Question for you plumbers
I am installing a water filter on the incoming cold water supply to our washing machine. The connection on the filter is plastic threaded female and I will be using a male threaded plastic (PVC) on ...
Forum Discussion
ernie1 wrote:
I'm confused. So the manufacturers say not to use pipe dope and some of you are saying not to ever use teflon tape on plastic pipe. WELL, what is a body to use then? Nothing? Just for the record, I use teflon tape some times and pipe dope sometimes and sometimes both. If there is a good reason not to do this please explain and then I'll follow your advice.
I was installing a shower valve awhile back and tried both teflon tape, then tried pipe dope, then tried both and I continued to get a leak. Called the manufacturer, Hansgrohe, a German company, and sought their advice. They said in Germany, because of the way the threads were cut, as in pipe threads with lateral lines cut perpendicular to them, they use hemp!! I said whaaatt? I dumped their fittings and used standard American made fittings instead. Problem solved.
Manufacture do not recommend using pipe dope or tape on plastic fittings because their engineers say the fitting seals itself.
Reality is...they tend to leak more often than not. So a quick wrap (not the 1st thread) with a bit of teflon seems to do the trick. When you hear about people saying it cracks the fitting, what normally happened was someone made several wraps (making the male to big to fit the female, thus cracking the female---no dirty thoughts intended) or the fitting was over tightened. IT'S PLASTIC
