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Had a stubborn flange that wouldn't seat right on a boiler in an old Philly building.
The gasket kept pinching no matter how we torqued the bolts. An old timer on site said to try heating the flange with a rosebud tip for about 30 seconds before the final tighten. We gave it a shot, just enough to expand it slightly, and it sealed perfectly on the first try after that. Never would have thought of that myself. Anyone else have a weird heat trick for tricky seals?
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wrenstone21d ago
Ever notice how heat fixes stubborn things? Like a tight jar lid runs under hot water. Or a vinyl record left in the sun to flatten out a warp. That metal just needed a little give, same idea. Old tricks are usually about working with the material, not forcing it.
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sean_murray21d ago
Oh man, @wrenstone, that's such a good point. I used to just muscle through stuff and get mad when it broke. Your jar lid example hit me, I always just used a butter knife like a caveman. It really is smarter to just help the material do its thing instead of fighting it. Makes me look at a lot of those old school fixes in a whole new light.
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