Quick Joint Tank Bulkhead Fitting, EPDM Seal - 6 Sizes, 1/2 to 2 inch

Create a tapping point on a tank without ever opening it. The Quick Joint is fitted entirely from the outside : no counter-piece to hold inside. Six sizes, from 1/2 to 2 inch, all with an EPDM seal.

The step it removes

An ordinary bulkhead fitting goes on in two parts : a body on one side of the wall, a nut on the other. On a closed tank, that means passing your arm inside through the manhole, blind, to hold a part while you tighten outside. On a tank that is already in place, or that has already held something, it is a nuisance at best.

The Quick Joint has no counter-piece. Everything is done in front of the tank, with both arms free : you drill, push the body through, tighten the nut. You can therefore equip a tank that is already installed, full or empty, without opening it or moving it.

How it holds and how it seals

Three parts work together : an EPDM seal, a rigid ring and a clamp, all fitted from the outside.

As you tighten the clamp, the seal is caught between the ring and the wall. Compressed, it can only spread and press against the whole circumference of the hole. The more you tighten, the better it bears. It is the seal that closes the way to the water, and the ring that stops it from escaping towards the back.

The seal works just as well on a flat wall as on a curved one — the bulging side of a container, the shell of a round tank.

Tighten by hand first, then give a light turn with a wrench : the manufacturer asks for it to guarantee the seal, and specifies that it must stay light so as not to break the fitting. Working pressure 4 bar at 20 °C, maximum temperature 80 °C.

Dimensions, size by size

All the dimensions from the Bucchi catalogue, in millimetres, for the six EPDM-seal references. E is the drilling diameter, the only measurement you must not get wrong.

The letters in the table are those of the manufacturer's dimensioned diagram. Here is what they mean :

• E — the diameter of the hole to drill, in millimetres. It is the only dimension that commits your drilling.
• E1 — the diameter of the collar that bears against the wall, around the hole.
• G1 — the size of the outlet thread, in inches, in gas (BSP) pitch.
• D — the inside diameter of the passage: it is this that decides the flow, not the thread.
• H — the overall length of the fitting, sleeve included.
• K — the hexagon across flats, that is, the wrench opening needed for tightening.

Two remarks that avoid an ordering mistake. First, the hexagon K is always smaller than or equal to the drilling E — that is the very condition of fitting from the outside : the hexagon must be able to pass through the hole for the fitting to be engaged from outside. Second, the flow depends on D, the real passage, and not on the stated thread size : a 1 inch lets only 24 millimetres through.

The manufacturer recommends a standard hole saw above 1 inch. Choose an even area of wall, away from ribs and corners, and check that no frame bar runs just behind : you need to be able to engage the body and work the clamp.

What you connect behind it

The outlet is a male thread in gas pitch, in the size you choose. You screw on whatever your installation needs : tap, valve, elbow, hose barb, quick coupling, irrigation line.

That is the difference from a ready-made overflow : here you build it yourself. The fitting creates the opening, and you decide what goes on it, today as in two years' time.

Where to fit it

Low down, it becomes a drain outlet or a draw-off point where the tank had none.

High up, it becomes an overflow : you drill at the height where you want the level to stop, and you fix the usable volume instead of putting up with it.

On a vertical wall or on the top, it also serves as an inlet : downpipe feed, pump filling, air vent.

Characteristics