Help with red sea reefer plumbing

spiraling · Feb 10, 2017

Hey everyone,
I'm setting up a reefer 525 and we are having a horrible time with the plumbing. We built a manifold similar to @Broadfield but we can't get it connected to the red sea plumbing without leaks. I bought the
3/4" Schedule 80 PVC (MPT x S) Male 836-007
from pvcfitingonline as many have. We wrapped it with tape and it leaked, We wrapped it more an tightened it more and and after running for a few hours the red sea fitting split. I got a new fitting from red sea and we have tried about 6 times to get the right tape / tightness without breaking it. It leaks every time at the threads. How did the rest of you do it?

Broadfield · Feb 11, 2017

How many wraps of Teflon tape are you using? I recommend about 15 wraps. And you will simply thread in the fitting until it bottoms out against the Red Sea housing.... the tape is sealing is, not necessarily how tight it is.

spiraling · Feb 11, 2017

Broadfield said:
How many wraps of Teflon tape are you using? I recommend about 15 wraps. And you will simply thread in the fitting until it bottoms out against the Red Sea housing.... the tape is sealing is, not necessarily how tight it is.

That's what we tried the first time and cracked the housing. It never bottomed out.

spiraling · Feb 11, 2017

Hey @Broadfield you solved it!
our piece never bottomed out like yours. I got a new piece and it threaded on easily. Sooo I took a close look at the piece I had glued to everything, and the plastic molding wasn't as good. The threads were slightly misaligned and there was flashing. So I took a razor blade and cleaned it up as best I could. I still didn't bottom out on dry fit - bit was close. Then we put on a bunch of thread sealant, which we tried before, (not lubricant, and recommended by the pvc manufacturer of the pipe instead to tape since it wont split the adjoining piece) and everything is good now. I think we just ad a bad connector. Happy day! tank is up and cycling!

Broadfield · Feb 11, 2017

spiraling said:
Hey @Broadfield you solved it!
our piece never bottomed out like yours. I got a new piece and it threaded on easily. Sooo I took a close look at the piece I had glued to everything, and the plastic molding wasn't as good. The threads were slightly misaligned and there was flashing. So I took a razor blade and cleaned it up as best I could. I still didn't bottom out on dry fit - bit was close. Then we put on a bunch of thread sealant, which we tried before, (not lubricant, and recommended by the pvc manufacturer of the pipe instead to tape since it wont split the adjoining piece) and everything is good now. I think we just ad a bad connector. Happy day! tank is up and cycling!

Now that's what I'm talking about!... I'm glad it worked out for you. You might as well pop up some pics while you have this thread open.

jeffberens · Mar 18, 2017

I'm getting ready to make the same connection. Should I go with 15 wraps of teflon tape or Rectorseal 5 thread sealant?
The reason I ask is because I watched some interesting info about using teflon tape on plastic regarding my Apex flow sensors as they specifically state not to use teflon tape. Here is the video link: https://www.neptunesystems.com/getstarted/fmk/

However, the mismatched thread pitch in the Red Sea fitting is a little different scenario so I thought it was worth questioning.

spiraling · Mar 19, 2017

jeffberens said:
I'm getting ready to make the same connection. Should I go with 15 wraps of teflon tape or Rectorseal 5 thread sealant?
The reason I ask is because I watched some interesting info about using teflon tape on plastic regarding my Apex flow sensors as they specifically state not to use teflon tape. Here is the video link: https://www.neptunesystems.com/getstarted/fmk/

However, the mismatched thread pitch in the Red Sea fitting is a little different scenario so I thought it was worth questioning.

The thread sealant works great and should prevent you from splitting the red sea piece. make sure your piece has nice threads and should screw in easily to the red sea piece dry.

jeffberens · Mar 20, 2017

spiraling said:
The thread sealant works great and should prevent you from splitting the red sea piece. make sure your piece has nice threads and should screw in easily to the red sea piece dry.

Thanks. I think I will go with the sealant and fall back to teflon tape if I can't get a good seal. I can't afford to split the Red Sea fitting. I just called them and they won't have replacement fittings for a month!

jeffberens · Mar 23, 2017

The sealant worked perfectly. Rectorseal 5 coated on all the threads and it didn't leak a drip. I also didn't feel like I had to tighten it to get it sealed. The connector more or less just bottomed out hand tight. I also used it on all of my flow sensors and the 1/2" fittings didn't really seem tight, but not a single drip.
Based on my experience with this sealant, I wouldn't use teflon tape on plastic again.

jeffberens · Mar 23, 2017

jeffberens said:
The sealant worked perfectly. Rectorseal 5 coated on all the threads and it didn't leak a drip. I also didn't feel like I had to tighten it to get it sealed. The connector more or less just bottomed out hand tight. I also used it on all of my flow sensors and the 1/2" fittings didn't really seem tight, but not a single drip.
Based on my experience with this sealant, I wouldn't use teflon tape on plastic again.

I am going to eat my words about the seal on my Red Sea fitting. It finally started to leak and I tried to clean it up and go with Teflon tape and even though I barely put any pressure on it, I split the fitting.

I will gladly pay whatever someone wants if they have a spare fitting because Red Sea won't have them for a month and I am dead in the water until I can get this figured out.

spiraling · Mar 23, 2017

jeffberens said:
I am going to eat my words about the seal on my Red Sea fitting. It finally started to leak and I tried to clean it up and go with Teflon tape and even though I barely put any pressure on it, I split the fitting.

I will gladly pay whatever someone wants if they have a spare fitting because Red Sea won't have them for a month and I am dead in the water until I can get this figured out.

that sucks.
either way the pvc manufacturers recommend the sealant and not the tape, because tape can split the fitting.
Have you considered using silicon on the joint until the part arrives?

Based on my experience I would also examine the part you mated with the red sea part. If it has unevenness or extra flashing i would get a new part.

jeffberens · Mar 23, 2017

spiraling said:
that sucks.
either way the pvc manufacturers recommend the sealant and not the tape, because tape can split the fitting.
Have you considered using silicon on the joint until the part arrives?

Based on my experience I would also examine the part you mated with the red sea part. If it has unevenness or extra flashing i would get a new part.

I am going to try a product called Plast-aid to chemically bond the parts together until I can replace the parts. Thanks for the feedback. I will let you know how it works out.

incloud design · Jun 21, 2018

jeffberens said:
I am going to try a product called Plast-aid to chemically bond the parts together until I can replace the parts. Thanks for the feedback. I will let you know how it works out.

So how'd it work out? I have a brand new 450 dead in my living room. I've tried every hack with no luck. Waste of money!

Coral Newbie · Jun 21, 2018

I would just buy the standard to metric fittings from BRS that’s what I did

incloud design · Jun 22, 2018

Coral Newbie said:
I would just buy the standard to metric fittings from BRS that’s what I did

Good to hear they worked for you. I ordered them last week from BRS and they weren't even close to the right size. I called them and they apologized for the misleading information they gave me because they had recently had a meeting on the Reefer series and the problem so many had. They confirmed that at this time they do not offer any plumbing that will standardize the plumbing on the Reefer and refunded my order. You really lucked out!