Yeeesh - way over tightened

[LeadTurn_SD]

...a "1st stage holder" is just a gimick tool for people that need a special tool to bridge the gap in their creativity to make what they currently have work :blessing:

Not a necessity, but they make the job easier! :blinking: The use of a 1st stage handle often allows me to avoid the use of a vice... I can often take the 1st stage completely apart "by hand", less chance of scratching the body that way.

I've been know to use whatever is at hand... eraser end of a pencil and the body of a cheap ball point pen are two of my favorites when the "special" factory tools needed for reassembling 1st and 2nd stages are not available... but I've encountered 1st stage diaphragm retainer nuts so overtightened that the 1st stage spun in the soft jawed vice (but I was using a 2' extension on the pin spanner....and a deadblow hammer.... I won in the end ).

Best wishes.

 

[burna]

If it gets to this stage that you have to cut the hose, you can always do what I used to have to do with people that lost the lug keys to their locking lug nuts

Get a socket that is just a hair too small to fit, tap it down onto the hose nut and then back it off

In any event, if it's cross threaded I don't know if I would continue using it. While the O-ring actually is responsible for the seal and the threads are only there to keep the o-ring trapped, it seems like a bad choice to me. If I were you at a minimum I would put a plug into that one with red loctite very sparingly around the crown of the plug and never use that port again.

Yeah, that's another possibility, and prob'ly a good solution if it is stripped providing he has spare ports.

Don't know if I would use loctite tho', especially the red stuff, I'm not sure how o-rings would re-act to that as it can be a bit fumey. But what else to use...? Maybe a little dollop of sikaflex or something, or there might be another loctite product more friendly to o-rings.

Hopefully it doesn't come to that for IntheDrink.

 

[InTheDrink]

If it gets to this stage that you have to cut the hose, you can always do what I used to have to do with people that lost the lug keys to their locking lug nuts

Get a socket that is just a hair too small to fit, tap it down onto the hose nut and then back it off

In any event, if it's cross threaded I don't know if I would continue using it. While the O-ring actually is responsible for the seal and the threads are only there to keep the o-ring trapped, it seems like a bad choice to me. If I were you at a minimum I would put a plug into that one with red loctite very sparingly around the crown of the plug and never use that port again.

Cheers BoneDoc. I don't need that port as it happens. Got a couple spare so I've no problem plugging and retiring if that's what's called for. If it is cross threaded - and this hadn't occurred to me, but I guess incompetence knows no bounds - then I'd not want to use it again anyhow so long as I can board it up.

I'll post back once I've figured it out.

Re heat and cold - I'm guessing we want to keep hose cold and first stage hot? That right?

J

 

[1fast05]

Correct on the hose cold and the first stage hot.

 

[captain]

A little JB Weld epoxy on the threads and you won't even need the O ring.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

A little JB Weld epoxy on the threads and you won't even need the O ring.

I love that stuff. My "go to" for assorted marine repairs.... leaky weld on an aluminum fuel tank, cracked out board engine cover; cracked outboard motor skeg (well, THAT crack eventually traveled, but it bought me some time)

Best wishes.

 

[burna]

cracked outboard motor skeg (well, THAT crack eventually traveled, but it bought me some time)

Best wishes.

Did you drill the end of the crack first?

 

[scubafanatic]

Cheers BoneDoc. I don't need that port as it happens. Got a couple spare so I've no problem plugging and retiring if that's what's called for. If it is cross threaded - and this hadn't occurred to me, but I guess incompetence knows no bounds - then I'd not want to use it again anyhow so long as I can board it up.

I'll post back once I've figured it out.

Re heat and cold - I'm guessing we want to keep hose cold and first stage hot? That right?

J

...about the 'board it up' idea......sounds a little iffy to me. Goodness knows the level of damage of those soft brass 1st-stage LP port threads, which are responsible for 'containing' 3000 + psi of pressure, if any metal shears under that pressure, I wouldn't want to be in the way of that high-velocity port plug (do you really want to risk that killer slug whacking the personal injury lawyer dive bud sitting next to you on the dive boat?) And of course, if that LP port plug gave way underwater, it will drain your tank in about a minute, which could really ruin your day!

I don't know anything about 'JB weld' (other than having heard of it), but given the very tight clearances inside a 1st-stage port, there's really no room to apply any significant layer of it, it would be squeezed out......moreover, I have no idea if 'JB weld' is safe when exposed to high concentrations of oxygen under extreme pressure (NITROX)....would 'JB weld' hold up or generate any toxic offgassing ?

 

[Boiler_81]

The original post said this was on a LP port.

...about the 'board it up' idea......sounds a little iffy to me. Goodness knows the level of damage of those soft brass 1st-stage LP port threads, which are responsible for 'containing' 3000 + psi of pressure, if any metal shears under that pressure, I wouldn't want to be in the way of that high-velocity port plug (do you really want to risk that killer slug whacking the personal injury lawyer dive bud sitting next to you on the dive boat?) And of course, if that LP port plug gave way underwater, it will drain your tank in about a minute, which could really ruin your day!

I don't know anything about 'JB weld' (other than having heard of it), but given the very tight clearances inside a 1st-stage port, there's really no room to apply any significant layer of it, it would be squeezed out......moreover, I have no idea if 'JB weld' is safe when exposed to high concentrations of oxygen under extreme pressure (NITROX)....would 'JB weld' hold up or generate any toxic offgassing ?

 

[scubafanatic]

The original post said this was on a LP port.

OK, point taken, but still it's significant pressure, there's very little 'room' to apply JB weld regardless, the threads are likely severely damaged/weakened with no way to assess the extent of the damage or calculate how much pressure they can now withstand, and if a LP port blows underwater, it will still drain the tank in about a minute, give or take.