Extremely tight compression fittings

[The Sweetroll]

Hi,

 

I finally got all my water cooling components and I thought I'd try how secure the compression fittings feel. The fittings I have are EK's 16/10 (5/8,3/8) and the tubing is Primochill LTR 16/10. But I'm not able to screw down the compression collar to the base of the fitting, there is a 3mm gap between the collar and the base when I tighten it by hand. And this is after dipping the tube in hot water for about 10s.

Are compression fittings really meant to be this tight?

[Evostatic343]

Hi,

 

I finally got all my water cooling components and I thought I'd try how secure the compression fittings feel. The fittings I have are EK's 16/10 (5/8,3/8) and the tubing is Primochill LTR 16/10. But I'm not able to screw down the compression collar to the base of the fitting, there is a 3mm gap between the collar and the base when I tighten it by hand. And this is after dipping the tube in hot water for about 10s.

Are compression fittings really meant to be this tight?

yes. you will most likely never be able to tighten them all the way down. and dont try to or else you may cut the tube resulting in leaks. as long as you are able to thread the top piece on and tighten it your should be good.

[soup]

Compression fittings should only ever be tightened by hand.  A tool should NEVER be used to tighten them.

I.Ds can vary in manufacture, but that 3 mill gap sounds about right.

[Prophet of Entropy]

the 2 pieces of a compression fittings are not meant to touch when it has tubing in it, if you try you'll most likely cut your tubing and have a leak.  hand tighten only

[gatecrasherlok]

As many members have stated above

 

Only tighten by hand

They should not go all the way down as you'll find problems at a later date when you remove them.

Never use tools to tighten ring clamp.

Adding stress by forcefully tightening can damage the block threads especially if they are acrylic