I've set up a Hozelock automatic watering system in a garden in Italy,
but it seems that after some months there is a small drip
where the timer is screwed onto the tap.

What is the best way of preventing this?

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:03:02 +0100, Timothy Murphy
wrote:


I've set up a Hozelock automatic watering system in a garden in Italy,
but it seems that after some months there is a small drip
where the timer is screwed onto the tap.

What is the best way of preventing this?

A guess - did you buy the unit in the UK and install in Italy? If so,
the chances are the Italian weather has proved too much for something
designed for the UK climate. Italy gets warmer and has different
temperature fluctuations.

A "small drip" indicates that either the plastic fitting or the rubber
seals have deteriorated. Brass fittings would be better but whether
the Hozelock system could be adapted to use them is something only you
can decide as only you can see the system in situ.

PTFE tape on the tap might be a solution. More drastic would be the
use of a mastic (silicon) seal but this would effectively glue the
system to the tap.


Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

Chris Hogg wrote:

New washer? Plumbers mait applied to the tap thread before screwing on
the timer unit. PTFE tape wrapped around the tap thread before
screwing on the timer unit? IME Hozelock fittings, being mostly
plastic, can crack or split after extended use. Brass ones are
preferred. Has the fitting cracked?

Thanks very much for your response.
I'll try your solutions when I get over to Italy.

Difficult to give a good answer without seeing the problem, in
particular precisely where the leak is coming from. Picture?

I'm not sure myself - I was told the tap was dripping slightly,
so I asked for it to be turned off.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

You are not supposed to connect the timer directly onto the tap but use a short piece of hose between the two because of the vibration in the timer due to water flowing through the pressure reducing part of the system, I didn't discover this until I heard the vibration in the water pipe in the kitchen.
Mind you this was about 5 years ago so it may well have changed since then.

On 19/09/2012 10:37, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:22:14 +0100, Jake
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:03:02 +0100, Timothy Murphy
wrote:


I've set up a Hozelock automatic watering system in a garden in Italy,
but it seems that after some months there is a small drip
where the timer is screwed onto the tap.

What is the best way of preventing this?

A guess - did you buy the unit in the UK and install in Italy? If so,
the chances are the Italian weather has proved too much for something
designed for the UK climate. Italy gets warmer and has different
temperature fluctuations.

A "small drip" indicates that either the plastic fitting or the rubber
seals have deteriorated. Brass fittings would be better but whether
the Hozelock system could be adapted to use them is something only you
can decide as only you can see the system in situ.

PTFE tape on the tap might be a solution. More drastic would be the
use of a mastic (silicon) seal but this would effectively glue the
system to the tap.


Cheers, Jake

Our preferred solution is to send a team of urglers to Italy to tackle
the problem on site :-)
Have washers, will travel.

Are you sure this isn't the start of a joke
"How do you stop a small Italian drip?"

On 09/18/2012 10:22 PM, Jake wrote:
On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:03:02 +0100, Timothy Murphy
wrote:


I've set up a Hozelock automatic watering system in a garden in Italy,
but it seems that after some months there is a small drip
where the timer is screwed onto the tap.

What is the best way of preventing this?

A guess - did you buy the unit in the UK and install in Italy? If so,
the chances are the Italian weather has proved too much for something
designed for the UK climate. Italy gets warmer and has different
temperature fluctuations.

A "small drip" indicates that either the plastic fitting or the rubber
seals have deteriorated. Brass fittings would be better but whether
the Hozelock system could be adapted to use them is something only you
can decide as only you can see the system in situ.


Yes, the brass fittings last forever. If I was going to leave the
watering system turned on, I'd certainly use one.

One thing you could try if the drip persists is coating the screw on the
tap in heavy axle grease before attaching the hozelock part. If the
screw is worn that may stop the leak.

Otherwise as Jake said, mastic will fix it permanently.

-E

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:03:02 +0100, Timothy Murphy
wrote:


I've set up a Hozelock automatic watering system in a garden in Italy,
but it seems that after some months there is a small drip
where the timer is screwed onto the tap.

What is the best way of preventing this?

Use metal fittings. The Hozelock plastic fittings don't last long.

Steve

--
Neural network software applications, help and support.

EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 19/09/2012 10:37, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:22:14 +0100, Jake
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:03:02 +0100, Timothy Murphy
wrote:


I've set up a Hozelock automatic watering system in a garden in Italy,
but it seems that after some months there is a small drip
where the timer is screwed onto the tap.

What is the best way of preventing this?

A guess - did you buy the unit in the UK and install in Italy? If so,
the chances are the Italian weather has proved too much for something
designed for the UK climate. Italy gets warmer and has different
temperature fluctuations.

A "small drip" indicates that either the plastic fitting or the rubber
seals have deteriorated. Brass fittings would be better but whether
the Hozelock system could be adapted to use them is something only you
can decide as only you can see the system in situ.

PTFE tape on the tap might be a solution. More drastic would be the
use of a mastic (silicon) seal but this would effectively glue the
system to the tap.


Cheers, Jake

Our preferred solution is to send a team of urglers to Italy to tackle
the problem on site :-)
Have washers, will travel.

Are you sure this isn't the start of a joke
"How do you stop a small Italian drip?"

Would that be Basil ?

Bill

Granity wrote:

You are not supposed to connect the timer directly onto the tap but use
a short piece of hose between the two because of the vibration in the
timer due to water flowing through the pressure reducing part of the
system, I didn't discover this until I heard the vibration in the water
pipe in the kitchen.
Mind you this was about 5 years ago so it may well have changed since
then.

Thanks for the suggestion.
I did think of doing something like that, but didn't get round to it.
I don't think the Hozelock documentation suggests doing that.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:

What is the best way of preventing this?

Use metal fittings. The Hozelock plastic fittings don't last long.

Thanks for the suggestion.
I'll see if I can locate and fit some metal fittings
in place of the plastic.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Chris Hogg wrote:

Just a thought: I assume Italian tap threads are the same as in the UK
(some sort of EU standard I expect), but it's just possible they
differ. Worth checking before you buy?

I'm pretty sure they are the same.
Surprisingly, garden appliances and fitments (hoses, etc) in Italy
are all described in inches, eg 1/2in connector.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

"Timothy Murphy" wrote in message
...
Chris Hogg wrote:

Just a thought: I assume Italian tap threads are the same as in the UK
(some sort of EU standard I expect), but it's just possible they
differ. Worth checking before you buy?

I'm pretty sure they are the same.
Surprisingly, garden appliances and fitments (hoses, etc) in Italy
are all described in inches, eg 1/2in connector.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Having kicked off the industrial revolution the uk had to solve the problem
of non standard threads before any one else really had the problem so BSP
(British standard pipe) BSW (British standard whitworth) and BSF (British
standard fine) have become almost world standards now, although you very
occasionally find a metric thread they are rare. metric nuts and bolts will
normally still have BS threads

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk