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What's wrong with Teflon tape? It stops minor dripping if you have older pipes with worn threads.
by mapontosevenths 1y ago
What's wrong with Teflon tape? It stops minor dripping if you have older pipes with worn threads.
- mindslight 1y agoTeflon tape is for NPT (National Pipe Taper), which seals through thread interference. For the various things I do, I generally use a three layer sandwich of pipedope-tape-pipedope for the least chance of dealing with leaks. I'd rather take a little more time to make up a joint than have to disassemble and remake one in the middle of an assembly. Showerheads are generally NPS (National Pipe Straight) which seals with a rubber washer. So if there is leaking, the real problem is that rubber washer is missing or old, or the female piece is cracked. Adding tape often encourages cracking the showerhead female, as it pushes out on the threads and showerheads are often chromed plastic. This goes doubly when the pipe coming out of the wall is actually NPT, and the tape encourages you to really over tighten it. Tape can be useful sometimes to hackily make things better, it's just not a good default.
- mapontosevenths 1y agoIt sounds like you know far more than I do about it. I'll try without it first next time! Thanks!
- mindslight 1y agoJust make sure there is an indeed a rubber washer for the sealing. And if it leaks, try replacing that or even adding a second one first. Although none of this applies if both threads do indeed look tapered. And also the rubber washer often has a built in screen in the middle, to catch pieces of whatever (like bits of teflon tape, lol) rather than them clogging up the showerhead's holes.