leak free threaded pipe joints

[earlywagon]

I am having a problem sealing PVC pipe threads--male to female --I use pvc male adaptors to pvc valves --and more than 50% of the time, the connection leaks --I have tried pipe dope, rectro-seal, teflon tape, over tightening, and just barley tightening the fitting (also normal tightenign) --this is quite annoying since the joint must be redone --and there is no way of testing it until all is hooked up --any suggestions for pvc to pvc thread joint leaks??

[Harry K]

That is strange. I have never had that problem and all I do is a couple wraps of teflon tape and reasonable tightening.

Harry K

[Phat Phuq]

You also need to make sure the wrapping of the tape is counter-clockwise in order for the tape to work properly. Otherwise you'll just push the tape out of the way when you tighten the fitting.

Here's an easy trick to consistently do it right.

Hold the fitting in your left hand with the threaded end facing your right hand. Start the tape on the top of the thread, from the left side of the thread, and roll away from you, moving down the outside of the pipe and back up the inside. If you were to point the end of the pipe away from you, you'd see that the direction is counter-clockwise. Keep wrapping in that direction working your way to the end of the pipe threads. That would be moving from your left to right on the pipe.

[Al Bundy]

"earlywagon" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Keeping in mind I've had my share of Aw Shits, another tip would be to make sure the male and female seat is firm, even and flush without you holding it before you tighten.Trying to correct something misaligned by bending, twisting, pulling etc then tightening is a prime leak candidate.

I've had pretty good luck with liquid teflon tape as well.