light leakage through loose threads, teflon tape

s or any of that shit though the assholes at the DIYs will try to tell you it is. Less diligent plumbers use it because it is less messy than pipe dop e.

For plumbing, a single layer of Teflon tape is inadequate. Six layers has a lways worked fine for me. And it does make the joint easier to tighten. I w as told that it can make it easy enough to let you over-tighten and put eno ugh tension on the socket to break it apart.

s high then you might want to consider Locktite instead. I know it is not t he EXACT purpose of the shit but then do we care what they wanted done with it once they got their money ? Fukum.

d do serious product testing before it goes out the door.

ss or glass supported then unscrewing it may break it.

been involved with some weird kinda processes. The guy to ask would have be en the olman. he might have used like an alloy of maybe mercury and tin, to have it solid at operating temperatures but with a little Burnsomatic or m aybe even a pencil torch you could get it hot and take it back apart easily . but it has to not only well below the melting temperature, it also has to not cause too much thermal expansion or it might break or deform.

George was using it as an anti-backlash device - as a solid lubricant. Meta l-on-metal micro-welds, and you have to torque up a screw thread in a nut q uite a lot to break the microwelds, and the screw jumps too far after the m icrowelds break.

Teflon tape offers smoother adjustment.

nt. Duct tape would be better as a light shield. however it has an aggressi ve adhesive so maybe not so good. Will masking tape take the heat ? (only i f you are dealing with any really pressure of course).

Not the point, in this particular case.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
Bill Sloman
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s or any of that shit though the assholes at the DIYs will try to tell you it is. Less diligent plumbers use it because it is less messy than pipe dop e.

s high then you might want to consider Locktite instead. I know it is not t he EXACT purpose of the shit but then do we care what they wanted done with it once they got their money ? Fukum.

d do serious product testing before it goes out the door.

ss or glass supported then unscrewing it may break it.

been involved with some weird kinda processes. The guy to ask would have be en the olman. he might have used like an alloy of maybe mercury and tin, to have it solid at operating temperatures but with a little Burnsomatic or m aybe even a pencil torch you could get it hot and take it back apart easily . but it has to not only well below the melting temperature, it also has to not cause too much thermal expansion or it might break or deform.

ee that is first of all that tape is white and quite translucent. Duct tape would be better as a light shield. however it has an aggressive adhesive s o maybe not so good. Will masking tape take the heat ? (only if you are dea ling with any really pressure of course)

Teflon tape seals just fine, but it won't take mains water pressure, and ma ny nonplumbers have used it to try to do that. It is approved for gas plumb ing, but only the yellow gas grade stuff, which is thicker and missing the pinholes of the thin white stuff.

Polypropylene film is a reasonable alternative for low pressure water plumb ing, it has the required properties. It's quicker & easier to use than lins eed putty & hemp.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Of course it will. I've never had a Teflon tape joint leak. Where do you live, the turbine hall of a hydroelectric dam?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Heh. I talk with many people who plumb, and on occasion do so myself. All our experiences are the same, don't use teflon tape to seal threads at mains pressure, it leaks. No problem with stored water & 4 floors of head.

I'm not saying it's not possible to get it to work, but at least with the plumbing fittings we use here, on mains it doesn't.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

No, they aren't. I've plumbed water and 10kpsi hydraulic fluid, and admittedly the hydraulic fluid requires some extra work. But, white teflon tape works fine with domestic plumbing (NPT thread) fittings. Even without tape OR pipe dope, you can get a seal.

Works fine on compressed air, too.

Reply to
whit3rd

This seems to be one more case of NT being dogmatic when he's probably got the wrong end of the stick. My impression is that he isn't a reliable informant and is rather unwilling to even contemplate the idea that he might have got something wrong.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
Bill Sloman

you haven't spoken to them

I can't, so tell us how.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Clean, well-formed threads (I have taps and dies so I can touch 'em up after they get dirty, rusty or dinged), and a couple of piipe wrenches. You need two for a coupling, one to keep pipe #1 still while pipe #2 goes into the fitting. Sometimes there's a drip or five, but that dries up by the next day.

