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Unread 01/08/2018, 12:22 PM   #1
d0ughb0y
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Be careful hand tightening bulkheads

long story short, I tore a tendon on my thumb trying to tighten a bulkhead.

could be worse, I was in ER new year's eve, for what I initially thought was a dislocated thumb. not posting a picture here as it may be disturbing to some.

I was doing water change on new year's eve since I am going out of town the following day, and murphy's law, the emergency drain on my herbie starts leaking. found out the bulkhead nut was loose. no big deal, I will just hand tighten it. Since I can only use one hand to reach the bulkhead from behind the stand, I turned it as hard as I can and heard a crunch. ouch. good news it, it is now tight and no more leaks.


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Unread 01/08/2018, 01:51 PM   #2
outy
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On a side note, almost always they leak not because of tightness, there is a casting mark you need to sand off the gasket seating area.

All of mine seep when I don't sand that off.


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Unread 01/08/2018, 01:58 PM   #3
Rover88
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OW!

Glad to hear it doesn't leak, but sorry to hear that. :/ Best investment I made when working on bulkheads was in a homedepot oilfilter tool. Grabs bulkheads awesome.

Hope the hand heals well!


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Unread 01/08/2018, 06:12 PM   #4
tkeracer619
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Dang dude! Hope you recover quickly! Do that physical therapy!!


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Unread 01/09/2018, 08:36 AM   #5
ca1ore
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LOL, even the 'safe' hobbies can be dangerous. Got a nasty bacterial infection in my hand from a live rock puncture wound one time ..... and broke my foot by inadvertently bouncing it off one of my stereo speakers. Thinking of taking up skydiving ..... figure it will be safer. What could possibly go wrong!


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Got back into the hobby ..... planned to keep it simple ..... yeah, right ..... clearly I need a new plan! Pet peeve: anemones host clowns; clowns do not host anemones!

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Unread 01/09/2018, 11:31 AM   #6
mcgyvr
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So you agree that the rule of thumb is wait for the crunch then 1/4 turn on a bulkhead to ensure proper tightness?


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Unread 01/09/2018, 02:46 PM   #7
zooman72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgyvr View Post
So you agree that the rule of thumb is wait for the crunch then 1/4 turn on a bulkhead to ensure proper tightness?
Ouch! Too soon....


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Unread 01/10/2018, 02:16 AM   #8
tkeracer619
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ca1ore View Post
broke my foot by inadvertently bouncing it off one of my stereo speakers
Tore my ACL and Meniscus crawling back and forth under my coral flat

That 18 hour trip to the ER for palytoxin poisoning was crappy... but at least I got to walk away from that.


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Unread 01/10/2018, 06:13 AM   #9
der_wille_zur_macht
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgyvr View Post
So you agree that the rule of thumb
I see what you did there


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Unread 01/10/2018, 07:29 AM   #10
mcgyvr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by der_wille_zur_macht View Post
I see what you did there



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Unread 01/10/2018, 08:19 AM   #11
smatter
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Get yourself a Captain of Crush gripper.


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