Sealing Bulkhead

K

kyle

I'm having trouble getting a new 1-1/2" bulkhead to hold water. Everytime I wiggle the drain line into the sump even slightly, it starts leaking. I know it will get bumped sometime in the future so I can't live with the current situation. I was advised not to use silicon sealant but don't feel I have any other choice now. The gasket is on the "wet" tank side. The only problem with silicon is removing the bulkhead down the road, right?
 
Put a thin layer of vaseline on both sides of the gasket.. this will let you tighten it down good without having the gasket pinch or bind, which is probably what's causing it to leak.
 
Should you silicone it, it's permanent. I had mine drilled by a friend and it got a little chipped and rather then have it leak I chose to do that. It's perfect but can't even be removed which if you can avoid, by all means do so.
 
(Friend who chipped the hole he drilled hanging head in shame)

Well, the silicone's permanent as in it's not quick and easy to remove the bulkhead, but it's not permanent as in after the nuclear war there will be cockroaches driving Dodge Darts and your bulkhead will still be in place.

It can be removed, it's just a little more work, as in scraping with a razor blade type work...

If you do have to go the silicone route, not sure if this is the best way to do it, but this is what I did and it worked for me.

Put the bulkhead in, and get the lock-ring in place, but back it off quite a bit. Put a beat of silicone around the bulkhead from the exterior side, working the silicone up into the gap between the bulkhead and the glass.

While the silicone's still wet (I.E. Immediately) screw the lock-ring down holding the whole mess in place.

Of course, if you CAN get away without using silicone, by all means do so, siliconing a bulkhead is not the optimal solution, but it is perfectly workable...
 
I reinstalled the bulkhead using some gasket grease I had from Leslie's Pool supply. Everything is watertight now. Thanks guys!
 
I am having the same problem but with new bulkheads that I have installed in the 35 gal Dr. Pepper barrels. I just got my topoff running with RO/DI hooked up inline and have fixed all leaks in RO. I also noticed I had a leak in the bulkhead of the topoff container once it filled up with enough water to cover the bulkhead fully. I had tested the barrel prior to hooking up plumping and it was holding so I guess I have just bumped it and have a small leak. Will the vaseline treatment work on the plastic barrels? I purchased the bulkheads at a LFS but not ask if they were made for plastic as well as glass. Cant wait to get the Stockman topoff running so all help will be appreciated.
 
Fixed the leaky bulkheads by getting another gasket and running one on inside and one on outside of container. No leaks and no silicone! For those that are trying to install a bulkhead on a plastic container that is not flat (I.E. Dr. Pepper container) I had to go with a different bulkhead than what is used on glass aquariums. I purchased bulkheads at Texas Drinking Water in Joshua that had much wider and bigger threads that allowed me to tighten down much more and flatten the curved area on the Dr. Pepper container. JUST FYI. Dont have to silicone....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top