Bulkhead sealing, rubber gasket or silicone

[mskvarenina]

I'm about to attach bulkheads to my pre-drilled tank. The bulkheads came with a gasket but a saw aYoutube video which recommened just putting a large bead of silicone around the bulkhead and screwing it in instead.

Opinions?

 

[albano]

I have always heard to NEVER use silicone on bulkheads!

 

[motortrendz]

Rubber only. Silicone will break and leak. Hand tight not with a tool.

 

[mskvarenina]

That's interesting. In the video I saw the guy apparently does custom reefs in customer homes and said he always uses just a silicone bead and it never leaks. This sounded reasonable to me but wondered why I had never heard if it before.

I guess I'll go with the rubber gasket. Do I put a coating of vegetable oil or anything on it before I tighten it?

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

no silicone, gasket only, on wet side of the bulkhead.

 

[dubs]

Never silicone there's a the manufacturer give the rubber gasket silicone will Def leak and u need to do nothing outside of just using u r hand and screw the bulkhead real tight

 

[edd]

gasket on the flange side. i usually give it about a 1/8-1/4 turn with channel locks.

 

[albano]

gasket on the flange side. I usually give it about a 1/8-1/4 turn with channel locks.

+1

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

The bulkheads on my boat, or as the service department calls them "the $40 thru-hulls" dont use any additional sealant other than rubber gaskets. There are all sorts of plastic bulkheads that are right at the water line, having one fail would lets lots of water into the boat and that's never a good thing.

 

[mskvarenina]

OK, Rubber gasket and hand tight it is. Thanks everyone for the tips!

 

[Tonyscoots84]

i always hand tighten and then use a pair of channel locks and go 1/4" more and thats it.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Definitely need to be a bit more than hand tight as stated by others. 1/4 of a turn is where I always go to. Dont use a bulkhead wrench they won't do it. Use channel locks also as stated.

 

[motortrendz]

I always went hand tight and then ran water and if needed then use the Chanel locks and turn till the drip stopped never just tighten with a tool you can cut the gasket or roll the gasket causing a bad leak and it'll be extremely hard to remove.

 

[edd]

I always went hand tight and then ran water and if needed then use the Chanel locks and turn till the drip stopped never just tighten with a tool you can cut the gasket or roll the gasket causing a bad leak and it'll be extremely hard to remove.

if the gasket is on the flange side where it belongs, it should stop the bh from turning so only the nut turns not twisting the gasket.

 

[mskvarenina]

Tried 3 times today with Teflon tape. With each try I had a small dripping leak no matter how tight I made the connection. Going to try the TFT paste tomorrow. A few people said that should work.

Have you ever used the paste instead of Teflon?

 

[albano]

Tried 3 times today with Teflon tape. With each try I had a small dripping leak no matter how tight I made the connection. Going to try the TFT paste tomorrow. A few people said that should work.

Have you ever used the paste instead of Teflon?

Teflon should not be necessary...but how many times are you wrapping it?
Are you sure bulkhead is good? Where is the leak , can you post pic of it?

 

[duke62]

Huh I always used a little silicone and never had a leak. Ued the gasket and a little silicone on the outside where there was no gasket. I let it dry 24 hrs and filled it up. Especially on the larger bulkheads

 

[mskvarenina]

I've used Teflon tape many times before without a problem.

It's both bulkheads, and I've wrapped just a few to many times increasing with each try.

Can't post a pic because it's broken down again but the water accumulates at the base of the bulkhead as a small drop that drips every 15 or so seconds.

 

[MikeC]

I always went hand tight and then ran water and if needed then use the Chanel locks and turn till the drip stopped never just tighten with a tool you can cut the gasket or roll the gasket causing a bad leak and it'll be extremely hard to remove.

+1 never used Teflon tape.

 

[mskvarenina]

Well I'll know shortly as I'm going to give it a try in about an hour. Any tips on how to use it?