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"You need about 1.5 wraps of PTFE tape to seal a fitting. Any more is wasteful and asking for leaks" I would have thought this obvious and it's essentially my

"You need about 1.5 wraps of PTFE tape to seal a fitting. Any more is wasteful and asking for leaks" I would have thought this obvious and it's essentially my experience (and I'm definitely not a plumber). However, I've found that more PTFE tape is needed on old or worn fittings or on ones that have damaged or badly cut threads—or when mating same sized pipes/fittings but each with different threads (yes, that's a desperate brute-force move in an emergency but I've had to force such matings on more than one occasion). In these circumstances, I'll use two or three turns or more often by trial and error—and this changes somewhat depending on whether I'm using thinner white PTFE tape or the thicker pink one. Of course—not being plumber—it often happens that when I urgently need PTFE tape I cannot find it (it having been filed in some obscure place that I've forgotten about—even though I keep a reasonable stock of it), it's then I fall back to the good old combination of Hessian/burlap jute-type rope (of which there is always some lying around in my workshop) and linseed oil based paint. It's messy and much less convenient combination than PTFE tape but it still works wonderfully well. Moreover, it's more tolerant of the amount applied as the linseed oil actually binds to the pipe surface as opposed to the more 'mechanical' bond of the PTFE.

SaintGhurka 4y ago
"combination of Hessian/burlap jute-type rope (of which there is always some lying around in my workshop) and linseed oil based paint." Could you explain that? How do you seal pipe fittings with rope? Edit: found an explanation. TIL that you can use the fibers just like tape and wrap the threads.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Perhaps if I'd used the proper name what I said may have been clearer. The correct name is hemp rope or plumber's rope but I don't often have that around (not being a plumber) so I use the next best thing available Hessian fabric or its rope equivalent). Here are some photos: https://www.bunnings.com.au/enduraseal-1m-plumbers-hemp_p0122280 https://www.bunnings.com.au/enduraseal-1m-plumbers-hemp_p012... https://waropes.com.au/twines/plumbers-hemp/ https://waropes.com.au/twines/plumbers-hemp/ You wrap the hemp fibers around the threads that have been brushed with linseed oil paint then apply a little more paint to the hemp and then mate the couplings together. This sealing technique has been around at least for several hundred years if not longer.
  - Sophistifunk 4y ago
    That seems hella useful, I'm going to grab some next time I'm down picking up a snag sanga.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    >> [...] has been specifically designed and manufactured to suit the Australian market and conditions. That's some hearty stuff, then!
    - hilbert42 4y ago
      First class BS if you ask me. Hardly anything could be more generic than hemp rope methinks.
- throwaway294566 4y ago
  You don't need oil, just rope works as well. Every DIY store (at least over here) has loose manila fibre for that purpose. Wrap into the thread, screw it together, done. The not-so-nice problem: It might leak at first. The nice feature: The fibres will soak up water (thats why oil is actually counterproductive), swell up and make a tight fit after half an hour or so. You can even readjust the angle (other than with PTFE tape), it'll just drip for another half hour.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    Right, there are multiple variations but they generally work in skilled hands although I learned from plumbers who always used oil (although using oil was always an imperative with gas pipes). Using oil usually negates the initial leaking whilst waiting for the hemp to dampen and swell. Edit: I agree that using oil is counterproductive with water pipes—initially at least. I was taught by both plumbers and my father (who wasn't a plumber but a mechanical engineer who worked on power station boilers) that using oil is better in the long run as it prevents the hemp from rotting and thus premature failure of the seal. Moreover, using one oil-based method means that a plumber cannot get confused and leave oil off gas connections where it's essential. (I'd add that when referring to oil I'm specifically referring to linseed oil (even though I've seen some plumbers inappropriately use engine oil) because it slowly polymerizes and hardens even in the absence of air. This adds to the seal's effectiveness and further protects the hemp.)
jcims 4y ago
>Of course—not being plumber—it often happens that when I urgently need PTFE tape I cannot find it Ahh, young padawan, the way of the elder is to buy a roll every time you have a project to do until you have achieved saturation...where there is a lightly used roll of teflon tape in every drawer and on every surface of your workshop and garage.
- mindslight 4y ago
  That's only the way of the middle-aged. If you do it with just PTFE tape you'll be fine, but if you do it with all similar sundries, then you'll be oversaturated and once again won't be able to find anything without pawing through piles.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    Right, see my reply to jcims but that's not all of matter. One could suppose I'm going senile and perhaps that's true but the fact is that I've been losing stuff like this since before I was a teenager. I've figured out the problem: my mind is thinking about all sorts of seemingly important stuff all the time but which in fact is mostly garbage, so my subconscious mind handles what my conscious mind consideres as procedural or unimportant. As my conscious and subconscious minds aren't on speaking terms sufficient for my liking I often end up with the problem of lost stuff. If I consciously tell myself where I've put something then I very rarely forget where it is. The trouble is I don't remind myself to make note often enough.
    - mindslight 4y ago
      My own working model is one of complexity building up over time. You can handle it fine as long as you don't have many fields of endeavor, you have plenty of time to periodically focus on them, keep the stuff organized, can fully finish a project and button it up, etc. But then things happen where you're forced to clear out your mental cache, or even screw up your organization/storage system for whatever, and it comes crashing down. Then all the complexity you were managing gets in your way, and the problem snowballs unless you regain some bandwidth and take steps to mitigate the decay.

