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whats with the soft nose POL fittings

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archibald tuttle
archibald tuttle Member Posts: 1,085
in THE MAIN WALL
thought i posted something to this effect already but can't find it so maybe it didn't go. i apologize if this is double.

in the midst of power outages i'm running around with my 25,000 btu ventless propane heaters and i'm reminded of something that has been driving me nuts about this heating technology. Ever since they supposedly made it easier to connect with ACME style cylinder connections you either can't get gas out of the connections or they they often leak a little.

so i went back to my old hard nosed POL (prestolite) whips but after grinding more brass off those all day with channellocks I thought to get some handwheel style POL x 1/4" nipples to put on my regulators. Found some decent looking solid brass ones : https://propanewarehouse.com/shop/fittings/pol-whand-wheel/

but they and all the plastic hand wheel ones i can find are soft nosed. that is part of what i associate all this minor leaking. some are worn or split, some come off and some just don't seem to seal anyway. and i haven't identified a common o ring that replaces them all. i can't find any with hard nose, yet me hard nose whips always work fine.

i guess i could start over with fresh hex hard nose fittings and there are some plastic slipover handwheels. or maybe i'm just misidentifying these softnose fittings as a potential problem and they are the next best thing since sliced bread . . .

is this frustrating anybody as much as me or have yawl got it worked out and i didn't get the memo?

thanks,

brian

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  • SWEI
    SWEI Member Posts: 7,356
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    Change O-rings?

    I like them for handwheel use, but would not be inclined to trust them for a permanent connection.
  • archibald tuttle
    archibald tuttle Member Posts: 1,085
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    do you think the handwheel doesn't have the torque to make up a hard nose seal? assume that would be a brass to brass taper fit. I would think they could make one with a bigger wheel. i'm going to get new nipples so i guess i'm not worried coming out of the gate, but over time the stuff sits around and i like the brass on brass so i don't have to worry whether the o-ring has dried, cracked or gone missing.

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