- Is your tap leaking?
- Not...
- Do the Ivanovs live here?
- No, they moved out six months ago!
- Here are the people - they called the plumber, but they themselves left somewhere ...
Anecdote from the site- "anekdoty.ru"
This material is based on my own experience. I work as a plumber. I share useful information on where to apply FUM, in a convenient form, "Question-Answer".
What is FUM tape?
Ftoroplastic Havedense Mmaterial. From the name it becomes clear that from the material fluoroplastic (polytetrafluoroethylene), a thin tape is made, which has a number of properties that are excellently used for seals of threads in the chemical industry, it does not enter into compounds with many acids and alkalis, and is also well used in a clean environment oxygen. Accordingly, it does an excellent job of sealing media such as water and gas.
Where is FUM tape used for plumbing?
It is advisable to use FUM tape only on flat factory threads. In order to avoid damage to the sealing coating, films when screwing on. Due to its properties, lack of adhesion to screwed materials, often "fumka" starts to pass liquids, especially in hot water, due to the expansion of thread materials during heating and subsequent cooling. In this case, the FUM film slides off the top of the thread and the liquid penetrates from the water supply into the room. Therefore, it is not popular with experienced plumbers.
FUM tape is indispensable for screwing plastic parts of the pipeline. The only worthy use of this material by plumbers.
Where should FUM tape not be used?
Some "experts" as well as "home craftsmen" use this sealing material in such joints where it is absolutely useless, and sometimes harmful. For example, the threads are wound to which the union nuts are connected, which have their own sealing gasket. For example, flexible connections to faucets, in these places they are useless. In addition, threaded tape can get caught in the hoses, creating additional resistance to fluid flow or even blocking the pipes.
Why don't plumbers like FUM tape?
With all the seeming ease when working with the above material, it is quite difficult to correctly apply it to the thread, namely, to guess with the amount of fluoroplastic film:
- In case of insufficient laying of this material on the threads, the mating fitting easily turns at the connection point. It is difficult to make a good broach. Accordingly, leaks may occur. Which will not "overgrow" on their own and require re-"packing".
- When stacking excess material, the film is squeezed out, but not all of it. This creates tension in the joint. What is critical when winding plastic threads, they can "burst".
- Poorly adjusted. That is, with the necessary displacement of the part along the thread by half a turn, a liquid leak will surely occur at the junction.
Thanks for attention. S.Uv. Timofey Mikhailov - Plumber