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Cheap fittings from GENSYM sellers on Amazon/Ebay/Aliexpress will have crappy threads, which will cause you endless pain. I'm guessing this is what inspired the author's rant. I generally try to buy fittings from suppliers that have an incentive to do some quality control. If one thread in a joint isn't perfect you're probably fine, but when both are terribly out of spec, it will never seal. I see the author used the word "spanner" so I assume they're British which is why they have to earnestly deal with BSP. For fellow Americans, don't get anything BSP/BSPP/BSPT unless you have to (eg hydraulics commonly use BSPP/G-thread, and the bonded rubber washer is not optional). For pipe tape/dope, the important thing to know is their main purpose is to reduce friction so you can tighten a joint further, which deforms the threads more - packing the threads is a secondary effect. I generally do dope, then 2-3 wraps of tape (in the right direction, of course), then dope again. I generally use the thicker blue tape, but thinner white should be the same with a few more wraps. I learned this trick from an old timer at a hardware store, and it has definitely helped on some recalcitrant joints. I'd rather not find leaks after something is assembled, so I just take the time and do it on most every joint now. (For reference, I mostly deal with 1/4 - 1 inch NPT brass/stainless/copper threads). Also, not every type of connection takes dope/tape! For example, while US showers generally have NPT-M coming out of the wall, the showerhead generally has a rubber washer that makes the seal, and thus does not need tape. Similarly with flare/compression fittings. Also, plumbers get paid a lot because it's generally heavily regulated - water supply contamination is one of those things we've refined over centuries and now take for granted. The regulation means they get a middle class wage, which is prohibitively expensive for other individuals to pay owing to high taxes and other overhead. Imagine how much it would cost to hire yourself as a software engineer for half a day. |