What can be used for the place of tow. Dismantling the old caulk

Everyday life quite often makes a person carry out minor repairs, during which winding is required. It can be a radiator, as well as plumbing. Each home master he must learn to use the tow correctly, as it will be useful to him sooner or later. can be made of metal, plastic, metal-plastic or nylon, each type of material has adapters for connecting other pipes. Such connections will be discussed below.

For reference

Quite often, home craftsmen have to decide how to wind flax on a tap thread. If you want to hermetically connect the elements of the water supply and pipes, then do the work called packing. If it is necessary to pack two pipes at a right angle using a coupling, it is best to cut a thread at their ends. The coupling will include internal thread and outer coils. Twisting them will not be enough; for a proper connection, the threads should be sealed.

Description of linen tow

Before flax is wound on a thread, you should become more familiar with what the flax fiber material is, which is used to seal the thread. The product is natural, it is made from the primary processing of fine, uniform and long-staple flax. Scope of use linen tow very wide. Depending on the manufacturing technology, the material is tape, plumbing, jute or construction. In the latter case we are talking about insulation, which is able to provide reliable tightness of almost any connection. For its manufacture, fully combed fibers are used, which are supplied in bales. This material is used for construction works for sealing seams, warming the log house and laying wooden elements. It is natural, it is especially appreciated among those who build wooden houses. If construction tow is supplied in rolls, then it is called tape. This material is also used for caulking seams in log cabins and laying crowns. The advantage of using linen for its cost. The material is much cheaper compared to any other. It is consumed economically, the fibers, although thin, have high strength. If wound correctly, they can be used for any type of work where any connections are used. It can be ceramic and cast iron pipes.

Additional Benefits

Before winding flax around the thread, you should know that it swells, absorbing moisture. This allows you to increase the tightness, because the leak has no way. The mechanical stability of the material is quite high, it is this characteristic that allows fitting sanitary ware, while the hermetic properties are not lost, the connections can be unscrewed by a full turn or half a turn.

Disadvantages of using linen

If you are thinking about how to wind flax on a thread, you should first familiarize yourself with all the disadvantages of this material. The substance in the base is organic, so it can rot when exposed to air and moisture. They can get inside during preventive examinations. For this, tow is accompanied by additional material that can prevent decay processes. It can be oil paint, sealing paste, lithol or grease.

In some cases, it is necessary to prepare the thread before winding, and if the material is laid too thick, this can cause damage to the joints, which is especially true for brass and bronze. If you are faced with the question of how to wind flax on a thread, you must remember that the described seal requires knowledge of winding rules from the master. Associated materials in combination with flax can make disassembly much more difficult, this applies to silicone or oil paint. Sometimes such additions make the installation process impossible. Flax is not suitable for use, where the temperature can reach 90 ° C. In such places, the material is welded and loses its sealing qualities. If you work with steel, then be sure to follow the winding technology. Otherwise, the thread may be corroded.

Winding flax on a new thread

Before winding flax on a thread, if it is new, then coils should be prepared. Many manufacturers today produce fittings that are already threaded, but the latter have notches that are intended for winding flax. The fact is that on a smooth thread the material can slip off, it is bundled, which leads to a violation of the seal. In order for the fibers to be able to catch on, the turns must be notched. If necessary, you can apply them with a needle file, a hacksaw or a file. Some craftsmen use a plumbing key or pliers: the thread should be grasped, and then serifs should be applied with light pressure.

The main thing in this work is to achieve roughness on the turns. Before the flax is wound on the thread, it is necessary to separate one strand from the whole pigtail. It is important to capture so many fibers that the winding is not very thin, but it should not be thick either. Experts advise using a linen thickness that corresponds to two or one match. If there are lumps in the strand, then they must be removed, as well as small villi.

Work methodology

You can apply tow using your own technology, some experts twist it into a bundle, someone braids it into a weak pigtail, while others lay it in the form of a loose thread. The order of applying additional material can also be different. In some cases, you can lubricate the thread by wrapping it with fibers, and then apply another layer. Sometimes the fibers are pre-impregnated and then prepared. Both options are considered correct. If you are thinking about how to wind flax on a thread - clockwise or counterclockwise - then you can listen to the recommendations of experts, some of them wind strands along the thread, others act on the contrary. In this case, the end of the strand should be clamped with a finger outside the turns, the first turn should form a cross, this will fix the material. Gaps should not be left, you need to lay one turn to another. If you are making a connection, then excess material will be squeezed out of the fitting, this is true if you are working with an iron pipe and a steel sleeve. brass connections, which is relevant for those that are manufactured according to modern technologies, burst from strong pressure.

