Quote:
Originally Posted by Deb Mac
I have a small wire brush but it might not be enough to remove that caked on “whatever” from those threads. Certain that I can find a knife to convert to “mung” removal. I also have a couple of dental scalers that are no use for dentistry anymore, but make nice little fine picking tools!
My preference would be teflon tape too. Rectorseal or loctite could make it harder to remove and leave bits behind.
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Actually, blue Loctite won't make it harder to remove.
The reason that these bungs are hard to remove is because they are pipe threads. As we all know, pipe threads are tapered and water tries to find it's way down the thread voids. As it does, it caries sediment that hardens into mineral crystals that are very hard and they form a dam that prevents water getting past. In doing so, those crystals become an obstacle that fights against any movement of the bung and the harder one tries to force that bung to move, the more tightly packed those crystals become.
That's why using a breaker bar is a bad idea when trying to remove the bung. An impact wrench works well because it pulverizes the crystals and makes the bung movable.
Anyway, Blue Loctite or teflon tape work well at sealing the void between the threads so that mineral deposits cannot form in the first place. That's why your was easy to remove.