Hydraulic Fittings - Industrial Supply

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How to achieve leak free hydraulic fittings

Leaks in hydraulic fittings are considered normal before. This because technology that allows hydraulic fittings to withstand damages and abrasions were not yet developed during the old times. During those days, consumers have already embraced the fact that hydraulic fittings were not designed to be tough and long lasting. This issue with hydraulic fittings may be true 20 years ago but not today. In present time where technological advancements are skyrocketing, the advancements in sealing technology as well as the development of excellent connection systems have made a way to produce leak free plumbing as well as strong and reliable hydraulic fittings. In order to prevent leaks one should bear in mind that leak free installation begins during the design stage. In the design stage, the type of hydraulic fitting is selected for the port, tube end and hose end connection of the plumbing. In selecting good ports, elastomeric seal that would include UNO, SAE 4-bolt flange and BSPP are the most reliable and provide the highest seal reliability. For high pressure hydraulic systems, take note that the least reliable type of port is NTP. This is because the thread of NTP ports has a leak path and when these threads are misaligned and deformed, subsequent tightening or loosening of the port increases the chances for leaks. In today's system, pipe thread connections that use NTP ports are replaced with UNO of BSPP ports to ensure leak free reliability.

Another way in order to prevent leaks is to look into tube and hose ends. The most reliable hose ends and tubes is the ORFS tube and hose end connections. Although their reliability was already afforded by an elastomeric seal, ORFS is still not widely used as hydraulic fitting because it is quite expensive. Because of that, flared connections have become popular because it is not only reliable but is also simple and less expensive as compared to ORFS. However, because of the metal to metal seal that flared connections have, a leak free joint is not at all times achieved by the user most especially with tube end connection cases. However, if you still want to use flared connection despite its leak issues, you can eliminate this leaking flare joints by using a purpose built seal. A built seal is a helpful material because when it tightens, the ribs crush between the joints that in return eliminate misalignment and surface imperfections.

One last common cause of leaks in hydraulic fittings is incorrect torque. Remember that insufficient torque would result to an inadequate seat contact. On the other hand, excessive torque may result to the damages of the tube and its hydraulic fitting because of cold working. In order to make sure that your flare joints are correctly torqued, you must first tighten the nut until it bottoms on the seat. Then, through the use of a permanent marker, draw a line across the nut and hydraulic fitting. Lastly, tighten the nut through the use of a wrench until it has been rotated.