Help with overflow bulkhead pipe size

Ssiopao · Sunday at 7:54 AM

Eshopps eclipse overflow has different size to my fittings here in europe. Pipe is a bit small. Can i use silicone and/or teflon tape to make it fit? Any other idea?

Correct size of pipe is not available here, only abroad and i already bought all the fittings for the plumbing so buying the right size is not my option yet as i will buy ahain the whole sets i need.

Thank you

Subsea · Sunday at 8:08 AM

Go for it. As long as it is easy to check for leaks. The bulkhead fitting is at the top of drain and never sees liquid head pressure.

@Ssiopao
Depends on how big the gap between female bulkhead & male pipe is. I would try PVC cleaner & glue-to both surfaces first before silicone.

KStatefan · Sunday at 8:34 AM

Subsea said:
Go for it. As long as it is easy to check for leaks. The bulkhead fitting is at the top of drain and never sees liquid head pressure.

@Ssiopao
Depends on how big the gap between female bulkhead & male pipe is. I would try PVC cleaner & glue-to both surfaces first before silicone.

To add to this use a heavy PVC glue

Ssiopao · Sunday at 9:48 AM

Subsea said:
Go for it. As long as it is easy to check for leaks. The bulkhead fitting is at the top of drain and never sees liquid head pressure.

@Ssiopao
Depends on how big the gap between female bulkhead & male pipe is. I would try PVC cleaner & glue-to both surfaces first before silicone.

Thank you. i will check again later if the cement can filled the gap. or i may use silicone, teflon tape and the pvc cement on the gaps.

Dom · Sunday at 10:02 AM

How much play is there?

Is it snug?
Is it loose fitting?
Is it so loose that it rattles around?

I would go back to the company from where you purchased the bulkheads and purchase PVC pipe from them too.

Ssiopao · Sunday at 10:06 AM

KStatefan said:
To add to this use a heavy PVC glue

Will the glue hardend and make the pipe larger?

Ssiopao · Sunday at 10:09 AM

Dom said:
How much play is there?

Is it snug?
Is it loose fitting?
Is it so loose that it rattles around?

I would go back to the company from where you purchased the bulkheads and purchase PVC pipe from them too.

It rattles. Bulkhead came with the eshopps eclipse overflow. Bought it abroad and the pipe was bought locally together with all the fittings and ball valve.

JayM · Sunday at 10:12 AM

Ssiopao said:
Will the glue hardend and make the pipe larger?

No. PVC glue isn’t really glue. It is a solvent that essentially melts the plastic so that the two pieces fuse together.

You need an adapter, a metric bulkehead, or the correct sized pipe. Anything else you do will result in a leak.

KrisReef · Sunday at 10:26 AM

Ssiopao said:
It rattles. Bulkhead came with the eshopps eclipse overflow. Bought it abroad and the pipe was bought locally together with all the fittings and ball valve.

The right way is to use a small piece of plastic pipe and then use an adapter to go from inch size to metric size pipe.

If you can’t wait, get some Teflon tape and wrap the pipe over the depth of the fitting to make up the gap and then push it snug into the bulkhead.

Use pipe hangers to hold the pipe tight and prevent loosening from vibrations.

Test it for leaks running fresh water, if it has seeping then disassemble and add another layer of tape and try again.

Alternatively, use coral glue (JBWeld-) epoxy clay instead of Teflon tape to make up the difference. This is not as easy to do since you only get 1 try, unless you have a lathe to turn the pipe and epoxy to size after it dries and before you try to assemble the two pieces?

theMeat · Sunday at 10:29 AM

Pvc cement of any kind will not work. You could try some adhesive that would likely work but that’s crazy. Just get the mm to inch conversion fittings.
Fwiw, if you go the adhesive route silicone is not a good choice for plastic. Happy to recommend something

Dom · Sunday at 10:56 AM

Ssiopao said:
It rattles. Bulkhead came with the eshopps eclipse overflow. Bought it abroad and the pipe was bought locally together with all the fittings and ball valve.

I think the easiest solution would be to replace the eshopps bulkheads with bulkheads from a local store. Now it will match up nicely to everything else you've already purchased.

Subsea · Sunday at 2:04 PM

KrisReef said:
The right way is to use a small piece of plastic pipe and then use an adapter to go from inch size to metric size pipe.

If you can’t wait, get some Teflon tape and wrap the pipe over the depth of the fitting to make up the gap and then push it snug into the bulkhead.

Use pipe hangers to hold the pipe tight and prevent loosening from vibrations.

Test it for leaks running fresh water, if it has seeping then disassemble and add another layer of tape and try again.

Alternatively, use coral glue (JBWeld-) epoxy clay instead of Teflon tape to make up the difference. This is not as easy to do since you only get 1 try, unless you have a lathe to turn the pipe and epoxy to size after it dries and before you try to assemble the two pieces?

Kudoes to this post. Very pragmatic.

Subsea · Sunday at 2:08 PM

JayM said:
No. PVC glue isn’t really glue. It is a solvent that essentially melts the plastic so that the two pieces fuse together.

You need an adapter, a metric bulkehead, or the correct sized pipe. Anything else you do will result in a leak.

If the pipe rattles inside the bulkhead adapter, that is too great a gap to patch fix. Replace bulkhead fitting with one from a local hardware store in Iceland.

TangerineSpeedo · Sunday at 2:34 PM

Dom said:
I think the easiest solution would be to replace the eshopps bulkheads with bulkheads from a local store. Now it will match up nicely to everything else you've already purchased.

This! Really is the most simple solution and it will probably only cost you less than 10 euro... depending on the bulkhead you may have to open up the hole slightly with some sand paper or a file. But I think it should be about the same because all the US bulkhead outside diameters tend to be in millimeters. ie; 1 inch bulk head uses a 45mm glass drill.