Around the wound linen, it is necessary to apply plumbing paste or any other sealing material, while the movements must be rotational. The work must be as accurate as possible. The second end should be glued closer to the edge of the thread, and before tightening, you need to check if the pipe hole has been filled with sealing material. Now you know, you can see the photos of these works in the article. However, from them you will not be able to understand that it is necessary to twist the elements with moderate effort. If the nut goes easily, then little flax was put. Winding will be correct if the material does not come out and the surfaces around the joint remain clean. It is not recommended to use organic tow for gas connections, this is due to the fact that under the influence of gas it and silicone, which is used additionally, are destroyed. The use of fum tape is most appropriate here.

Linen winding on ecoplastic products

If you are thinking about how to wind flax on thread by thread, then you can use the technology that is used in the case of working on ecoplastic products. This material, like brass, can burst. The main thing is not to overdo it. Before starting work, both fittings should be connected, count the number of revolutions. Linen is wound evenly, its surface is smeared additional material, only after you can connect the fittings. If you counted 5 turns in idle, then after winding the tape, it is best to make about 4.5 turns, while you do not need to reach the end. In this case, it is more expedient to use packaging paste instead of sealant.

Conclusion

Quite often, home craftsmen are wondering how to wind flax on a pipe thread. In this case, the connection should be dismantled by inspecting the thread. You need to walk along the turns with the tip of a knife or an awl, this method will allow you to get rid of accumulated debris. With a metal brush, before winding the tape, it is necessary to clean the coils until you see a shine.

Dear master! Is it possible to use penofol instead of tow, flax, jute in building a house from a bar? At first glance, the benefits are obvious. Penofol is elastic, waterproof, not blown, good insulation, easy to use. And why not use it as a spacer between the bars? And what are the contraindications? Thank you in advance.

Evgeny Vladimirovich, Pereslavsky district, Krasnogor village.

Hello, Evgeny Vladimirovich from Krasnogor!

Penofol is a heater of two main components, namely, polyethylene foam and aluminum foil. Whatever type, type or brand it is.

Polyethylene foam is not a natural material and, despite the almost unanimous statements of manufacturers and sellers about its complete environmental harmlessness, in my opinion, it is not.

As an example, I always cite the well-known dust (DDT), the full name isethane, which at one time was advertised as completely harmless. I remember how they were generously poured clothes in the closets so that moths would not start, how they diluted the water and then watered the greens in the beds in order to exterminate any bad agricultural pests. In short, it was a panacea for all, or almost all, troubles and misfortunes.

A little more than fifty years have passed and I don’t remember that this substance was so widely used anywhere. It is so harmful to the human body and can accumulate in it that it is used only in the most extreme cases to combat mass epidemics. When "not up to fat, I would live."

Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else can say with absolute certainty in so ... twenty years that polythene, which does not decompose completely, during the entire time it was produced, does not have bad properties that are not known today.

I am not a supporter of rejecting technical progress when using more and more new materials in construction, but still I prefer the old ones, tested for many tens or even hundreds of years.

At right technology building tow (linen, jute, hemp) is the most durable and environmentally friendly cushioning material-insulation between wooden crowns in residential construction. At the same time, they must be completely dry (as well as the wood of logs, timber, etc.), and with outside, from the side of the street, ideally, they should be covered with drying oil or other types of coatings that protect the insulation from absorbing atmospheric moisture.

Yes, sometimes they are used as a heater and when the coveners do not have normal tow at hand. But I do not know of any cases of using penofol to fill the interventional space.

In my opinion, this is due to another factor. Have you noticed that in stone houses and in wooden ones, the waterproofing layer is placed only on the base of the foundation. That is, further from this waterproofing layer are solid walls that create an array. Why is this being done? Then even with local, concentrated hits of excess moisture on any section of the wall, this moisture does not linger in one place, but is redistributed in all directions. And over time, this moisture evaporates not from a small, but from larger area. As a result, wood decay and masonry destruction do not occur.

