SWG threads ruined

[tnthudson]

A couple of weekends ago, I tried to remove my Intellichlor SWG and put the Spacer Cell in its place. I could get the fitting on the ‘inbound’ water flow side off easily, but the ‘outbound’ side’s fitting would not budge...
I got a Strap Wrench and, this past weekend, worked with it and worked with it until I felt something give, and the fitting very reluctantly finally came off. The strap wrench was damaged and the black fitting cracked, due to the fact that I had to use so much pressure.
This is what I found:
The threads on the black fitting were ruined. White plastic from the threads on the SWG had bonded to the black fitting’s threads.
The threads on the SWG were also ruined. A portion of the threads broke off, since they were molded to the black fitting. Black from the black fitting appears to have ‘melted’ or ‘molded’ onto the white SWG threads.

Here’s my questions:
The threads on the SWG look “fat” or thick (and rounded)…do you think that's the way they were originally? If so, shouldn’t the black fitting have threads to match those ‘fat’ threads, rather than the regular ‘thin’ threads?
Also, if the threads were originally “fat” on the SWG, why did the installers use a fitting that was forced onto the threads, messing up the threads in the process?
OR if the threads were originally ‘thin’ on the SWG, what made them get ‘fat’ and rounded and molded to the black fitting?
Anyway, I'm hitting the PB with this tomorrow, since they installed this in May, but I just didn't know if any of you guys had ever seen anything like this? :?

 

[spishex]

They are buttress threads that have been shaved down due to the force necessary to remove it. Originally they had sharper points.

The installer seems to have accidentally gotten some glue or primer on the union. That happens from time to time. When the union was glued onto your plumbing, the nut may have been resting right up against it where the glue was exposed. Then it was put on without being cleaned.

So when you say ruined, can you still use it to hold the SWG or replacement pipe in place with enough force for the o-ring to seal? Or are we going to have to come up with some sort of clever, TFP original solution?

*By the way, those look exactly like the unions packaged with the Intellichlor, so I don't think a mix-up was the problem.

 

[tnthudson]

Thanks for the reply, spishex.
I bet you're exactly right; my PB seems to have had alot of turnover this year, and those guys had to come out 3 times to get the pipe to stop leaking after they put the SWG in; there's blue glue all over my pipe.
There's no way I can get the damaged union to thread onto the dummy cell or the SWG, and I also noticed that it's cracked. I had to put some pipe on the end of my poor strap wrench and pull my guts out to break the seal, so I'm almost 100% sure those guys got some glue on there...
Now the trick is convincing them of that... :x
Anyhow, I think the pipe will have to be cut and another piece of pipe and a union put on, so I'm going to try to get them to do that. Unless you guys have any other angle you think I should take (?)

 

[spishex]

Ah yeah, I forgot you said it was cracked. The new unions aren't hard to come by, and if the PB ever replaces those cells he might have a stack of spares handy.

The bigger issue I was thinking of is the threads on the cell itself. Will the union on the other side grip them even though they're that worn down?

If the cell side is still good I'd ask the PB for a new union for free and offer to install it yourself (you don't want to give those bozos an encore). He should have no problem with that, especially if you show him the pictures.

 

[tnthudson]

Yeah, I'm not having a good feeling about this. The PB seems to be a good guy, but I don't know how they'll view this situation.
The SWG cell threads are a mess, they're rounded out and a chunk of them is missing (it doesn't show up very well on the pic., but there's no way that even a new union would screw onto it). But I know they got glue or some foreign stuff up in there, or that thing wouldn't have locked solid like that. It was STUCK
Anyway, I'll find out tomorrow. And thanks again for the help.