SpudFiles

will teflon tape work to seal a steel pipe used for a hybrid?

yes, it will. as long as you wrap it in the correct direction so that as soon as you start threading the fitting together, it dosent start to just bunch up at the end of the threads.

Teflon Tape is just a lubricant to help your pipes be tightened fully. If you don't know that and you aren't capitalizing the first letters of your sentences then you probably need to wait a while before building a hybrid.

Well, shit man, I guess I should stay away from hybrids too then. Haha.

Teflon tape is a lubricant AND a sealant, and yes which way it is wrapped does effect the performance of both.

@burgerace26 As long as you tighten your fittings together all the way, they should seal themselves, but Teflon tape will make it easier to tighten/seal.

hmmm... that's interesting 'teflon tape does not seal'.. why do you need a lubricant if I can tighten threads all the way on almost every fitting and still have leaks

@pizlo one of us is wrong - could you explain why do you claim that PTFE tape doesn't seal?

Yeah, please do, because I always thought that teflon tape was a sealant as well.

Teflon tape seals and lubricates the threads. When you tighten the pipe and fitting, the teflon tape allows the threads to slide past each other so that you can get them tighter, but it also gets pushed into the small gaps/imperfections in the threads to make a leak-free seal.

Also, you don't even need to use teflon tape, you can just cut a plastic grocery bag into strips.

anyway I think pizlo got it all wrong....

1. I have leaks even if I tighten fittngs all the way (maybe you were reffering to PVC fittings ?)

2. Unless I add teflon tape on threads I get leaks

so when taking these facts into consideration you get one conclusion - PTFE tape seals (period)

POLAND_SPUD wrote:so when taking these facts into consideration you get one conclusion - PTFE tape seals (period)

Agreed, with that being said, im going to go develop a new product to market, TEFLON TAMPONS!!

pizlo wrote:Teflon Tape is just a lubricant to help your pipes be tightened fully. If you don't know that and you aren't capitalizing the first letters of your sentences then you probably need to wait a while before building a hybrid.

rofl, anyway yes it is a sealer and so is a bar of soap. old time plumbers used soap because there was no such thing as teflon tape then. and the following is a quote from wikipedia:"Since the PTFE is malleable, deformable and impermeable, it acts a little like putty under compression, being forced into small gaps between threads in order to create an air- and watertight seal when threaded into a joint. The tape is commonly used commercially in pressurized water systems, such as central heating systems, as well as in air compression equipment and thread joints with coarse threads.".

We're going way off-topic here, but anyway it was D-Hall who first said that teflon tape is only a lubricant, not a sealer IIRC.

Edit: http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/leaks-t13792.html

I wouldn't be surprised either, on a 300psi metal cannon of mine, after the joints were threaded a I pulled out the teflon to clean it up and most of the time it took quite a bit of teflon from under the threads, it still seals fine.

I think that D_hall was reffering to PVC... besides I preffer spuddin explanation.. if PTFE acts as lubricant it acts as seal too - because it has to be physicaly present between threads. In this way it fills gaps between treads and creates a seal

after the joints were threaded a I pulled out the teflon to clean it up and most of the time it took quite a bit of teflon from under the threads, it still seals fine.

I've had the same situations several times - but it does not prove anything - the fact that you do not need a lot of tape on whole surface of threads has nothing to do with it being a sealant or lubricant

NPT threads does seal themself if tight enough.
NPT is getting bigger longer up ang it just get tight.

BSP as the one i use NEED teflon tape or something.

Hey, Bah!!

I ask a similar question in the bb section, but some of you guys said that teflon tape (i called it plumbers) doesn't seal blowguns. Well that might be true but, when i squeeze the trigger of the blowgun it still blow out air XS.

So anyone with the final verdict please... lol