If you put penofol, then layers of aluminum foil through each crown will not allow moisture to penetrate one log (or wooden beam), to others and redistributed with faster further drying with large area surfaces. With all the ensuing consequences.

But this is more from the field of theory.

forum member

Mastered all 12 pages! A lot of things have been written ... Actually, everything that could be said for and against has already been said.
My 5 kopecks: time-tested tow unambiguously better than sealant. Let it be at least super-duper imported technology. We have already written, but still - a tree is a "living" material that constantly gains and gives moisture. There are a lot of examples to confirm this, somehow swollen wooden doors, windows, cracked floors. It is impossible to completely dry the tree. It will still take moisture from the atmosphere.
As for the sealant as a substitute for tow between the crowns in the log house - IMHO nonsense and a waste of money. No matter how super flexible it is, in some places it will still move away from the logs, moisture will somehow get into the formed microcracks, but it will take a very long time to come out of there because the sealant does not "breathe" unlike tow.
Why tempt fate, I don't understand?
No matter how much I looked at old houses during disassembly, the condition of the logs is very good, there is generally an ideal one. All on moss with tow. Houses stacked traditional way cost 100 years or more. I propose to look at the state of logs with sealant instead of tow in at least 30-40 years. Are those who actively promote sealants here ready to guarantee the same safety of logs as with caulking?
By the way, about caulking 2-3 or more times and in general all my life - this is powerfully said =)
If the log house is well cut, it is enough to caulk once (provided that the one who caulks knows how to do it).

tightness threaded connections totally depends on the packaging. And although only at first glance, winding flax on a thread is not difficult, as in any other business, it also has its own subtleties and secrets.

For example, it often happens that the tow is cut off by a thread or, on the contrary, climbs out. In this case, it is necessary to scratch the thread, making small notches on it.

So, how to properly wind the flax on the thread, the better to lubricate the tow in the process of sealing the thread and will be discussed below.

Today, there are two most popular materials for sealing threads, these are fum-tape and flax - also known as tow. Both the material for packing threaded connections have both their positive and negative sides.

The advantages of flax for winding threads are inexpensive cost, durability in use and some other advantages. For example, linen swells when it comes into contact with liquid, and it often happens that a small leak closes up the next day.

It is more convenient to work with tow and you can’t do without it when winding cast-iron threads and other threaded connections with large diameters.

To know how to properly wind flax on a thread, you need to remember the following:

1. The winding of flax on the thread is carried out clockwise or in other words along the thread, in the direction of its twisting.
2. After sealing the thread with tow, its surface is lubricated with a special paste to prevent decay during operation.
3. To prevent the linen from slipping off the thread during its winding, small notches are made on threads made of non-ferrous metals (bronze, brass, copper) using pliers or plumbing crabs. Black metal can not be scratched.

If you still don’t know how to lubricate tow for threads, then you should understand that both special purchased pastes, such as Unipak or plumbing sealants, and other lubricants, in particular, lithol and grease, are suitable for these purposes.

It is not very convenient to work with the latest lubricants for tow, since you can’t wash your hands from them later, and the effect on flax during its operation may not be as positive as when using special lubricants and sealants.

To properly pack the thread with flax, you need to take a small amount from the whole “braid”, and from the beginning of the thread, start laying flax in each turn clockwise. At the same time, it is important to monitor the uniformity of winding flax so that each thread contains approximately the same amount of it.

You should not wind flax tightly around the thread, because in this case it will be very difficult to twist it later, and the risk that the thread will burst increases significantly. This is especially true for non-ferrous metal threaded connections, which have very thin walls and low strength.

It is normally considered that after winding the tow on the thread, its upper edges are barely visible. In this case, the installation of a threaded connection with your own hands can be done quite easily and without excessive effort.

As a rule, it is not worth saving with the amount of tow by winding threads from ferrous metal - cast iron or steel. This is especially true for cast-iron threads, from which, after winding the tow, it simply peels off.

