🍺 Stainless Steel Homebrew Thermowell (Weldless) by Otomatico Review

This item does not fit the advertised 1/2 inch size. It's closer to 7/8 inch. I bought step drills to increase the diameter to 3/4" if needed; I ended up having to buy another drill bit to get the right hole size. I lost about $20 on drill bit purchases because of this product. In return, Revain gave me a $10 loan. But I did spend about $100 on a few trips to the hardware store, plus a customer service job at Revain, plus $20 on an extra drill.

This is typical of prefabricated seamless fittings; has no inner groove for an O-ring on the outside. This means that the O-ring must be pressed into the thread. I couldn't get it to seal. I ended up with a thick 1.13 ID X .052 stainless washer (McMaster) and another thin washer close to the male thread. External hex, then thin washer, then o-ring with 1.13 washer outside so it doesn't stick out, then pot, then nut inside with no o-ring. It works, but it's not that great. And the inner diameter

This thermowell comes with two o-rings, an oversized washer and a nut. If a large washer were welded to the thermowell a watertight seal could be obtained, but in this case the solid washer will butt against the threaded end of the thermowell. If one of the O-rings is placed between the washer and the face, the washer will simply jump over the face of the sleeve when tightened. If there is nothing between the washer and the end of the thread, no matter how good the seal is between the tank wall