Water Leakage???

[Tress]

I installed a very simple water system in my van and fired it up just last night, works fine except there are a number of barbed connections with hose clamps that aren't holding water very well. What would anyone suggest i do? My first thought was to start at one spot and disconnect each hose from barb connection and then wrap the barb with a good deal of teflon tape and then re-clamp. My second thought was to take some silicon caulking (sealant) and apply to barb connectors and then re-clamp hose over that hoping that once it dries it will hold water. Any other ideas? im kinda stabbing in the dark here, thanks!

unk03:

 

[762X39]

I don't think that silicone or teflon tape is the way to go. You would be patching the problem instead of correcting it. Barbed fittings usually work ok , especially with a gear clamp over them. Are the fittinggs the correct size for the tubing being used? Do you have a slight blockage that is causing an over pressure situation? Try to figure out what is really wrong with your install rather than performing a dodgy patch that may come back to soak you.

 

[Tress]

Sound advice for sure. All hoses and fitting are definitely right, I guess the pressure could be a lil high but i don't believe there is any blockage, there just are'nt many places it could bottle up, plus i put a switch on the pump and it starts leaking basically as soon as it comes through the area?

 

[ntsqd]

First off, have you re-checked the hose clamps for tightness? Are they overly tight? Sometimes you can make matters worse by over tightening the clamps.

What material is the hose and what material are the barbs? Not all barbs and not all hoses are equal, nor do all hoses play well with all barbs.

 

[Tress]

First off, have you re-checked the hose clamps for tightness? Are they overly tight? Sometimes you can make matters worse by over tightening the clamps.

What material is the hose and what material are the barbs? Not all barbs and not all hoses are equal, nor do all hoses play well with all barbs.

Not quite yet, its in a pretty tight space but i plan to open it up tonight and see what i can find, im pretty sure they are all tight, but we shall see. As for material they are regular old hard plastic barbs (ones found at home depot or lowes) and the hose is that braided rubber, perhaps not the best stuff out there but they seem solid, one thing that may be contributing is the hose clamps being over sized, i think there are some that would fit better. Anyways thanks for the input, im going to go do some testing, take one section at a time, but keep the ideas coming, thanks agin!

 

[FullsizeJimmy]

I have seen a mismatch on the barbs of plastic fittings where the two halves of the mold come together that contributes to leakage. I really would rather use brass fittings, but they are very expensive if you need several.

 

[ntsqd]

FWIW I wouldn't even bother with plastic barbs. On rare occasion I might use them if I'm threading into plastic, but even then I prefer brass.

 

[Tress]

Ill have to see what brass fitting would cost, but if im not mistaken even the brass ones that im using were leaking, i never did get the chance to check anything, been screwing around with electrical stuff all night, but there just has to be a better reason than plastic barbed connectors, i mean they are plastic but they are also at least 1" long, and they worked fine in other areas, either way ill report my finding tomorrow...

 

[Czechsix]

Those nylon barbs usually work best only with vinyls - for braided rubber hoses try finding brass fittings, non-barbed but with the swelled end. Hose clamp them and you should be good to go. Don't use teflon tape, teflon paste, or anything other than water to get the hose onto the fitting either.

 

[Tress]

Ok so i tore the hole plumbing system apart, some of the hose clamps were a bit loose, and a good number were definitely too big and closed in weird shape whcih may have caused some of the leaking. Anyways right now we are going section bey section, connecting old barbs and reclamping with new clamps and we even tried the caulking idea, as of right now the system is sitting under pressure and everything seems to be holding fine, the only leaks im getting are at the plugs we are using to test with; brass on brass, so plastic is definitely not the issue! Anyways just thought you all might appreciate an update, ill keep you posteed on my progress in hopes that my experience might help somone else at some point, thanks agin and enjoy the ride......

 

[Tress]

Went out to the van after a my posting, everything held except for those damn brass plugs, but the other stuff held fine and i think the caulking was a good idea, but i guess time will tell. Anyways ill post some pics when its all done and ill let you all know how it holds, lata....