Calorifier and the drilled out immersion

I have finally taken some pictures of my old immersion to bore you with.  In summer it caused me great anxt so it has taken a while to be able to look at it again.  I was reminded when I saw it was my column in Canal Boat magazine this month.

Liquid PTFE will never be used on my boat again. Maybe it was a dodgy batch, but even so, the hassle of trying to undo the immersion is something I will not go through again.

I put liquid PTFE around the thread of the immersion, screwed it in by hand and tightened it gently with a spanner. The immersion leaked so it was only a matter of minutes before I went to undo it.

I could not. 

For some reason the PTFE seemed to have acted like a glue – which it should not.  I looked on the internet and discovered I wasn’t the only one to have had trouble. Even gently (and not so gently) tapping the spanner with a hammer wouldn’t undo it. 

There was no option but to drill it out.  Here are the pictures

Hero kindly drilled it out without damaging the thread.

I was really worried that the procedure of trying to undo it had split the tank. 

It hasn’t. 

The manufacturer of the liquid PTFE suggested I had cross threaded the immersion; I suppose all things are possible even with the care I used. However, I was confident I had not (even I can tell when I am cross threading!).  Even so, I was slightly worried the new immersion wouldn’t screw in and I would need a new tank.

I used a the PTFE tape this time and screwed the new immersion in gently, by hand.  I tightened it up with the spanner and waited to see what happened.

NO LEAKS!

Everything has been fine for the last couple of months and to say I am mightily relieved is an understatement. I certainly did not want to have to buy a new tank!