Just realized I've been using my torque wrench wrong for 2 years

I was working on a job replacing a water heater in Phoenix yesterday, and a buddy stopped by. He watched me crank down the fittings and asked why I was using a torque wrench like a breaker bar. I thought it clicked when it was tight enough, but he showed me it's supposed to click when you hit the exact number on the dial. I've probably wrecked 15 fittings over the last 2 years by overtightening them. Anybody else make dumb mistakes with basic tools for way too long?

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2 Comments

nathan1935mo ago

Drove me nuts when I found out my friend had a torque wrench for a year before he realized it measures in inch-pounds, not foot-pounds. Made all his bike stuff way too tight until someone pointed it out.

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joel_young5mo ago

Actually inch-pounds are way bigger than foot-pounds because it takes twelve inch-pounds to make one foot-pound so his stuff was probably too loose not too tight.

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