So a friend of mine told me a shop assistant and continued further: Here is a special thread for you; anaerobic sealants - blue, green, red. At worst, take the FUM tape more tightly. Your guards (plumbers author's note) are like Old Believers, not ready to accept anything new. The counter is completely filled with sealing material. And besides flax you don't need anything.
I heard this friendly monologue in my direction in a plumbing store that I constantly visit. Thus, the seller complained about the lack of sales in this segment.
From the side of an ordinary layman, a reasonable question may arise, why does the outdated material never leave the thread sealing arena? In addition, the material is very popular and irreplaceable.
I know the answer why linen winding is very popular to this day, but before I voice it, I need to consider the disadvantages of modern sealing materials:
Plumbing thread
The advertised material for winding threads. Has a relatively high price, not suitable for large diameters (waste).
Anaerobic sealants
Not used to seal dirty, old threads. Does not adhere to plastic joints. Applies to new systems only. It takes time for polymerization (20 minutes), only after that the system is started. Impractical stuff.
Fum tape
A very useful and practical material in certain conditions, but most plumbers keep it as a spare material. When winding plastic threads, FUMka is irreplaceable. In other threads, sometimes packed joints begin to leak, which leads to additional waste of time for rewinding.
Why do plumbers use LEN for threading?
- Cheapness, a pigtail of good flax costs around 100 rubles. And you can wind them with a lot more threads than a thread, for example.
- Winding from this material is unpretentious, does not require styryl cleanliness. It is used for any thread diameter used in water supply and heating systems.
- Lubricated linen, sealing paste is not subject to decay, withstands a large tightening torque and is not squeezed out like FUM.
The main feature of the material is that it is natural, because it is made of grass. Therefore, in the event of small leaks, undermining on the thread, wetting, LEN begins to expand, absorbing water into its structure, which in turn additionally seals the connection. No modern material can boast of this property. Therefore, Old Believers plumbers use it everywhere.