Gray Poly barbed fittings keep leaking. on my 3rd try. What's wrong?

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3jakes

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I am in the middle of replacing my well pump & foot valve jet body assembly.
30 foot depth, Goulds J5, 1-1/4" Send, 1" return, & 3/4" from pump to the pressure tank.
This is about the 3rd or 4th time in my 40 years of being here, that I've done this job, so it's not my first rodeo.
Last time around, I was able to find that white nylon to use as fittings. (Threaded to barbed in the pump, & barbed elbows from a short horizontal piece out of the pump then down through the casing.)
This time the supply house said nylon is no longer carried it's brass, or the gray poly.

I heat the black pipe with a torch, slide the gray fitting inside & tighten the hose clamp quickly as tight as I can by hand with a nut driver.
When assembled, out of 6 joints, I have 2 leaks.
On the 3/4 line out of the pump to the pressure tank, I had to add a union in line to get a little more length.
There I have 2 leaks. The 3/4" fittings seem to be more prone to being collapsed & deformed by overtightening or the heat out of the black pipe makes it soft.

Would I be better off spending the big bucks & go with brass fittings? The barbs on those seem sharper, & might seal better.

I just never had this much trouble before with the nylon fittings.

Any advice?
 

Reach4

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Do those gray fittings have mold marks? I would not use those, if so.
 

Reach4

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First, I would use brass.

By mold marks, I mean like the horizontal line you can see on this picture:
plastic-insert-fitting-tee-barb-barb-fipt.jpg

I understand that is not the fitting you are using, but it is a barbed fitting with the kind of mark I wanted to illustrate.
 

3jakes

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Actually yes they do, I hadn't noticed that, it is not very pronounced.

And while here...
I was taught to use two hose clamps per joint when possible.
Is that ok?
 

3jakes

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Just want to say thanks for the advice from Reach4 & Craigpump.
Yesterday I cut up & threw away the $15.00 in gray poly fittings for the second time, & reassembled the pump & down pipes with $85.00 worth of brass (+ 1 stainless as they were out of brass in that size).
No leaks.
Just feels better to work with something solid to torque the clamps down to.
I was unsure how tight was tight enough for the threaded fittings into the pump, & it was sitting loose, not attached at the base.
I was able to use a 2' breaker bar through the gap between the pump housing & motor as I used a pipe wrench on the fittings.
Worked out great.
 
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