Leaks in Air Compressor Lines - Black Iron Pipe

[Bay Area Dave]

I use teflon tape to seal threads in 100+ psi lines. water isn't necessary for the tape to work, Bob.

dave

Bob Summers wrote:

[John Crea]

Dave

I use teflon tape on HP lines (3000psi and above) and they seal just fine.

John

[Bay Area Dave]

I haven't worked with that much air since working on F-106's

dave

John Crea wrote:

[GTO69RA4]

Sounds like your joints were bad or you weren't using enough tape. I've used it for my 120+ PSI air systems for years. So has everyone else I know.

GTO(John)

[Mark]

I use Gasoila soft set with PTFE:

's the blue can, works on about everything.

I elbowed and extended the drain valve in my 175 psi compressor, occasionally I will twist the elbow in the bottom of the tank when turning the drain valve, apparently it's not very tight. It has yet to spring a leak.

[BIG JOE]

Bob suggested ...

That's what I ended up doing. I probably redid 80% of the joints by the time I was done, and all appears to be leak free. Whatever pipe sealant they sold my at Home Depot you can wipe your arse with.

Now that the system is up and running, it's time to shop for nailers.

Joe

[Cape Cod Bob]

Out of nowhere comes another useless Home Depot dig. Since HD does not have store brand items (except for Ridgid) the pipe sealant is probably sold in thousands of other stores and plumbing suppliers. Why pick on HD?

[BIG JOE]

Gee Bob, maybe because the Home Depot employee grabbed it off the f*cking shelf and handed it to me. "This will work for what you're doing."

BTW: Many Ridgid items are sold elsewhere.

Joe

[Scott Brownell]

I'm not Bob but I can tell you that I've had the exact same problem with pipe dope I've picked up at my plumbing supplier. The stuff you purchased is fine, nothing wrong with it. It's the treads of the fittings and/or pipe. Please trust me for a second on this, the fittings from even the most trusted supplier can be suspect. Pipe threads can vary just because of the amount of wear on the cutters at the time they were cut, let alone where they might be made now, Tiawan is a big producer as well as others. I'm not a plumber (am a contractor) but the other 3 male members of my family are so I learned years ago to use 2-3 wraps of teflon tape with a dose of pipe dope added to insure a good seal. Anyone that says they get a perfect seal every time with just dope is blowing smoke up your ass because they haven't done much of it, if any.

BTW, Ridgid woodworking tools are only sold at HD. Their line of plumbing tools (great products) are sold in many places.

Scott

-- An unkind remark is like a killing frost. No matter how much it warms up later, the damage remains.

[Nail Bender]

Ok. Time for my two-cents worth on this topic. Coming in from the Industrial side of the fence, the first thing you learn is that to design a leak-free system, you do not use NPT threads, the kinds you find at the Borg (as you call them) and Lowes and such. It's everywhere!

Teflon tape is a great sealant, if used properly, and the only kind you need. The Teflon dope is a good lubricant and sealant, but I see no need to use both. If you wrap the pipe starting from the opening end back with a couple of wraps as Scott suggests, you'll be fine. If you come from the school of thought "if a couple is good, then four must be great!", you stand the risk of cracking the pipe while tightening it. Seen it happen.

In industry, beware of poor wrapping practices with teflon tape because pieces of the tape can get into valves and such and foul them. Imagine the same is true with nailers and other air tools.

Nailbender

[Greg O]

Excuse me? I run allot of black gas pipe from time to time for my job. We use Rectorseal with teflon. Before that we just used plain ol' Rectorseal. Sure, I get a leak from time to time, but for the many thousands of feet of gas pipe I have threaded I assure you you can get a good seal with just pipe dope. We are not allowed to use teflon tape, it is against mechanical code in our area. I did a job a while back that feed 8 differant heating units, total load was around 2 million BTU. Ran about 300 feet of 2" black pipe, and about 150 feet of 1" pipe, plus 3/4" and 1/2" to connect the equipment. Put a pressure test on it at 2 pm Friday, and on Monday it was still holding, no loss in pressure at all. From what I see if someone gets a leak, the pipe was not tight enough! Sure, you can get a bad thread or fitting once in a while, but if I find a leak, 9 times out of ten it just needs another turn or two. 2" pipe for example I tighten with 24" pipe wrenches untill I can not turn it any more. Give it a few minutes and I can usually give it one more turn. Greg

[Mark Jerde]

Ok, so what kind of threads do you use, and where do you get 'em?

-- Mark