Teflon Tape or Plumbers Putty?
For the past several years, I've been using teflon tape on the threads of the anode in my Suburban water heater to keep water from leaking out of the tank. This year, I bought a plumbers putty stick a...
Forum Discussion
RinconVTR wrote:
Wow...lots of inaccurate information in this thread.
#1 - Plumbers PUTTY is NOT a thread sealer! NEVER use putty for thread sealing.
#2 - Teflon tape is absolutely a pipe thread sealer good for all common materials.
#3 - Liquid thread sealant is of course a thread sealant BUT not to be confused with putty.
Teflon tape and Liquid thread sealant is often a personal choice and for some applications is easier to use over the other. I use both interchangeably for LP, NG, and water of all materials. I'd say I use liquid more often on gas line fittings and larger pipe fittings in general.
^This.
And for those using tape, if it is wrapped the wrong way or too thick, more than 2 wraps, then it's going to be considerably less effective. You won't get enough turns on npt fittings if you put 3-4-5 wraps and the tape will be doing all the sealing, not the threads.
You want it thin enough that it cuts through and allows the threads to go metal to metal, compressing the tape into any small voids in the bottom of the thread vee. And if not wrapped counterclockwise for rh threads, it just gets run out.
