Sealant/joint compound on bath valve union

[Deathtofishy]

I'm at the last connection in re-plumbing a house, and the shower/bath has a two handle valve and the hot and cold are tied in with brass unions.

The unions didn't leak before, however they are older and one did show some scaling/lime on the face of it.

1. Should I clean up that scaling and lime with fine steel wool or something?

2. I read in one thread that some one used sealant/joint compound on the face of the union but not on the threads. Not sure if its a good idea for me to do that, and/or put some on the threads... not sure if it would be negative in any way?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Terry]

You can clean that up, maybe some dope on the face. Or not.

You have it open, why not a new pressure balanced faucet at this time?

The Moen TL2368EP trim with a Posi-Temp valve.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Deathtofishy]

You can clean that up, maybe some dope on the face. Or not.

You have it open, why not a new pressure balanced faucet at this time?

The Moen TL2368EP trim with a Posi-Temp valve.

I would LOVE to do that. Unfortunately the original install has the tub spout too close to the handles to accommodate for the new trim piece. In the future I'll either do a new surround or tile and then I can swap it out proper. Luckily for me the wall is always open, these old houses had the foresight to build in decorative access doors.

Unluckily for me the female end of the union that threaded into the brass pex adapter on the cold side started weeping. The unions themselves on the fixture were fine. Its tough to judge how tight to make that fitting because the union side is rounded...

Shut the water off, disassembled, put on another round of leak lock gold compound and am coming back in the morning to pressure test. Fingers crossed it works this time, I got tenants moving in Monday.

Any suggestions if it doesn't? I've heard guys using teflon and pipe compound? Also heard of pipe wick, but usually that seems to be for larger fittings.