I’ve put a heap of new JFC bowl drinkers into a shed and connected them all up. The problem is they keep leaking out the Plasson fitting attached to the ball cock. Everything is tight and I’ve used pipe inserts. Is it a case of too much pressure so should I put a tap before the drinker so I can reduce the pressure down or is there a cheaper option?
Bowl drinkers keep leaking
- Thread starter Andy84
- Start date
Have you tried a different make of metal adapter between the plastic fitting and ball cock as some cheaper brands are very poor. Have you put plenty of PTFE tape on the threads?
i haven’t tried a different fitting I’ve put heaps of PTFE tape on though. They seem to be leaking where the blue pipe comes down into the fitting back out the top.
Is the blue pipe cut square and clean? Are they missing the rubber washes? Have they been done up really tight with a wrench?
yeah it was cut with a proper pipe cutter. That’s a thought should there be a rubber washer where the pipe fits into?
Yes the pipe insert goes into the end of the pipe, then the white colar goes over the pipe that goes inside the outer black colar and the pipe pushes onto a thick rubber o ring.
that rubber O ring might be missing I’ll have to check!
We only use Philmac but Plasson must have an o ring to.
Stick your finger in the hole. It'll be obvious if it's there or not.
Make sure the pipe is all the way home. The end of the pipe needs to go past the o ring and butt up against a shoulder in the fitting. Make sure the pipe is free of burrs on the outside. I usually bevel it off by scraping the back of my penknife blade round it a few times. Makes getting it past the o ring easier.
Some builders installed a pipe for us once. They pushed the pipe up as far as the o ring, but not past it. Unsurprisingly, every joint leaked (only air, luckily, but it all needed digging out). They've not been asked back.
ISCO
Member
- Location
- North East
I always going Plasson fittings to be very reliable and only need to.be hand tight to stop leaks. The O ring is fairly secure in a recess and rarely comes out.
We have some jfc bowls and work fine on full mains pressure.
We have some jfc bowls and work fine on full mains pressure.
I’m the same I’ve always got on well with them but I’m working out a bit of a stockpile just now including some older ones so it’s not impossible the o-ring is missing.
If it's old stock, it may be the pipe at fault. Half our pipes get driven over or chewed by a pig, and get nicks on the outside. When we come to reuse them, for the umpteenth time, the o ring can't seal on the pipe. Also happens if the pipe goes badly out of round.
Is the pipe new?
We find moving tanks around grazing fields all the time you need to cut the end of the pipe as it gets damaged from undoing and doing back up becomes rough and lightly scored
We find moving tanks around grazing fields all the time you need to cut the end of the pipe as it gets damaged from undoing and doing back up becomes rough and lightly scored
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
The leak is around the blue pipe though, not from the drinkers. Surely the problem can only be from the couplings in that case?
I don’t EVER use Plasson these days, purely because they are seemingly sensitive togetting them ‘just right’ to avoid leaks. PhilMac seem to be far more forgiving of ham fisted farmers’ instillation.
I have a few of said drinkers in the sheds, with Philmac couplings, that have never given bother.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
A tap will d nothing for the pressure. You need a pressure restrictor if that is the problem Taps reduce flow and that is not good for a bowl drinker. Pressure restrictors are no more expensive
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
It's only tightwad pig farmers like you or me that reuse driven on and pig chewed water pipe over and over again.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
Do you mean, you guys don’t have a specialist supplier of flat leaky pipe
- Tags
- calves