My propane regulator started acting up and figuring out the right replacement part took me a whole weekend, not the 20 minutes I thought.

3 comments

3 Comments

Was it the fitting size or the pressure rating that gave you the most trouble? I spent a whole afternoon once trying to match the threads on an old grill, only to find out the new one needed a different hose too.

dylan4132mo ago

That exact thing happened to me with my water heater last month! It's always the threads, isn't it? You get the right size but the pitch is off by a hair. Your story about the grill, @julia92, shows how this is a universal headache. It feels like companies change standards just to make us buy more parts. I've learned to bring the old part to the store every single time now.

wren80620d agoMost Upvoted

I grew up working in my dad's hardware store for 10 years so I have to respectfully disagree a bit here. Most thread standards like NPT and BSP have actually been the same for decades, the real problem is people mixing up pipe thread with garden hose thread or compression fittings. @julia92 brings up a good point about pressure ratings too because sometimes it's not the thread at all but the actual material or rating that changed. I get that it FEELS like companies are messing with us but usually it's just that we're dealing with multiple different standards that have always existed. Bringing the old part to the store is definitely smart though, I do that myself every time now after I grabbed the wrong flare fitting twice in a row.