10gal Home Depot cooler MT: big hole fix

[adbuett]

I've been lurking around for a while researching my in-progress all grain setup. I purchased the 10 gallon water cooler from Home Depot along with the various required fittings for a mash tun. Upon removing the spigot from the cooler, to my dismay I found they had changed the design and the hole is bigger than the 3/8" nipple by at least 1/4". I pounded through the usual build and at the end had a MT that didn't leak, but man did that thing feel flimsy. I am positive it would have sprung a leak after a use or two.

I will preface my procedure with saying that I have a full woodshop in my basement so power tools were used extensively. However, all procedures can be accomplished with hand tools and elbow greese.

In order to get a tighter fit to my bulkhead I decided to craft a spacer out of some 3/4" HDPE stock I had laying around. I took the HDPE to my drill press and used a Forstner bit to drill a hole slightly smaller than the 3/8" nipple. After doing that I used a round file to fine tune the hole until the nipple fit through. I then took that piece and traced the I.D. of the rubber gasket that comes with the cooler around the smaller hole to create a washer of sorts. A quick trip to the bandsaw had the spacer close to what I needed it to be and after cleaning it up on the disc sander I had a spacer that fit over the nipple and through the rubber gasket. Trimmed the spacer flush with the thickness of the gasket and there we have it. If anybody has any simpler, or better, ideas I would love to hear them. Might be able to find some tubing or a spacer that would fit the nipple well, but I had this stuff on hand and just went to it.

End result:

End Product:

 

[day_trippr]

It does look like the Home Depot cooler changed since I built my Homer MLT, so I don't know if this would work on yours or not, but I used a 1/2" cooler bulkhead - a 1/2" close nipple to a 1/2" lock nut with "semi-captive" O-ring - with a 1/2" full coupler inside and a 1/2" BV outside.

I did have to grind down two SS washers to fit inside that recessed space to draw everything up nice and snug, but in five-something years it's never leaked...

Cheers!

 

[oljimmy]

Having ordered the wrong parts for this setup already and heading out to HD to buy the new enlarged rubbermaid cooler, I was wondering: with enough 5/8" fender washers, why would the larger hole make for more leaks? What matters is the seal on the inside, correct? And if you get this tight enough, why does the size of the brass nipple relative to the hole matter? I am literally buying all of this in 6 hours so an answer would be much appreciated, ha ha.

 

[day_trippr]

If the nipple isn't laterally stable, leaks will likely happen.

Whether you use a nipple that just fits, or use a smaller nipple with a bushing, that will keep the assembly from drifting around which should help maintain a good seal...

Cheers!

 

[oljimmy]

Hi Day Trippr,

Since I'd already ordered everything online, I just assembled my 10 gal rubbermaid home depot tun, and indeed it does begin to leak as it hits the 2-3 gallon mark. Not good. Thing is, I know about as much about plumbing as Sarah Palin knows about foreign policy. If you're feeling generous, could you lay out in simple terms what is involved in installing a "bushing" here? I'm afraid that the solutions above are a little outside of my ability range...

If the nipple isn't laterally stable, leaks will likely happen.

Whether you use a nipple that just fits, or use a smaller nipple with a bushing, that will keep the assembly from drifting around which should help maintain a good seal...

Cheers!

 

[adbuett]

" If the nipple isn't laterally stable, leaks will likely happen."

Bingo! I may have been being a little too nit-picky, but I ended up disassembling and wrapping the middle of the nipple in about 15 turns of PTFE tape in order to get an even snugger fit in my bushing. That thing doesn't wiggle even a mm now!

Like I said in the OP, there are probably easier means by which to secure the bulkhead through the cooler, but I had that stuff on hand and the means. There might be a size of PVC or some other random part that would fit the rubber gasket nicely. I would suggest removing the gasket, taking it and the nipple to the store, and walking around looking for something that will fit. The outer diameter of the bushing is really what matters since you can always widen the inside hole or use PTFE tape to make a snug fit.

Good luck everybody,

Andrew

 

[oljimmy]

Yup, I just wandered around in my basement, looking through my various toolboxes, until I found a little piece of plastic tube, a section of which, in combination with a ton of PFTE tape, gave me a watertight seal with no tap movement. For those who are reading this wondering what to do about the new Home Depot spigot hole sizes, this is essential. No other way to avoid leakage with just the 3/8" parts.

 

[day_trippr]

Hi Day Trippr,
[...]If you're feeling generous, could you lay out in simple terms what is involved in installing a "bushing" here? I'm afraid that the solutions above are a little outside of my ability range...

In the OP's post he fabricated a "bushing", which is essentially just a hollow spacer. Not much more to it than that. The trick is finding the right chunk of "something" that makes a tight enough fit inside the cooler port while also having enough room inside to fit the nipple.

And in both cases, ideally the fits are close to "pressed". Slop is not what you're going for here. And if that means using some tape to tighten things up, that's just fine...

Cheers!

 

[adbuett]

In the OP's post he fabricated a "bushing", which is essentially just a hollow spacer. Not much more to it than that. The trick is finding the right chunk of "something" that makes a tight enough fit inside the cooler port while also having enough room inside to fit the nipple.

And in both cases, ideally the fits are close to "pressed". Slop is not what you're going for here. And if that means using some tape to tighten things up, that's just fine...

Cheers!

That's exactly it. I actually just came across some thin walled pvc that would work too. It's a length of pipe with a metal male thread on one end that is hooked up to a water heater's pressure relieve valve to direct water closer to the floor. They're about $6 at HD and a little bit of PTFE tape would snug it up perfectly. Of course you're paying $6 for literally 1/2" of tubing... I still say it's best to take the nipple and rubber bushing to the store and just test fit stuff.

