Leaking pipe joint - lesson re-learned


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Old 10-26-22, 04:33 PM
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Leaking pipe joint - lesson re-learned

I have admired myself for knowing that we DIYers tend to underestimate the torque required to make leak-free connections of threaded steel pipe. Well, not so fast.

I recently replaced the fuel valve on our natural-gas boiler. I was sure that the threaded gas piping connections were very tight. But, later, I smelled a bit of natural gas. I found two piping joints that were loose and slowly leaking. Those joints were loose as a goose - how could I have done that?

There was an old paper by Bell & Gosset that studied how tight threaded joints need to be. They recruited some experienced plumbers and measured the torque they actually used to makeup threaded joints - much higher than we might expect.
 
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Old 10-26-22, 07:01 PM
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You did use tfe paste on the joints. Right?
 
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Old 10-26-22, 07:12 PM
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I have never had an issue with my piping being loose.
I have seen problems with crappy fittings and poor pipe threads.
I also see many problems with todays generation of unions.
 
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Old 10-26-22, 10:21 PM
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I have seen problems with crappy fittings and poor pipe threads.
I also see many problems with todays generation of unions.
And the "Made in XXXX" says what?

Bet XXXX=China!

The worst example I have found are copper fittings. What used to be common was Nibco, now all you find in the BBS are "made in China" junk. A lot of time they just dont fit, I avoid as much as possible.
 
 

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