Why I'm gonna use teflon tape from now on

Been livin in this house ten years now, and I just figured out that the utility sink in the garage, the faucet has garden hose threads. So of course, now I have to use it.

There's a wet spot on the driveway blacktop. Been there two days now. It's not just water. Antifreeze, I think, from the guy that serviced our furnace the other day. I want to go hose it down.

So I grabbed a quick connect fitting, one of the fittings I took off my hoses before I packed them away for the winter. It caught my eye that it didn't have a hose washer, the special one you need for QC fittings. So I grabbed the washer, and noticed that I only have one more. Gotta get more.

The washer for the QC fitting is flat on one side, but the other side has a step in it. So which side goes up -- flat or step? So I grabbed another QC fitting, moved to better light, and compared the two:

The one on the left isn't right. The one on the right is okay.

No... It's not missing a washer... There's something in there, covering up the washer. I took another look:

The one on the left clearly has something in it

Yeah, you can see it. The one on the left has something in it. Looks like the metal-threads part of something that was screwed in there before I put my hoses away for the winter.

I didn't notice till now. But one of those hoses I put away must be missing the "metal threads" part of its male end connection. Or one of the fittings I put away for the winter. I'll have to look.

Dunno if I can get that piece out. Hope so. These QC fittings are too expensive to throw away.

I know one thing for sure. From now on I'm using teflon tape on my hose ends and fittings.

Oh, and you can see the step in the washer from the female end of the QC fitting. So now I know which way the washer goes.

Well, back to work.