Need help sealing a fitting/connection - Bashsea media reactor

[Detour]

I have 2 brand new Bashsea media reactors with fittings in the lid for in and out that are 1/2 male to 1/2 slip fittings. They came with an o-ring to use for a seal - but I can't seem to get it assembled where one or both of those fittings don't leak. For my purposes, placement-wise, I needed the inlet and outlet to go straight up (versus the 90 degree barb they often come with) and connect to silicone tubing, so I was also using a slip to barb fitting.

I also tried replacing the fittings that came with it and using a 1/2 male threaded to 1/2 barb with an appropriate sized o-ring - but because the hex part of the fitting is a smaller footprint, there was less surface area for the o-ring and they leaked as well.

Any advice on what else to try to not have these fittings with the o-rings leak?

 

[WVNed]

In your pic there are 2 fittings, One connected to something on the reactor and then a barb screwed into that.
Which joint is leaking?
What you have in the pics looks like standard plumbing fittings and none of those seal with an O ring.
If you have 2 threaded joints I would seal them with teflon tape. Don't crank them tight or you will crack them.
Slip fittings should be glued.

If the O ring was between the top of the reactor and the fitting perhaps you could try a rubber washer like a
garden hose uses and tighten the first fitting down on that and then teflon trap the barb fitting screwedinto it.

 

[DonTavo27]

Have you tried taking the O-rings off, and just using Teflon tape? I don’t ever recall seeing Orings used in that manner ever in my plumbing experience.

 

[WVNed]

Have you tried taking the O-rings off, and just using Teflon tape? I don’t ever recall seeing Orings used in that manner ever in my plumbing experience.

Assuming you have a pipe passing though a plate it would have to seal like a bulkhead fitting. It can leak between the pipe and plate as well as between the 2 pipes.

 

[WVNed]

Which makes me wonder what is on the other side of the top plate where the pipes come through?

 

[DonTavo27]

Assuming you have a pipe passing though a plate it would have to seal like a bulkhead fitting. It can leak between the pipe and plate as well as between the 2 pipes.

True, but in his case, those O-rings seem to thick for that application, and don’t really serve a purpose being on the outside of the housing.

 

[DonTavo27]

Bulk head Orings are flat and normally sit on the inside between the glass and the flat part of the bulk head.

 

[WVNed]

I am wondering if what is on the other side of the plate that we cant see is leaking.

 

[DonTavo27]

I am wondering if what is on the other side of the plate that we cant see is leaking.

I thought maybe for a sec the Orings belong between the barbed fitting and adapter? They seem to have a gap between them.

 

[DonTavo27]

@Detour try taking those Orings off, and wrapping each thread with Teflon instead.
The only other thing would be that the Orings are meant to go in that manner but you’re just over tightening them? Just nice and snug will do the trick.

 

[WVNed]

Need more info.

 

[Detour]

In your pic there are 2 fittings, One connected to something on the reactor and then a barb screwed into that.
Which joint is leaking?
What you have in the pics looks like standard plumbing fittings and none of those seal with an O ring.
If you have 2 threaded joints I would seal them with teflon tape. Don't crank them tight or you will crack them.
Slip fittings should be glued.

If the O ring was between the top of the reactor and the fitting perhaps you could try a rubber washer like a
garden hose uses and tighten the first fitting down on that and then teflon trap the barb fitting screwedinto it.

The unit came with the male threaded to slip fittings screwed into the lid (lid holes are threaded) - with the o-ring installed on top of the lid as shown. The "in" fitting in the center has a counterpart on the underside (F-F threaded coupler) that fits over the center feed tube in the reactor. The "out" fitting doesn't have any counter part on the underside of the lid. The lid is not that thick - so although I could add tape, there's not a lot of surface area.

Love the idea of the rubber washer - but didn't find one at our local hardware (the good kind with bins and bins of stuff) that had an interior diameter hole big enough.

 

[Detour]

Have you tried taking the O-rings off, and just using Teflon tape? I don’t ever recall seeing Orings used in that manner ever in my plumbing experience.

This is how they came from Bashsea - so I went with it... I did consider teflon tape, but the lid isn't that thick and there would be minimal contact - but worth a shot.

 

[DonTavo27]

This is how they came from Bashsea - so I went with it... I did consider teflon tape, but the lid isn't that thick and there would be minimal contact - but worth a shot.

I did look up images of Bashsea reactors, and did see one or two with the Orings under the barbed fittings. But none with male adapters, assuming you added those, I’d get rid of them, and try some Teflon on the threads

 

[Detour]

Which makes me wonder what is on the other side of the top plate where the pipes come through?

Pic of the top of the reactor without the lid on, and the bottom of the lid. The center underside is a F-F coupler fitting.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Those o rings look way to big. I've never seen any that showed on the outside of the fittings they are supposed to seal. Have you contacted Bashsea to check if they sent the correct size?

 

[Detour]

I thought maybe for a sec the Orings belong between the barbed fitting and adapter? They seem to have a gap between them.

I took that photo before I had the slip to barb glued - so they were seeded and glued before testing.

 

[Detour]

I did look up images of Bashsea reactors, and did see one or two with the Orings under the barbed fittings. But none with male adapters, assuming you added those, I’d get rid of them, and try some Teflon on the threads

I added the slip to barb fittings - everything else was how they came from Bashsea (via my LFS).

 

[WVNed]

I think teflon tape would seal the thread through the lid though it might take a little trial and error on how much to use.
It fills the void between the 2 parts by flowing under pressure. I would add an O-ring on the outside but you might need a little thinner one. It has to touch all the surfaces it seals against. Then seal the joints between any other fitting the usual way and It will work.

 

[Detour]

Teflon tape and not threading the fitting into the lid too tight appears to have found a setup that hasn't leaked for the initial 1 hour of running in my sink. Thanks for the feedback - hoping longer testing proves viable.