In article ,
"Arfa Daily" writes:
I've just fitted a chrome ladder-type towel rad as part of my bathroom
refit. Right angled valves onto pipes that I've chased into the wall. No
problems with any of that, but I've got a slight weep from the tails where
they screw into the rad. I wrapped the threads with what I thought was an
appropriate amount of PTFE tape before fitting the tails, and pulled them up
(needs a bloody great allen key) as tight as seemed reasonable.

It's only a small weep, resulting in a single drip perhaps every 10 minutes.
The heating system is off at the moment, and has been all summer, so it's
all cold, and any water pressure is static only, so I'm thinking if I power
back up, this problem is only going to be worse. I've looked very carefully,
and the water is definitely coming down from where the tail enters the rad,
not welling up from the tap to tail union. Both sides are doing it , but one
about twice as much as the other.

So what's the answer ? More tape ? Pull the tails up a bit tighter ? Some
different thread sealer ? Obviously, it's a pain in the arse to have to keep
draining the rad, and taking it back off the wall, so a 'guaranteed
fix-in-one' would be nice, if anyone's had this problem, and sorted it.

IME, it varies considerably with different radiator makes how
many PTFE turns to use. I started with 10 turns. In a few cases,
this wasn't enough, so I stripped it all off and rewound with 15
turns. With it being a whole new install, I could pressure test
sections with air and using gas leak detector spray, which made
finding and fixing leaks easy with the system all still dry.
It's harder when you're modifying a system.

So, I would redo the connections with more PTFE tape. There are
liquid versions of it which some people claim is easiler to use,
but I've never used it myself.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]