Hot water cylinder

[wese]

fitted my first Hot water cylinder today,had a couple of leaks,i suspect some of the gaskets was missing,its been a long time since i did one at college,so can not remember where gaskets are used

first leak was on the connection where its sits on the tank on the pipe that feeds the hot water to the house,should there be a gasket between the nut and tank,i was
refitting the system the same way as i took it off,but now it leaks and i do beleive a gasket would of stopped this,or is it ok to use plumbers mate,

second leak was on the immersion heater,i used a new gasket,i do suspect that some plumbers mate may of got between it and not let it sit properly,plumbers mate was evident from previous person who fitted the old tank,when i was at college my tutor gave me a tip of wrapping ptfe round the gasket to help seal it better,any other tips,worth remembering,tomorrow i will give it a good clean with spirits


the cold feed to the tank,should there be a gasket fitted here when tighting the nut,im sure there should be one here,

does anyone have a broken down pic of a tank and its connections

thanks

 

[corgigazza]

Dont use plumbers mate on the immersion use silicon sealent (LSX) or silicon grease on the gasket only on the fittings use ptfe and wrap the threads plus the end flange on the fitting to make a gasket seal on the flow and return connections you can use a cylinder unions with jet blue

 

[wese]

cylinder unions with jet blue,what are these,do they have a built in ptfe like material on them to help seal,i think i know what u mean,found the jet blue,derrrrr lol

 

[ChrisR]

I never use anything on immersion heaters apart from the washer supplied and never get leaks.
The cylinder unions are the ones for the primary pipes from the boiler, assuming it's indirect. These are special fittings, not just threaded connectors.

Plumbers mait is not much use for anything, certainly not for threaded or compression joints!

 

[Nige F]

Hemp+ Boss white on all the threads....EXcept immersion...or form a gasket by plaiting the hemp....WTF do they teach you @ college now I`v got a pic of me cutting the holes in a Galvanised hot tank,by hand

 

[gazthepottertonengineer]

You are old skool Nige

PTFE now mate

 

[Nige F]

Tried ptfe, got a leak went back to hemp .1 skein lasts 10 years

 

[kevplumb]

hemp dont leak mate

 

[chrishutt]

1 skein lasts 10 years

That makes me 5.5 skeins old . Actually I thought they were called "hanks"...or was is "shanks"? What a wonderfully anglo-saxon vocabulary we plumbers used to have .

 

[Nige F]

Hanks, PS Hows your bent bolt and Scribing plate Skein was a kind of leading question..........anyone here 40? that would make them skeins old

 

[ChrisR]

A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread round a fifty-four inch reel.

Not far short of a quarter of a mile

I'm not b1oody surprised Nige hasn't run out yet!

 

[chrishutt]

A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread round a fifty-four inch reel.

Nice to know someone remembers these things from their school days! I think that must make ChrisR at least 13 skeins old .