HELP! Plumbing/Elos Midi/I'm a *****...

[E.intheC]

I have an Elos Midi. I screwed up the return plumbing and am at my patience limit, so I need to ask the Reef Community for some fresh perspective. New ideas. A second set of eyes... Otherwise, it's Hammer Time :thrash: followed by fire sale. Followed by :sad2:

Here's the story: A few weeks ago I noticed a small leak in my return plumbing. So, I removed the threaded fitting, added some plumbers tape, and re-tightened the fitting using a wrench. YES, I'M A ***** and tightened the fitting too much. The piece cracked and got stuck inside the female side. I had to use a number of tools to get the piece out, along with frustration and cursing... but in the end, I got the piece out. However, I really messed up the female threads.

Now, let's throw a curve ball here.. the female side is not like a normal pipe that I can just simply move and replace. No. That would be easy. The female end is part of a large piece of custom PVC that is the main overflow. In order to take that out, I would need to drain the tank, remove the entire overflow, mess with the tank seals, etc, and put a replacement piece. Since this replacement is custom Elos, I'm sure it would be $$$$$$$$ ($200-300 at least).

I tried sealing off the return lines (in the tank) so that I could use an external pipe and just use the normal drain. It's not pretty but works. However, the fittings in the tank are quirky, and leak (plus they're not exactly high up in the tank). Anyway, there is still a small leak.

What should I do here? I have a few ideas but I'd like to hear from the group first.

Thanks in advance.

 

[empire]

hey that sucks! how about a picture to better illustrate what's going on?

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I would contact elos and explain. I'm not familiar with those systems but they put it in you have to be able to replace it. I'm sure they'll send you replacement parts even if you have to pay a bit much for them.

 

[E.intheC]

Thanks for the help guys. The entire overflow would need to be replaced. I'm going to have my buddy try and use a tap to fix the female threads. hopefully that will work.

 

[edd]

you can try cleaning the threads with a thread file. and then if you can get a fitting started i would use liquid teflon, works much better than tape. the problem is when it dries its hard to get the fitting broken loose.
or you can get a metal pipe fitting for the size female thread. grind it on the edge of a grinding wheel on an angle to make a pipe tap. i have done this in the past.
hard to explain in writing, you can pm me for my # if you want. if you were closer i'd make it for you.