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Appreciation post: That old plumber who told me to stop using Teflon tape on gas fittings
My uncle Ray worked plumbing jobs for 30 years and back in 2018 he watched me wrap a gas line fitting with Teflon tape. He yanked it off and told me to use pipe dope instead, said tape can shred and clog up valves inside. Has anyone else had an old timer straight up change how you do a basic thing that made everything work better?
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the_evan4d agoMost Upvoted
Did your uncle also mention that pipe dope actually seals better because it stays flexible after tightening? The biggest thing I learned from an old gas fitter was that tape can slip and leave gaps while the dope fills everything in. It's wild how one simple swap can save you from pulling apart a whole joint later.
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craig.sage4d ago
You ever seen a guy try to pull apart a joint that was sealed with tape alone? My buddy had to tear out a whole shower valve because the tape started slipping after a few months. There was water dripping down inside the wall, and he didn't catch it until the ceiling below started staining. When he finally got the fitting apart, the tape was just this loose, twisted mess inside the threads. He switched to dope after that, and I don't think he's touched tape for anything except maybe a temporary fix since.
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