latencymachine
Member
I got a Chugger pump recently and a set of stainless camlock fittings and ball valve. When assembling the fittings I used what I believed to be an ample amount of teflon tape. However, I had a few very slight leaks causing some of the fittings to drip, even with "more than enough" torque on the fittings. FWIW the male threads on the Chugger are pretty rough.
Anyway, I didn't really like the idea of just winding on copious amounts of teflon tape and trying again. The thought of wort seeping into the pipe threads and growing nasty stuff was annoying me. And I tend to avoid dismantling my fittings for thorough cleanings as much as possible. So my with my recent fun and success (thanks to this thread) using Harris Stay Brite to solder stainless steel, I figured I might give it a shot to solder these fittings from the inside instead of using any teflon tape.
I think it turned out pretty good. Check out these pictures of the ball valve to camlock connection. I completely disassembled the ball valve in order to do this... wasn't a big deal. I was really just shooting for sweating a liquid tight seal, but as I got going I realized I could easily build up a fillet/bead to cover over the groove and remaining exposed threads. Seems like this would improve the sanitary aspects and maybe even the flow.
Anyway, I didn't really like the idea of just winding on copious amounts of teflon tape and trying again. The thought of wort seeping into the pipe threads and growing nasty stuff was annoying me. And I tend to avoid dismantling my fittings for thorough cleanings as much as possible. So my with my recent fun and success (thanks to this thread) using Harris Stay Brite to solder stainless steel, I figured I might give it a shot to solder these fittings from the inside instead of using any teflon tape.
I think it turned out pretty good. Check out these pictures of the ball valve to camlock connection. I completely disassembled the ball valve in order to do this... wasn't a big deal. I was really just shooting for sweating a liquid tight seal, but as I got going I realized I could easily build up a fillet/bead to cover over the groove and remaining exposed threads. Seems like this would improve the sanitary aspects and maybe even the flow.