Andrew

 

[Roust56]

Has anyone discovered a fix for this that doesn't required owning a wood shop and expensive tools?

I have all of the 3/8" parts and I have a small leak that looks like it is coming from the bottom of the washers on the outside. I tried cutting some gasket rubber and wrapping that around the nipple but it doesn't seem to be working. The whole assemble seems a bit flimsy, I can spin the valve around by hand even though it is extremely tightened. Should I just give up and cover the inside rubber gasket with silicone sealant?

I'd rather avoid that if possible so I can take it apart for cleaning now and then.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gonefishing]

The whole assemble seems a bit flimsy, I can spin the valve around by hand even though it is extremely tightened.then.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you can spin it around after really tightening it, you need a thicker, or additional washer to increase the clamping pressure.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

His problem lies with the I.D. of the hole in the cooler, and the O.D. of the parts he bought to make the transformation.

 

[Gonefishing]

I had a similar problem with mine...solved it with two thick stainless steel washers and a fat o-ring.

 

[adbuett]

Has anyone discovered a fix for this that doesn't required owning a wood shop and expensive tools?

I have all of the 3/8" parts and I have a small leak that looks like it is coming from the bottom of the washers on the outside. I tried cutting some gasket rubber and wrapping that around the nipple but it doesn't seem to be working. The whole assemble seems a bit flimsy, I can spin the valve around by hand even though it is extremely tightened. Should I just give up and cover the inside rubber gasket with silicone sealant?

I'd rather avoid that if possible so I can take it apart for cleaning now and then.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I suggest taking the nipple to the big box store and perusing the plumbing isle until you find something the nipple fits relatively well inside. One of my previous posts mentions ysint thin walled pvc used for water heater drains. Pex might even work as well. Does anybody know if any hb suppliers have updated a conversion kit to work with the new size?


Edit:

Ha, wow... I guess being at work really takes it out of me. I actually scrapped using the 3/8" size fittings and bumped up to 1/2". From the inside out: 1/2" female barbed fitting screwed to 1/2" pipe nipple, washers/gasket, cooler wall, 1/2" brass ball valve on outside part of the nipple, then a cam-lock fitting from brewhardware.

 

[backsideslash]

I suggest taking the nipple to the big box store and perusing the plumbing isle until you find something the nipple fits relatively well inside. One of my previous posts mentions ysint thin walled pvc used for water heater drains. Pex might even work as well. Does anybody know if any hb suppliers have updated a conversion kit to work with the new size?


Edit:

Ha, wow... I guess being at work really takes it out of me. I actually scrapped using the 3/8" size fittings and bumped up to 1/2". From the inside out: 1/2" female barbed fitting screwed to 1/2" pipe nipple, washers/gasket, cooler wall, 1/2" brass ball valve on outside part of the nipple, then a cam-lock fitting from brewhardware.

Did scaling up everything to the 1/2" fittings work for you? I am about to buy everything I need to make a mash tun with the Home Depot cooler and I was thinking just scaling up to 1/2" would be an easier solution but didn't want to spend the money just to find out it wouldn't work if at all possible.

 

[adbuett]

Did scaling up everything to the 1/2" fittings work for you? I am about to buy everything I need to make a mash tun with the Home Depot cooler and I was thinking just scaling up to 1/2" would be an easier solution but didn't want to spend the money just to find out it wouldn't work if at all possible.

Whoops, sorry about not catching this reply sooner, I guess my thread-subscription got turned off somehow.

Yes, the 1/2" works magnificently! I just ran through an ESB yesterday with a new false bottom. I've pushed through 8 beers through the 1/2" setup and have had absolutely zero problems caused by the 1/2" fittings (shoddy homemade false bottom was a different story...).

As I suggested with the 3/8" fittings-fix I suggest taking what parts you have on hand along with you to HD to double make sure everything will fit nicely. At the very least take the rubber grommet from the cooler along with you to make sure the nipple isn't too loose. I did end up using a handful of wraps of PTFE tape on the middle of the nipple for a tight fit to the rubber grommet. I think I ended up spending a good hour traipsing around the plumbing section at HD sorting everything out...

In my opinion, the 1/2" fittings are the easiest and most reliable way to go about converting the new style of HD cooler.

 

[backsideslash]

Whoops, sorry about not catching this reply sooner, I guess my thread-subscription got turned off somehow.

Yes, the 1/2" works magnificently! I just ran through an ESB yesterday with a new false bottom. I've pushed through 8 beers through the 1/2" setup and have had absolutely zero problems caused by the 1/2" fittings (shoddy homemade false bottom was a different story...).

As I suggested with the 3/8" fittings-fix I suggest taking what parts you have on hand along with you to HD to double make sure everything will fit nicely. At the very least take the rubber grommet from the cooler along with you to make sure the nipple isn't too loose. I did end up using a handful of wraps of PTFE tape on the middle of the nipple for a tight fit to the rubber grommet. I think I ended up spending a good hour traipsing around the plumbing section at HD sorting everything out...

In my opinion, the 1/2" fittings are the easiest and most reliable way to go about converting the new style of HD cooler.

Awesome, I appreciate the reply, I was hoping that would work. Can't wait to make the leap to all grain!

 

[adbuett]

Awesome, I appreciate the reply, I was hoping that would work. Can't wait to make the leap to all grain!

Also make sure the nipple isn't too long or else you'll needing a buttload of spacers to achieve a decent seal. Good luck on the conversion!