Tape or liquid

[bayzoo]

Hi,

I’ll be sorting out all the fittings soon for my new compressor and I’m not sure if I should use PTFE tape or a liquid version when sealing the fittings. I’m happy to use tape but I’m not sure how many layers I should be using?

When googling I see people saying they use 8-15 turns which seems a lot.

Thanks.

 

[addjunkie]

1 to 2 turns. Too much an your gripping tape not thread an risk failure. Much of industry has gone over to mandatory paste to avoid incorrect use.

 

[Justme]

Use gas tape & less turns?

I normally use about 6 turns of standard ptfe but only a couple of gas tape.

 

[bayzoo]

Use gas tape & less turns?

I normally use about 6 turns of standard ptfe but only a couple of gas tape.

I do also have gas tape - could try a couple of turns on that.

 

[mike os]

Personally I tend to use liquid these days

 

[123hotchef]

gas tape if I am in a rush which I normally am! liquid if not

 

[the snooper]

Always used ptfe with no problems

 

[brightspark]

3 or 4 turns is well enough

 

[bricol]

Minimum two turns pf tape, starting a bit down from the end - most of the makers of it seem to suggest 3-4. If it leaks, remove it, put more turns on this time.

I've mostly been using Loctite 567 for the last 20 yrs - it was a BIG tube! But recently a tub with a brush of 5113 - botht eh same - slap it on, screw it together, use it pretty much straight away.

For really annoying ones, I have been known to use both tape and sealant!

 

[tom2207]

the 12 turn thing is plumbers on black iron pipes and fittings as they are rougher cut , anything engineered I go for 2 or 3 on gas tape 4 or 5 on standard tape .

 

[bayzoo]

Seems to be a few options then - I'll get some liquid just in case as it would seem there's a little bit of trial and error. Thanks all.

 

[Ubique]

Seems to be a few options then - I'll get some liquid just in case as it would seem there's a little bit of trial and error. Thanks all.

It depends upon the quality of the fittings, expect Chinesium to have a variable thread size. If you're using budget fittings, use tape as it's more forgiving than liquid.

 

[bayzoo]

I’ll be using PCL XF fittings - I think the fittings that are on my ABAC are Euro fittings so I’ll likely just replace these to the PCL.

 

[Ubique]

PCL fittings in the last couple of years - genuine ones, haven't been as consistent as they used to be in my experience. I doubt there's anything better for similar money though.

 

[Ross365]

Of course, there's PTFE tape and there's "PTFE Tape". I guess that the good "industrial grade" stuff is pure PTFE and for something critical (like putting tapered stainless steel fittings together), it's worth making sure that is what you have. Then there's the cheap stuff, as sold by many of the sheds, which I think is a mixture of PTFE and another polymer, and I don't think it's as good - adequate for domestic plumbing. You can certainly feel the difference between the two, and when performance really matters, the good stuff is well worth having.

 

[MCKDAVID]

It depends upon the quality of the fittings, expect Chinesium to have a variable thread size. If you're using budget fittings, use tape as it's more forgiving than liquid.

It's the other way round, liquid will fill the void between dodgy threads better than tape, unless you wind on way too many wraps.

Can't see myself ever going back to tape, use the resin setting stuff now, seals every time, not had any leaks since, and use it every day. Only downside is that you need heat to get them out, small price to pay for leak free though.

 

[frank horton]

I only use this stuff now..the dogs.....

 

[timgunn1962]

Screwfix do a "liquid PTFE" and a "pipe thread seal", both branded "Flomasta". They are both boringly effective and as close as you'll ever realistically get to idiot-proof. Other suppliers sell similar products. The original was Loctite: great products, but very pricy.

I tend to mostly use the liquid PTFE on pneumatic fittings now, and I tend to find it more forgiving than tape.

It's certainly less dribbly and easier to keep where it's needed than the other anaerobic sealants: I assume it is an anaerobic sealant with a bulking additive to make it pasty, presumably PTFE?

If you are in a hurry and tighten things normally, the fittings can usually be pressurized straight away. If you need to "clock" fittings, applying plenty of the sealant, tightening until the alignment is right, waiting half-an-hour or so for the sealant to set, and then pressurizing, usually gets the job done no problem.

Overtightening and backing off a bit "usually" works, but not always, so I always clock on tightening. The liquid PTFE seems to do a pretty good job of filling poorer-quality threads: there have even been odd occasions when I've had to assemble BSP and NPT threads together and the liquid PTFE has coped faultlessly.

For Hydraulic system pressures (thousands of PSI), the "straight" anaerobic sealants are what I've used for the last 35 years (Loctite 542 initially, but there are lots of good products around now).

The strength tends to go: Anaerobic pipe thread seal (strongest), Liquid PTFE seal, PTFE tape (weakest). This can be useful if you need to consider the order of future disassembly.

 

[bricol]

I only use this stuff now..the dogs.....View attachment 325205

I got some of that 20 yrs ago . . . still got it, as I couldn't seem to get on with it. Found it time consuming, fiddly and not as certain to work as tape or sealant.

 

[sg66]

Paste ot liquid loctite.