I have a valve teed off my return plumbing that I use for water changes - to drain the water I close the valve on the return plumbing, hook up a hose to the side pipe and then turn on my return pump to pump the water to the drain. The other day I started the process and noticed water spraying out the back of the stand.
For those who don't know, NPT threaded connections are tapered, or funnel-shaped, so the tighter you screw it in, the more outward pressure the male fitting puts on the female fitting.
This is a standard, schedule 40 PVC valve that I got at Home Depot and has been in place for 2 or 3 years. I remember installing it and tightening it to try and get it square (and pretty) but I clearly had over-tightened it. The fortunate part is that when the valve on the return pipe was open there's relatively little pressure on the system so the leak was nothing more than a drip. When I closed the return valve and the pump had to increase the pressure to pump through the hose it caused a significant leak to spray out. Fortunately I had another valve left over from something else so it was a quick fix to swap it out.
For those who don't know, NPT threaded connections are tapered, or funnel-shaped, so the tighter you screw it in, the more outward pressure the male fitting puts on the female fitting.
This is a standard, schedule 40 PVC valve that I got at Home Depot and has been in place for 2 or 3 years. I remember installing it and tightening it to try and get it square (and pretty) but I clearly had over-tightened it. The fortunate part is that when the valve on the return pipe was open there's relatively little pressure on the system so the leak was nothing more than a drip. When I closed the return valve and the pump had to increase the pressure to pump through the hose it caused a significant leak to spray out. Fortunately I had another valve left over from something else so it was a quick fix to swap it out.