Doesn't work on plastic fittings, though.

Reply to
whit3rd

I don't believe you would get our connectors watertight that way. No-one else has.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

I use teflon tape on lotsa plumbing stuff. Even some pipe thread hydraulic connections on my backhoe. No problems... A plumber/ machinist once told me that the teflon doesn't really seal as much as making the joint have less friction, so you can get the pipe treads tighter. (I have no idea if that's true. Seems like it may do a bit of both.) Using teflon tape on a *non*- tapered seal is silly.. but I saw that a lot in grad school.

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

Are they tapered seals? (pipe threads) or some other type.. compression, o-ring... there are lots of joints for which teflon tape will not work. GH

Reply to
George Herold

you can get a seal.

p after they

ed two for a

ng.

e else has.

They're not tapered, and I've never met anyone get any sort of reliable sea l with them using PTFE tape. Great at low pressures, but not mains water. I t seems he's talking about a different type of plumbing joint. I noticed he mentioned them being rusty, but ours aren't normally steel. Torquing em up like a maniac doesn't stop them leaking.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

e, you can get a seal.

up after they

need two for a

ting.

.

one else has.

n,

eal with them using PTFE tape. Great at low pressures, but not mains water. It seems he's talking about a different type of plumbing joint. I noticed he mentioned them being rusty, but ours aren't normally steel. Torquing em up like a maniac doesn't stop them leaking. OK that makes sense, teflon tape is only used (correctly) on tapered seals,

formatting link
(The first pic there.) (The thrid.. tapered male into straight female, just seems like bad form... no mater how attractive the straight female is. :^)

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

Yup. All our threaded piping is NPT, precisely so you can torque it till it doesn't leak. Why would anyone use a non-tapered pipe thread? Is that really the standard over there?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

you can get a seal.

up after they

need two for a

ting.

..

-one else has.

ion,

k.

e seal with them using PTFE tape. Great at low pressures, but not mains wat er. It seems he's talking about a different type of plumbing joint. I notic ed he mentioned them being rusty, but ours aren't normally steel. Torquing em up like a maniac doesn't stop them leaking.

als,

I guess that's like asking why would anyone use an Edison plug. Some things might be better changed but don't need to be, and there would be a downsid e to doing so.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Well, Edison plugs don't leak a lot of electrons. ;)

On the other hand you can't use them for shillelaghs like your big fused things.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

ope, you can get a seal.

em up after they

u need two for a

itting.

ay.

o-one else has.

ion,

k.

seal with them using PTFE tape. Great at low pressures, but not mains wate r. It seems he's talking about a different type of plumbing joint. I notice d he mentioned them being rusty, but ours aren't normally steel. Torquing e m up like a maniac doesn't stop them leaking.

s,

yes, anything but tapered should be sealed with o-rings or a gaskets

the disadvantage with teflon tape is that it cannot be adjusted or only ver y limited so you only get one chance to get angles right

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

Hmm. You get a lot more electrical fires than we do.

I think their main use is for standing on. They tend to sit pins up, so that's fun.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Tapered (NPT) mates poorly with straight (NPS) threads, but with the NPS (male or female) to start with, it's easy to convert it to NPT with a pipe tap or die (and I've had to do it a few times). The only NPS that can't be reworked is a stub female socket (you'd need to bore a deeper hole in the socket).

Teflon tape IS a good antiseize lube for anything that can get hot/wet/frozen. Broke some waterpump fasteners after they rusted/galled/froze in place, gave the replacements a wrap of the PTFE tape to keep oxygen and moisture away from the helical bits that should slide.

Reply to
whit3rd

Not so you'd notice. From net searches, it seems as though you folks have about 6000-7000 electrical fires a year, and we have about 28000. Since the US has about five times the population of the UK, we may even be a bit ahead.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

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