Repairing my head, o-ring still LEAKS!

[honeybear]

My macerator Jabsco pump attached to the toilet needed me to reattach the blade, no problem. I replaced the o-ring and remounted the pump to the toilet with the 4 screws and am not getting a tight enough seal as it leaks still. Can someone tell me a general cure here? Use gasket sealer? use boat life caulk?, what should I use. It should seal just with the o-ring and cleaned it all well and put it back together 4 differrent times. Any suggestion for this simple problem???? Thanks, Bob K

[fullkeel7]

I just found out NOT to hit F5 (refresh) to see if anyone posted a similar response while your typing your response...CRAP!

Anyway...Hi Bob. As I typed earlier (dah), I think you're right, the O-ring should do the job by itself. Applying a sealer or caulk only hides the cause of the leak, temporarily.

If it were me, I'd take it apart again (just what you wanted to do, right?) and with a bright light, take a good look at the mating surfaces and groove for any burrs, debris, cracks or anything that would interfere with proper sealing. I'd also run my fingers around the mating surfaces to find any irregularities.

If all is well, I would take a close look at the o-ring itself. I've seen brand new rings that have had 'flat' spots on them, been out of round and have seen them with cracks manufactured into them. Also if installed without lubrication, they can get pinched during tightening and the mating surfaces will take a little bite out of them.

I'd also take it a step further and check the o-ring for proper size (yeah, I know, no seal kit ever came with a wrong sized ring.) A good way to check for proper thickness is to install the ring into it's groove and check, with a small 6" scale or similar straight edge, to see if the o-ring is above the groove to be able to seal with it's mating surface. Good luck with it.

[thekeip]

Always use Silicone grease to lube O-rings wherever you find them. Never Vaseline or other petroleum based greases.
Howard Keiper
Berkeley

[mawm]

I dn't know the Jabsco, but on some others the mating parts are plastic and if you over tighten, or tighten unevenly, the plastic warps and prevents a good seal forming.