I have a Grainger right by my office if it's cheaper to get them there.
They do, I had saved a link someone posted once, you won't need to buy any for a long time...comes in a 50 count. These claim to be hi-temp silicone but are black???

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1613609894
 
whodwho said:
They do, I had saved a link someone posted once, you won't need to buy any for a long time...comes in a 50 count. These claim to be hi-temp silicone but are black???

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1613609894

Thanks! I'll look at licking some up. Wouldn't hurt to change them out every few batches to eliminate potential funkiness. I should really grind down that hole some more to smooth it down. I thought I had done a good enough job.
 
Problem.

Tightened on everything last night and tried putting some things together. The male barbs on my MLT and kettle are larger than the copper tubing on my CFC. It's not a LOT different in size, but the hose I bought doesn't fit snug on the CFC. Should I hose clamp it onto the CFC or is there some better way to fix this problem?
 
What kind of tubing?

If it's food grade plastic, I'd get stuff that was tight to the CFC and then heat up the other side and expand it to fit.
 
I had the same problem and decided to downsize the barb on the mlt. You could just use tubing that fits the CFC snuggly and warm up the other end in boiling water to force onto the larger barb. For example, 1/4" ID tubing easily expands to fit onto a 3/8" barb. A little keg lube on the barb makes it even easier.

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rdwj said:
What kind of tubing?

If it's food grade plastic, I'd get stuff that was tight to the CFC and then heat up the other side and expand it to fit.

A vinyl tubing that's approved for refridgerator ice makers.

I'm going to test out clamping the hose to the CFC, or I'll look into getting a M2M adapter and another piece of hose. (I'll admit it - that sentence is highly joke worthy.)
 
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