Threaded bulkhead issues

phillygeeks

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So I found myself being able to hand tighten a schedule 80 nipple into the 1 inch bulkhead I had installed with some thread sealing compound on the threads as seen in the pic. Obviously if I don't need a tool to give it a couple extra turns I don't trust leaving my home with this installed like this. It did take a little effort to unscrew it. However, this is nothing I could leave unattended at home. This is very disappointing and trying to find quality bulkheads for a 1 in pipe and a 1.75 in hole size is basically non-existent

So I think my options are to look for opinions on here for a quality 1" bulkhead that would fit in a 1.75" hole or downsize to 3/4" bulkheads and go with Hayward or some other quality bulkhead brand (Savko?)

My gut at this point is telling me to go with higher quality 3/4" return bulkheads. I have a single Reef Savvy Ghost overflow going to the sump with 1" exits and I will plumb it in a bean animal style and will have two Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0 return pumps for the return lines. One pump will go directly back to the tank. The other pump will power a UV reactor prior to returning to the tank. I am thinking with the adjustable flow of the SDC 9's I will be fine.

IMG_2541.jpeg
 

Llyod276

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Or just put extra Teflon tape or putty in. If it's a slow drip and it's permanent for all intents and purposes, salt creep will seal the leak. Just tie a rag on it for a month and take it off a month later and it will be sealed no leaks. If successful, the rag should have the same consistency of a happy sock worn for 3weeks and discarded lurking under the bed.
 

trainbob

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Can’t give you advice about the bulkhead however none of my joints are tightened with tools. They are all hand tightened and none are leaking. Was told not to use tools to tighten the joints because they will swell once the saltwater runs through them and they will be hard to undo. So far so good after 3 months
 

Beau_B

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Are you against glued joints?

Any threaded joint is inferior to a glued slip fitting, regarding leak potential.
 

redfishbluefish

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Agree with most above, but my question is why so many connections? It appears to be threaded nipple to threaded elbow to thread to slip connection. Why not just use one piece instead of three? A Street elbow/ threaded to slip:

PVC Street Elbow.png
 

homer1475

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I personally would have just done a single theaded nipple on the bulkhead, a street elbow(like suggested above), and a union.

The threaded nipple will alow you to get everything off the bulkhead, and the union would allow you to remove anything past the street elbow.
 
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phillygeeks

phillygeeks

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All my bulkheads have threaded nipples in them and all are hand tight. If it doesn't leak, I'm not seeing an issue here?
My learning on threaded joints was to use joint compound and once finger tight use a strap wrench that isn't oversized and then give it 1-2 more small turns as long as it goes smoothly...taking care not to over tighten. Maybe just hand tighten is fine with the pressures we use. However, if you look at the pic I posted it's not that the taper of the threads allowed it to be hand tight, it's that the nipple ran out of threads and I didn't notice any significant change in resistance prior to the nipple running out of threads to make me think I was running into the taper of the NFT threads. If it was hand tightened on the threads I would definitely not see much of an issue here.

Are you against glued joints?

Any threaded joint is inferior to a glued slip fitting, regarding leak potential.

If ever I needed to replace the bulkhead parts, gasket, fix a leak, etc I would have to bring a saw in and its a little tight quarters for that. I think an appropriately fixed threaded joint will work fine...I just need to get one appropriately fixed

Agree with most above, but my question is why so many connections? It appears to be threaded nipple to threaded elbow to thread to slip connection. Why not just use one piece instead of three? A Street elbow/ threaded to slip:

I personally would have just done a single theaded nipple on the bulkhead, a street elbow(like suggested above), and a union.

The threaded nipple will alow you to get everything off the bulkhead, and the union would allow you to remove anything past the street elbow.
The distance works out perfectly for connecting to the 90 I have going into the wall and it also accommodates running the overflow pipes. If I used the street elbow immediately from the bulkhead I would have a conflict with running into the pipes from the overflow. If I used something like a 1" male thread to slip adapter and then a slip elbow I would have to move the tank further from the wall to the point I thought it just looked awkward. I suppose I could get creative with the plumbing but then I am just adding more connections at a different point. I do wish my local store had a female thread X slip 90 but I didn't think it was so important that I would have to order something and have something shipped. There will be a union after.
Can’t give you advice about the bulkhead however none of my joints are tightened with tools. They are all hand tightened and none are leaking. Was told not to use tools to tighten the joints because they will swell once the saltwater runs through them and they will be hard to undo. So far so good after 3 months
"Tool" was a little vague on my end. I was referring to a small pipe strap wrench like this. Not too big to avoid too much mechanical advantage.
61HOIHRzCNL._AC_SS450_.jpg
 
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phillygeeks

phillygeeks

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It looks possilbe that your bulkhead ID threads are NPS (National Pipe Straight) and not NPT (National Pipe Tapered).
That would make sense. Unfortunately, I don't see anything listed on the site where I bought the bulkhead. Either way I would feel better with a better quality bulkhead the more I think about things, rather than a random ABS bulkhead where I have no idea where it was manufactured
 
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phillygeeks

phillygeeks

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From my understanding a 1" bean animal style with a secondary durso probably wouldn't do more than 2000 gph, even with a full syphon. If I switched to higher quality 3/4" bulkheads it would seem that they could allow for enough return flow looking at some of the charts I have seen.
 
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