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Northeast Missouri | Had to completely rebuild a well house, and the water from that well eventually "eats" brass. It eats steel even faster, so we used brass years ago, but the water eventually turns brass sort of purple inside and makes it brittle.
I was thrilled to find out SS fittings were available, so that's what I used, with pipe compound to put them together. But there was one joint I couldn't get to not leak. Finally used 4 wraps of teflon tape, and that worked.
But I left pressure on the system overnight, and by morning EVERY one of nine SS-to-SS joints either leaked (dripped) or seeped. I had to take them all apart and use 4 wraps of teflon tape to make them watertight. And some of these joints had been tightened on a bench vice before installing, so I know they were tight enough.
My theory is that the SS is so hard (pipe wrench doesn't get a "bite" in it) that the M & F threads don't conform to each other as they do in brass or steel, leaving voids for water to seep through and/or let water pressure wash out the pipe joint compound.
...anyway, that's my 2 cents worth of information for anyone thinking of using SS pipe fittings. | |
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What I learned about stainless steel pipe fittings...
