Realized I've been over-tightening coax connectors for years

I was at a house in Tempe last week and the customer complained about pixelation on just one TV. I checked my work, all good. Then I saw the old connector on the splitter from the previous guy was cracked. The guy who trained me always said 'tighten it until it's snug, then give it another quarter turn.' I've been doing that for 8 years. I think that extra torque is slowly cracking the plastic inside the connector over time, causing intermittent faults. I'm just hand-tight now. Has anyone else had a connector fail from being too tight?

3 comments

3 Comments

parkerb231mo ago

Oh man, same thing here. My boss drilled that quarter turn into me. Found a whole bunch of cracked barrels last month, all my own work. Just hand tight is the way to go.

leerobinson1mo ago

Read an old manual that called it "snug tight" which always stuck with me. It said if you're using a wrench, you've already gone too far. That visual really helps remember the feel.

williams.wade1mo ago

Took me a few busted fittings to learn that lesson the hard way too.