Presto Pot Spigot

[6skis]

Hi All,

Just made my first presto pot melter last night and it works great. The instructions in the General Information section (Candle Tech) are great, but I did get confused when buying the tools required to drill and tap the hole for the spigot. I've never worked with pipe before, so any plumbers out there feel free to correct me if any of this sounds wrong, but here's what I learned:

1. The U.S. classifies pipe threads as NPT (National Pipe Thread), but those threads can be either tapered (NPT) or straight (NPS). The tapered pipe threads create a tighter fit and are used to better protect against leaks. Accordingly, the hole drilled for NPT fittings is slightly smaller than the hole required for NPS fittings. The directions for the wax melter call for a 3/8" spigot, so here are the drill sizes for a 3/8 spigot with 18 Threads Per Inch (TPI), which is standard for what we're doing:

NPT = 37/64" drill (.5781)

NPS = 19/32" drill (.5937)

2. I used the NPT tap because I wanted the tighter fit to prevent any leaks. I also put teflon tape on all the fittings and everything works great with no leaks.

3. Total cost:

Pot = $21.00 (Wal-Mart)

Fittings = $12.00 (Home Depot)

Tap and Drill = $12.00 (Enco - online)

So this one cost me $45.00, but the tap and drill are reusable, so subsequent ones will only cost $33.00.

4. This was not hard to do and it sure beats the double boiler method I've been using prior to last night...well worth the time and money! Regards, Mike

[geekrunner]

They really are great! I have two, and they same me a bunch of time.

geek