How To Use Teflon Tape?

Typically, a Teflon tape is a thin white paper that is used to wrap the threaded ends of different metals and plastic pipes. When you wrap these threaded ends, the tape will lubricate the threads and stop any leaks at the intersecting point of various pipes. This tape would fill the tiny gap between the female and male pipe threads, preventing any water leaks.

In this case, using a tube dope (a paste type material for sealing and lubricating) is the alternative option. The Teflon tape has another variety, coming in a yellow color for using on gas line connections. Remember that this particular yellow tape is thick and you should not use the white ones for gas line connections.

How To Use Teflon Tape?

When using a Teflon tape, people ask different questions, similar to the below ones –

• How much Teflon tape should I use?
• For how many times should I wrap Teflon tape around pipes?
• Which is the best for wrapping a Teflon tape?

The answers to these questions lie in the following tips. Make sure you have read them correctly before using a Teflon tape –

• Before using the thread pipes, you have to clean the pipe threads with a rag.
• When you are wrapping the pipes, start wrapping the male threads at the very end. But, you should be careful because letting the tape lap over the end will cause problems like reducing the water pressure.
• At the end of the pipes, you should start with a few loops of tape and wrap them correctly.
• The direction at which you would wrap the tape is from the end and proceeding toward the length of the pipe. If you cover in the wrong way, it might result in problems such as the tape might come unwound when the fittings are tightened.
• When you are wrapping, you must keep the tension on the tape for pulling it into the threads.
• In case you lose or disconnect a fitting, you have to remove the old tape and thus, re-tape it with a new one.

How To Apply Teflon Tape?

Using the Teflon tape on the pipes need a few tricks. The thing is most people want to wrap the tape because they don’t want to unwrap the tape. In most cases, you would want to wrap the tape so that the screw in a fitting remains stable. Also, you might want the wrapped tape in the same direction on the threads because it will ensure a tight fitting.

However, it is a quite difficult thing to accomplish since imagining in three dimensions while standing with a roll in your hand. Therefore, the easy trick is if you are left-handed, you should be holding the fitting in the left hand. In this way, you could quickly wrap the tape correctly.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is if you follow the above procedure, the tape will come out correctly every time. On the contrary, if you are right-handed, you need to adjust some things like holding the fitting in your right hand. Above all, you can use the trial and error method to find out which is the best process for you regardless of the configuration of the fittings. When you figure out the best procedure, just follow it and wrap fitting with Teflon tape.