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Plumbing needs and Big Box Store Boutique Packs

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August 03, 2022, 08:13 PM
PHPaul
Plumbing needs and Big Box Store Boutique Packs
I'm in the process of installing the "new" old furnace in my shop (old one died, parts NLA). Got the base and the ductwork cobbled together yesterday, today I went to town to get ONE STINKING FITTING! I needed a 3/8 tubing x 3/8 threaded flare nut to connect the fuel line to the pump.

About the only retail place left to get such a thing locally is Deep Homo. I spent 10 minutes looking at the selection. The plumbing department person came over and WE spent another 10 minutes looking. I was even prepared to buy a 3/8 flare x 3/8 pipe fitting complete just to cabbage the nut off it. Nope. Don't come as sets any more. Gotta buy the fitting AND the nut in separate boutique packs.

Except the flare nuts that claim to be 3/8 x 3/8 don't fit the 3/8 flare-to-pipe fittings THEY SELL IN THE SAME DAMNED RACK! Da Fuq?

After another 10 or 15 minutes of scratching my head and mumbling incantations involving the probable ancestry of anyone and everyone wearing an orange apron I finally spied a 3/8 flare "coupler". Two actual 3/8 flare nuts connected back-to-back by a short piece of copper tubing flared on both ends. No fucking idea what that's intended to do, but I'll hacksaw the sumbitch apart, cabbage the flare nuts off it and get on with my life.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
August 03, 2022, 10:35 PM
Excam_Man
Its called a swivel coupling. Used for connecting two fittings together.

Here is the 3/8 flare nuts.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ev...ALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I assume your fitment issue has to do with ID vs OD.
Plumbing is ID.
Refrigeration/Gas is OD.




August 04, 2022, 04:34 AM
PHPaul
quote:
Originally posted by Excam_Man:
Its called a swivel coupling. Used for connecting two fittings together.

Here is the 3/8 flare nuts.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ev...ALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I assume your fitment issue has to do with ID vs OD.
Plumbing is ID.
Refrigeration/Gas is OD.


Yup, they had those and they wouldn't fit either the flare fitting I already had OR the ones they sold. I suspect they were mislabeled and were for 1/2 inch fittings.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
August 08, 2022, 09:51 AM
PHPaul
All's well that ends well, I guess.

Got the furnace installed over the last few days and hooked up power, fuel and 'stat today and test fired it. All good.

BTW, my other brain cell kicked in and I remembered where I had stashed some gas fittings and was able to swipe a flare nut from there, so the $10.00 boutique pack will be going back to Deep Homo, along with one section of 4" duct I wound up not needing.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
August 08, 2022, 10:04 AM
HRK
quote:
the $10.00 boutique pack will be going back to Deep Homo,


Might as well put them in the stash, at $4 a gallon it'll cost more to return it than it's worth LOL Unless you ride the motorcycle... Big Grin



August 08, 2022, 10:20 AM
PHPaul
quote:
Originally posted by HRK:
quote:
the $10.00 boutique pack will be going back to Deep Homo,


Might as well put them in the stash, at $4 a gallon it'll cost more to return it than it's worth LOL Unless you ride the motorcycle... Big Grin


True, but I'll do the return when I have to be in town on other business anyway.

Last time I checked, the bike was getting 53 mpg (actual math, not a computer estimate from the bike) so the round trip would be just under a gallon anyway. Big Grin




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
August 11, 2022, 04:15 PM
PHPaul
Hey, HRK - I took the stuff back to Deep Homo today. $16.46 back on my debit card, so there!

Also picked up an order at Tractor Supply (Tanglefoot bug trap - experiment scheduled, results to follow), a battery from NAPA for Dale the Builders modorsickel and did a little grocery shopping.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.