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i just had a bronze elbow/hose barb failure. i am going to replace all bronze with plastic. i will be going from the pump plastic housing 3/4 male thread to plastic elbow then to 1 inch hose barb, do ya'll like threaded or glue fittings for the plastic? everything beyound this connection is already plastic including the water manifold recommended by spcoolin (r.i.p.). i
Glue is stronger however for ease of dismantling it if something goes wrong threaded might be a good choice. Really surprised the bronze failed.
Yeah, it might have been brass and not bronze unless there was a bad electrolysis issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEVEN
Bobk
Use of Teflon tape or not bonded is my guess. My neighbor just two weeks ago almost lost his 65 Donzi due to PVC used for the chilled water AC system. It was all brittle and had to be replaced.
Elbows can affect flow so space permitting, use a straight fitting with a longer hose looping in the right direction.
I woudlnt use PVC on air con raw water side. On chilled water system PVC is often used on the fresh water loop but that's not going to sink the boat in case of a failure.
Marelon or nylon is best in your case, you really don't need any glue, just put some Teflon tape on the thread to help seal them.
This is another reminder to everyone to check and remove any brass nipples in their Ac system... Been there, done that...
when i bought the fitting from donovan marine it claimed to be brass, it failed where the threaded nipple screwed onto the elbow, the threads were all but gone. it was spraying water, i couple of more days and it would have broken off and flooded the boat
Y can not use brass in salt water, it will corrode to the point were th threads will become paper thin and eventually fail. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to find bronze nipples so th only solution if you want to stick with bronze is to use bronze barb fittings with double clamped hoses.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbill
Teflon tape is primarily a thread lubricant, not a sealent. Use 'True:-Blu' . Available at home depot. It is a liquid Teflon sealent that dries but doesn't harden so u can remove the fitting at a later date without damage. It works great.
One clue to watch for is the blue stain that starts to appear as a brass fitting gets thin. That tells you it is likely almost toast.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbill
Bobk
sorry guys, that was meant to be bronze fitting, i must have had brass on my mind when typing
I bet it was brass. Bronze would not have failed
We have a marine store here that caters to the bigger boats a little more and all of their nipples are labeled "bronze" on their shelf. I had one fail that could have sunk my boat, but I found it in time, or maybe it was Ed who found it. It had only been there about 3 months..
After a little investigation on my own, I discovered it was red brass. I brought it to the store management's attention, and they took the position that they can call red brass, bronze, interchangeably. NOPE! It's not the same.
My experience has been that even bronze will fail over time from the abrasion of salt water under constant water flow as we experience here in FL on AC systems. I have changed everything I can to schedule 80 PVC for just that reason.