I recently installed my new hot water heater. I know nothing about plumbing and my installation procedure was informed only by sketchy home depot employees and youtube. One of the issues I'm having is that the nipple to tank connection on the cold supply ( water in ) leaks; it's a pretty slow leak so I just kind of watch it for now. I used Blue Monster thread tape. However, I was unaware of the technique of wrapping the tape to match the rotation of the pipe so that it doesn't mess up the tape when you start turning the pipe into the tank.
Note, the water is specifically coming out of the nipple to tank connection. The water accumulates down in the little well in which the tank's female threads reside. The only other potential source would be the connector hose to nipple connection and it's subject to an easy visual inspection that shows it's not leaking. I'm using a flexible, stainless connection hoses, not soldered copper to connect my heater to supply lines.
On the internet, I mostly see recommendations to "muscle up" and tighten it even tighter. Well, muscling up with a 14" pipe wrench seems like an awful lot of force; in fact, I would guess that the torque goes up to automobile specs.
Is muscling up right? Can someone be a bit more technical and describe how those fittings are supposed to be handled?
Best Answer
For most threaded connections, first hand-tighten and then using a wrench, tighten in quarter-turn increments. If it leaks, give it another quarter turn. You shouldn't need excessive force with a wrench to tighten it.
For anything other than compression fitting, use Teflon tape and/or pipe dope on the threads.
Make sure that it is not cross threaded. If you need excessive force from the beginning, there is a good chance you have cross-threaded it (assuming the correct thread type).