Took a veteran installer's advice about spreading silicone on the connector threads before tightening

Old timer named Dave told me to do this on my third week and I haven't had a single moisture call back in the 8 months since - anyone else do this or am I just lucky so far?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_nathan7d ago

Yeah I swear by that silicone trick too. If I screw up anything else on the job at least the connectors don't leak. Dave sounds like a legend, I'd keep listening to that guy.

lee.casey7d ago

The Nathan is right about Dave being a legend, you don't find guys like that every day. But I want to bring up something nobody has touched on yet. That silicone trick works great now, but five years down the road when you need to break those connections apart for a service call, you better hope you didn't glob it on too thick. I've had to cut connectors off with a hacksaw because the silicone turned into a gluey nightmare after years of heat cycles and vibration. A thin smear on the threads is fine, but if you're layering it on like frosting, you're making a real headache for whoever has to work on that system later. Just something to keep in mind before you go heavy handed with the tube.