BRS PVC Bulkhead Failures

[thejuggernaut]

Has anyone ever had one of the BRS bulkhead fittings fail? Inside an overflow I am not too worried about it because even if it breaks the water level in the tank won't drain completely. However I am drilling for a closed loop and they will be much lower in the tank. It would result in almost the entire tank draining if one failed. So has anyone ever had one of the BRS brand bulkheads fail, or are the Sch 80 ones overkill?

[ca1ore]

Yes, and no. I have never had one fail as long as I didn't do anything foolish with it. Cracked a couple (including a Sch80)by putting too much Teflon tape on the male threads of my pipes - so now I only use the slip bulkheads. I also broke one off by not adequately supporting a horizontal pipe coming out of the bulkhead (it was mounted to the rear of my tank). In both of these cases, it was operator error.

Although I did it a couple of times, I also wouldn't ever again put one low down in the tank where a failure could drain the thing. Think how easy it is to bump it and cause it to drip. How would you fix that? Although it runs counter to conventional wisdom, when I did run bulkheads through the bottom of my tank that were 'open' to the full tank volume, I always siliconed them in. That way, if they did get bumped, they wouldn't leak. FWIW I ran that tank for 20 years that way without any problems at all. Just don't plan to be able to remove the bulkhead without MAJOR effort.

[thejuggernaut]

Well the hole placement isn't idea on mine, but the holes were where the corner overflow I had in the tank a decade ago. I tore it down years ago and it has been sitting in my garage. I am reworking it with a slim line C2C style overflow system and had these holes, so I am going to drill them out bigger to accommodate a closed loop. If I had anywhere to place to bulkheads, I would do them about 5"-7" from the top, so even if they blew in half, most of the livestock would live. Although the ABS bulkheads are allot less intrusive looking, I don't think I'll be able to sleep at night unless I use Sch 80.