threaded pump fitting letting in some air

[docsobeck]

hi all,

i'm getting some air in the return, and after some experimentation, i'm 99% sure it's the fitting that screws into the pump. the issue is that when i replaced the pump, i wanted to save the piping that leads into it: a short section before the fitting, which leads into a T fitting, then splits to the two returns coming out of the ground, which have compression fittings.

anyhow, when screwing this into the new pump, it's not like i can choose exactly how tight to make it, since of course the piping has to line up. so i KNOW that the fitting is not as tight as it could be, but i can't get another full turn out of it without risking over-tightening and cracking the whole mess. i typically use plumbers thread sealant. i then tried a few wraps of teflon tape along with the sealant, and it's better but not perfect. i really, really don't want to have to redo all of that piping. suggestions?

thanks!

[swimdaddy]

Can you post pictures?

[docsobeck]

the stuff around the lip of the male attachment going into the pump was an ill-advised attempt to use plumber's putty. the hose going into the top of the pipe is from the liquid chlorinator, and i've eliminated that as the air leak culprit by experimentation.

as you can see, there's just not enough there to do anything other than redo the whole mess...

[swimdaddy]

If you have confirmed that there are no cracks or broken pieces, I might have an idea. It looks like your 2 ball valves come apart. I have several like them, but I have never taken them apart so I don't know how they fit together. Without knowing that, my idea would be to dig down as far as you can to give you some play in the vertical pipes that go in the ground, loosen the quick fittings on the valves, detach what you can from the pump so you can pick it up ot tilt it a little and screw in what's remaining or replace it.

[docsobeck]

the problem isn't that i can't access the pipes entering the pump to tighten/loosen. that's no problem, since i can just detach the pipes at the ball valves. the problem is that because of the piping having to line up, i can't screw the whole mess into the pump quite tight enough.

[swimdaddy]

I see now what you are saying. I would say you have 2 choices, live with the air ni the line, or rebuild. If you choose to rebuild, hopefully you can save the ball valves. They are so expensive that I always try to put in shut off and check valves in a way that I can salvage them in the event of a future rebuild. In you case, you really don't have much room to work with so I would try to build in more room between the tee and you pump. Then you can use a male/male fitting in the pump, and a quick connect fitting on that.