Helicoil Maintenance


7625 West New York Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46214-4911 USA
Telephone: (317) 273-6960
Facsimile: (317) 273-6979
Order Desk Telephone: (800) 401-1723
Order Desk Facsimile: (800) 515-9254
E-mail: info@floteco2.com
Home Page	Technical Bulletins

Yoke style medical gas regulators are frequently damaged when the T-Handle or the Dome Handle is over torqued. When the Stainless Steel Helicoil is driven out of the aluminum yoke body thread because of over torqueing the damage caused to the Regulator it is not covered by the Flotec warranty.

When the Flotec Soft Seat Yoke washer seal is removed and replaced with a hard plastic washer, the Class II medical device has been altered without the permission of Flotec. This alteration is extremely dangerous and is not endorsed by Flotec.

The Flotec Regulator uses a stainless steel Helicoil as a thread insert for the T-Handle and the Dome Handle. This Helicoil is screwed into the threaded aluminum yoke to prevent the aluminum from wearing out from the friction with the T-Handle and the Dome Handle.

The Helicoil is designed to stay in place and exceed the Flotec warranty during normal usage. However many cylinder refillers provide hard plastic washers with each full cylinder. When the new cylinder is put into service these hard plastic washers are often used in place of the Flotec’s Soft Seat Yoke Washer Seal. Because these hard plastic washer are not elastomeric it takes a great deal of extra torque on the T-Handle and the Dome Handle to achieve a proper high-pressure seal. The area of unit loading needed to get a high pressure seal with the hard plastic washers is so great that many people use a wrench to force the T-Handle tight.

The extra torque required to get a proper high pressure seal can exceed the maximum torque that the Helicoil can normally withstand. The result is a Helicoil that is driven out of the Aluminum threaded yoke and the T-Handle or the Dome Handle ends up with excessive wear on the threads.

Regulators with damaged Helicoils may be returned to Flotec for repair or you may purchase the Helicoil Repair Kit (part number HRK 100). The HRK 100 includes a Helicoil Tap (part number HRK 101), a Helicoil Mandrel (part number HRK 102), and 50 replacement Helicoils (part number 810-6428-001) for $ 191.55 list.

You may purchase replacement T-handles and Soft Seat Yoke washer seal from Flotec.