How to make a fixed elbow point in direction you want...

[Lusi83]

I think there must be a trick to do this?
I have a concealed shower valve that I had to disconnect (cartridge had seized and needed to put it in a vice to get it free)
It has two elbows - a female x compression for the cold feed and output (hot feed is straight) and a male x compression elbow to the shower head. I took them off to soak the valve in vinegar to descale/clean up.
Putting it back together -just screwing them back in elbows are now pointing in the wrong direction ...eg the cold feed now faces towards the controls instead of towards the back ...
I could just not tighten it up as much... but one at least would be quite loose - the biggest puzzle is these were fine before ...(although one is a completely new elbow as the old one got chewed)
So is there some way of making sure they point in the right direction? ...not keen on having to start moving the pipes etc ...

 

[just pumps]

You can use PTFE tape or Loctite 55 cord and trial & error to get it pointing the direction you want or use Loctite 577 threadlocker and allow it to cure.

 

[Lusi83]

I have PTFE tape but the Loctitie 55 cord looks better ... the 577 stuff I think is a lot of money for what I need ...
So basically I just screw it up as far as I need and if it is a bit loose the 55 cord will seal it up?
There was a lot of PTFE tape on it before I took it apart but the person who fitted the shower used lots on everything - even just normal compression joints are dripping with the stuff ( he was also a fan of plumbers mait ....). So I didn't realise it was there for a purpose - the joints were tight but then scaled up too -in fact I'm not sure that the one that I wrecked wasn't 'glued' with something

 

[just pumps]

The cord will not seal it up if the fitting is loose. Keep using the tape and count how many wraps until you get it the way you want.