Leak at Threads Between Regulator and Valve When Running

[Dermochelys]

I just replaced my three control valve manifold with Hunter anti-siphon valves and 25 psi Rainbird Pressure Regulators with Filters (installed directly into the downstream side of the valves). Everything is looking good, except when one of the drip lines with the regulator on it is running there is a small leak coming from the threads where the RainBird is screwed in to the Hunter valve.

The leak itself is less than what a single drip emitter is on the line and appears to only occur when the system is running. So my questions are...

1) Since this is downstream of the control valve diaphragm, is this a major concern?
2) Will this compromise the valve components in any way?
3) Is there any means of sealing this leak without cutting the valve off and starting over?

To answer the obvious questions, I used Teflon tape wrapped 4-6 times on all the threaded connections, going in the correct direction. I did not use pipe dope though which I know now is something I should have done. I may have over-tightened the threads in an attempt to get the RainBird regulator to line up with the filter sticking out.

Anyway, any suggestions / ideas are greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[John Gayewski]

I just replaced my three control valve manifold with Hunter anti-siphon valves and 25 psi Rainbird Pressure Regulators with Filters (installed directly into the downstream side of the valves). Everything is looking good, except when one of the drip lines with the regulator on it is running there is a small leak coming from the threads where the RainBird is screwed in to the Hunter valve.

The leak itself is less than what a single drip emitter is on the line and appears to only occur when the system is running. So my questions are...

1) Since this is downstream of the control valve diaphragm, is this a major concern?
2) Will this compromise the valve components in any way?
3) Is there any means of sealing this leak without cutting the valve off and starting over?

To answer the obvious questions, I used Teflon tape wrapped 4-6 times on all the threaded connections, going in the correct direction. I did not use pipe dope though which I know now is something I should have done. I may have over-tightened the threads in an attempt to get the RainBird regulator to line up with the filter sticking out.

Anyway, any suggestions / ideas are greatly appreciated, thank you.

The dope allows you to tighten further without friction, but you already know you should have used that. A picture would help. You could cut a union into the piping which generally should be done with components that may need changed out over time. When installing pretty much always think how am I going to fix this if something goes wrong. That's a great way of doing about anything.

 

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[Dermochelys]

I thought about unions but wanted to avoid as many threaded connections / points of failure as possible. Live and learn.