SaintGhurka 4y ago

"combination of Hessian/burlap jute-type rope (of which there is always some lying around in my workshop) and linseed oil based paint." Could you explain that? How do you seal pipe fittings with rope? Edit: found an explanation. TIL that you can use the fibers just like tape and wrap the threads.

hilbert42 4y ago
Perhaps if I'd used the proper name what I said may have been clearer. The correct name is hemp rope or plumber's rope but I don't often have that around (not being a plumber) so I use the next best thing available Hessian fabric or its rope equivalent). Here are some photos: https://www.bunnings.com.au/enduraseal-1m-plumbers-hemp_p0122280 https://www.bunnings.com.au/enduraseal-1m-plumbers-hemp_p012... https://waropes.com.au/twines/plumbers-hemp/ https://waropes.com.au/twines/plumbers-hemp/ You wrap the hemp fibers around the threads that have been brushed with linseed oil paint then apply a little more paint to the hemp and then mate the couplings together. This sealing technique has been around at least for several hundred years if not longer.
- Sophistifunk 4y ago
  That seems hella useful, I'm going to grab some next time I'm down picking up a snag sanga.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  >> [...] has been specifically designed and manufactured to suit the Australian market and conditions. That's some hearty stuff, then!
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    First class BS if you ask me. Hardly anything could be more generic than hemp rope methinks.
throwaway294566 4y ago
You don't need oil, just rope works as well. Every DIY store (at least over here) has loose manila fibre for that purpose. Wrap into the thread, screw it together, done. The not-so-nice problem: It might leak at first. The nice feature: The fibres will soak up water (thats why oil is actually counterproductive), swell up and make a tight fit after half an hour or so. You can even readjust the angle (other than with PTFE tape), it'll just drip for another half hour.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Right, there are multiple variations but they generally work in skilled hands although I learned from plumbers who always used oil (although using oil was always an imperative with gas pipes). Using oil usually negates the initial leaking whilst waiting for the hemp to dampen and swell. Edit: I agree that using oil is counterproductive with water pipes—initially at least. I was taught by both plumbers and my father (who wasn't a plumber but a mechanical engineer who worked on power station boilers) that using oil is better in the long run as it prevents the hemp from rotting and thus premature failure of the seal. Moreover, using one oil-based method means that a plumber cannot get confused and leave oil off gas connections where it's essential. (I'd add that when referring to oil I'm specifically referring to linseed oil (even though I've seen some plumbers inappropriately use engine oil) because it slowly polymerizes and hardens even in the absence of air. This adds to the seal's effectiveness and further protects the hemp.)

jcims 4y ago

>Of course—not being plumber—it often happens that when I urgently need PTFE tape I cannot find it Ahh, young padawan, the way of the elder is to buy a roll every time you have a project to do until you have achieved saturation...where there is a lightly used roll of teflon tape in every drawer and on every surface of your workshop and garage.

mindslight 4y ago
That's only the way of the middle-aged. If you do it with just PTFE tape you'll be fine, but if you do it with all similar sundries, then you'll be oversaturated and once again won't be able to find anything without pawing through piles.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Right, see my reply to jcims but that's not all of matter. One could suppose I'm going senile and perhaps that's true but the fact is that I've been losing stuff like this since before I was a teenager. I've figured out the problem: my mind is thinking about all sorts of seemingly important stuff all the time but which in fact is mostly garbage, so my subconscious mind handles what my conscious mind consideres as procedural or unimportant. As my conscious and subconscious minds aren't on speaking terms sufficient for my liking I often end up with the problem of lost stuff. If I consciously tell myself where I've put something then I very rarely forget where it is. The trouble is I don't remind myself to make note often enough.
  - mindslight 4y ago
    My own working model is one of complexity building up over time. You can handle it fine as long as you don't have many fields of endeavor, you have plenty of time to periodically focus on them, keep the stuff organized, can fully finish a project and button it up, etc. But then things happen where you're forced to clear out your mental cache, or even screw up your organization/storage system for whatever, and it comes crashing down. Then all the complexity you were managing gets in your way, and the problem snowballs unless you regain some bandwidth and take steps to mitigate the decay.