Galvanized steel pipes - tighten how much?

[GreatArtist]

I had to install a new kitchen faucet. After I removed the old faucet, the galvanized steel nipples were too damaged from corrosion so I removed them. Then I put in new nipples, using teflon paste. How tight am I supposed to tighten them? Am I supposed to keep turning until it's very hard to turn or what? So far I only tighted them enough to not leak, because I didn't want to damage the old galvanized steel pipes, which are very old. The amount of force I had to use was not very much (using a vice grip).

[roger61611]

Somewhere between a gentle nudge and full force. You should not put all your weight into them. If you have them to where they don't leak, give it a pinch more, and that should do it.

[William.Deans]

I was once told to tighten 1" black pipe to 50 ft-lb. I believe that puts an "upper limit" on how tight you should make the nipple.

Hope this helps, William