Help please! Leaking radiators at connectors

[niallhanlon]

By connectors I mean the ones you usually remove with an alan key, however mine only require a spanner to remove.

A few of my connectors have been leaking since I bought house. They were all heavily wrapped in PTFE so I removed all of them and wound a lot of PTFE around threads before refitting. Thing is I still get same problem, is there something else I can use to stop this? Any methods which are reliable?

I'm at my wits end at this stage as it's causing major delays with my house renovations!

Thanks

 

[montur]

You could try and get rubber O rings that size and fit them in.

 

[garethgas]

There's a bit of a knack to using PTFE.
First of all, forget o rings
I prefer the thinner 'non gas' type. Wrap it around the fitting in the 'wrong' direction so that when you go to tighten it, its not going to unravel. Also, I like to stretch it ever so slightly so that it kind of grips the thread.
PTFE is very very slippery so I don't mean a proper grip, just enough to keep it in place.
Also, overlap by 50% as you wind it on. Some guys add some boss white as well which helps lubrication. I'm not sure if this makes a lot of difference because I've never had the need to try it.
Latest trend around here is to use a silicone sealant which, although I hate, it might get you out of a pickle.
Hope this helps

 

[Lagerkhan]

By connectors I mean the ones you usually remove with an alan key, however mine only require a spanner to remove.

A few of my connectors have been leaking since I bought house. They were all heavily wrapped in PTFE so I removed all of them and wound a lot of PTFE around threads before refitting. Thing is I still get same problem, is there something else I can use to stop this? Any methods which are reliable?

I'm at my wits end at this stage as it's causing major delays with my house renovations!

Thanks

If you mean the plugs and vents at the top of the rad then i can send you some new ones i think ? (somewhere in shed) for postage costs only if you mail me your address

 

[Softus]

Sometimes, i.e. when the tail is a loose fit in the rad, you need quite a lot of PTFE.

In these circumstances I also use LS-X as a belt-n-braces measure.

 

[Nige F]

Hemp and Boss white .....and cut the chrome out of the threads with a hacksaw blade