cleaning used fitting's

[diesel79james]

I recently had about 400 taps and other fittings gave to me along with the tubing and I have been taking them apart. I was just wondering if I could boil the plastic DG fitting's to clean them or would it make them to soft for further use. My idea was to use the turkey fryer and just dunk the fitting's in and out a few times in boiling water not leaving them in to long.

[wiam]

Fittings will never be as clean as new. Most that are in it to make a living will not put up "used"

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I agree with WIAM, however, boiling will not harm them and will kill the outer layer of bacteria.

[maple maniac65]

boiling and or wiping them off only makes you feel good and looks like new. Actually they are still covered with bacteria we just cannot see it. It is like washing tubing it just makes us feel good because it looks clean at the time it was done.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

if I remember a statistic correctly you loose approx. 10% of sap yield a year using used fittings, like MM65 said the bacteria gets into the plastic and has a protective coating so you cant kill it all.