Peanut butter as temporary, easy-clean-up, food-safe joint compound...

[feinbera]

...there are probably a thousand reasons this is a bad idea with actual beer, but it's working wonders in helping me debug the air leak in my igloo cooler mash tun bulkhead assembly.

Anybody got a better idea for when even multiple layers of teflon tape won't quite cut it?

 

[dmcman73]

...there are probably a thousand reasons this is a bad idea with actual beer, but it's working wonders in helping me debug the air leak in my igloo cooler mash tun bulkhead assembly.

Anybody got a better idea for when even multiple layers of teflon tape won't quite cut it?

Are you assembling threaded parts? They do make thicker teflon tape, i picked up this stuff from Home Depot called "Blue Monster" which is thicker than standard teflon tape so it requires fewer wraps (Min 3 wraps VS 5-7 wraps of the standard white teflon tape).

Where exactly is it leaking? at the joint from your pickup to the bulk head? Through the cooler wall where the bulkhead goes through? Can you post a pic?

EDIT: This is the stuff: http://cleanfit.com/blue_monster_ptfe_thread_seal_tape_70885.shtml

 

[feinbera]

Yeah, the problem's with threaded parts, the joint between the hose barb and the ball valve (outside the cooler), at least, it stopped drawing air when I slathered that joint in peanut butter.

Guess I'll give "many many wraps of white teflon tape" a shot, and if that works, I'll go pick up some of the blue stuff.

 

[dmcman73]

Yeah, the problem's with threaded parts, the joint between the hose barb and the ball valve (outside the cooler), at least, it stopped drawing air when I slathered that joint in peanut butter.

Guess I'll give "many many wraps of white teflon tape" a shot, and if that works, I'll go pick up some of the blue stuff.

If you are talking about something like this:

Threading into a valve like this:

And a few wraps (about 6-7) of the white teflon isn't working, then there may be a casting issues with either the valve or the barb, maybe the threading on one of them is defective.

 

[FooFighter]

Teflon tape is not meant to seal joints... the taper of the threads is what seals the fittings. Teflon tape is a lubricant that allows you to tighten the fittings enough to get a seal. It also prevents seizing of fittings so they can be taken apart if needed. Metal-on-metal contact causes a ton a friction that makes it near impossible to tighten properly.
This is why Teflon tape is used. It's not to fill in the gaps of the threads... that's the threads' job!

I would recommend cleaning the threads of all tape and start over.
Wrap the threads in tape using slightly overlapping passes until they are covered once. Don't protrude past the end of the threads.

If you put too much tape, the fittings will not fully mate causing a leak.

As mentioned, if you have defective fittings nothing will seal them!

 

[dmcman73]

Teflon tape is not meant to seal joints... the taper of the threads is what seals the fittings. Teflon tape is a lubricant that allows you to tighten the fittings enough to get a seal. It also prevents seizing of fittings so they can be taken apart if needed. Metal-on-metal contact causes a ton a friction that makes it near impossible to tighten properly.
This is why Teflon tape is used. It's not to fill in the gaps of the threads... that's the threads' job!

Actually, it does act as a filler. Yes it's not a sealant but, it does act as a filler between threads that are not a precise "tight" fit.