On Jul 16, 9:49*am, stan wrote:
On Jul 15, 10:06*am, Eric in North TX wrote:



On Jul 15, 6:48*am, George wrote:

Chuck wrote:
Rudy wrote:

The thing is, this stinking union will not stop leaking at the
compression spot. *I've cranked it down almost to the limits of
what I'm *capable of doing. *Is this right? *Is it normal to crank
the snot out of *these things, or do I have a faulty *union or
something?
Metal or PVC ? *Is there a slot machined in there for an "O" ring ?

Metal. *Looks like brass with a copper pipe. *

Interesting about the lubrication. *I had pipe dope on it the first
time, from sweating the pipe, and I removed it the second try. *I've
torqued the heck out of it now and it _might_ be sealed. *I'll wait
overnight to know for sure. *If it's still leaking I'll try some WD-40
and/or permatex. *Thanks.

A normal union doesn't need permatex, wd40 or anything else. If the
mating faces are clean and you have good alignment and it leaks after
nominal tightening the union is defective.

Maybe, but I've been fighting them tight way before the cheap imports
hit these shores., Once I saw the guy changing my deep well pump smear
a little pipe dope on before attempting to assemble the ones in the
well head, I felt silly. I now follow his lead, and have little
trouble with those.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sounds as though anything 'slippery' helps lubricate the threads so
that the union will put smooth and tight compressive force on the
metal to metal joint of the 'olive' and copper pipe etc.?
Not that we are stuffing up the joint with some sort of sealing
compound. Correct?
Thinking about one part of the Middle East where 'plumbers' and
repairers tended to put sealing tape on anything with a thread, even
if not required.
The threads, in some cases, were really clogged up with sealing tape
debris in some cases which made tightening a chore!

Mostly, but the well guy put a smear on the mating surfaces too. There
is a little friction there as it mates, and that makes it go together
easily. I no longer get the 36" pipe wrench out when dealing with a
union, but I used to.