After the flax is wound on the thread, its surface is lubricated with a sealant, while the paste must be pressed into the tow, and that in turn into the thread. Only you need to do this again clockwise, or in the direction in which the flax is wound.

Linen - separately, impregnation - separately ...

Even modern editions of SNiPs, developed in the 80s of the last century, do not exclude from circulation such a thread sealant as linen strand, it is also often called "sanitary tow". However, GOSTs prescribe to impregnate flax with red lead on drying oil. Modern paints do not contain the same amount of lead that protected threaded connections from corrosion, and red lead on drying oil is a composite product, the components of which will still have to be looked for. In addition, winding flax or plumbing tow requires a certain amount. An incorrectly wound linen plumbing strand or badly impregnated tow (especially with an unsuitable agent) will not create the necessary level of protection plumbing connection. Assembly on flax without impregnation is prohibited, plumbing tow must be impregnated! Impregnation with plumbing silicone thread sealant is also prohibited. What are the consequences?

– Early aging of the thread: due to the fact that the tow is impregnated with plumbing thread sealant, wear or corrosion of metal parts occurs.
- Leaks.
– Rupture of the connection under pressure.

But this type of sealing also has advantages:

- When impregnating tow or sanitary flax with a special paste and experienced handling of flax, the connection will last for quite a long time.
- - cheap and widely available material for thread sealing. Tow can be found in any specialized plumbing store or in the market.

Flax - environmentally friendly herbal product, which does not require certification, so linen strand connections can be used to seal supply pipelines drinking water. Provided that the impregnation of tow is also safe when used in sanitary conditions ...

FUM-ido - plumbing code

Instead of flax or plumbing tow, a more modern thread sealant is often used. Many people ask themselves: what is better fum tape or tow? The quality of the connection on the fum tape largely depends on the quality of the tape itself, so many craftsmen who have repeatedly unsuccessfully tried to find a decent fum tape prefer to use linen or tow exclusively. Cheap low-grade winding does not stretch well and breaks easily. Even experienced master such a thread sealant will cause a lot of trouble. Of course, in this case, he will not have a question what is better for him to use: fum tape or tow, most likely he will prefer a more traditional and proven sealant. Calm, just calm...

When handling fum tape, experience with such a sealant is necessary, however, as well as with flax or plumbing tow. The correct winding of the fum tape or the thickness of the layer are selected empirically, which is also similar to the technology of using tow. Therefore, a beginner will have to spend a lot of time sealing with FUM tape. In addition, when assembling assemblies that require the positioning of parts relative to each other, a mismatch problem may arise, and unwinding the fum connection means starting all over again.

- Fum-tape is not used in heating systems due to the cold flow properties of fluoroplast. Here the fum tape is inferior to linen or tow.
– Does not withstand vibration loads, therefore this thread sealant is not used as a sealant for pipelines subjected to vibrations during operation. Both tape and tow occupy the same positions here.

The advantage of this type of sealing material is its high chemical resistance. This allows the use of fum in aggressive environments and in pure oxygen.

The pipe will not "make you nervous"

Flax and fum-tape have been used in plumbing for several decades, so they can already be called "grandfather". It is worth saying that each master decides for himself what fum tape is better for him or all the same the old proven tow. An alternative to such "old-fashioned" methods using linen and fum tape is modern way sealing - plumbing threadimpregnated with a special sealing compound. As you know, winding plumbing thread is much more pleasant and easier than using flax or fum tape for these purposes.

In addition, plumbing thread has a number of advantages:

– Synthetic fibers of this sealant (plumbing thread) do not dry out from high temperatures and do not swell under the influence of moisture in the process of plumbing work.
- The plumbing thread is impregnated with the optimal amount of sealing compound during production, so you can be sure that it performs protective function fully.
– It is not required to clean the thread from the sealant (from the thread) in case of contamination in plumbing work.
– The material does not require special handling skills. Plumbing thread "Record" is easily and quickly wound in 10-15 turns, crosswise crossing the threaded protrusions.
- The thread withstands pressure 2-3 times higher than plumbing threaded connections on linen.
– Forms quick disconnect connections.

By the way, assembling a knot on a plumbing thread is also several times faster than on flax, which is very important in an emergency, and it’s just more convenient.

How to wind plumbing thread?

Probably, everyone who picks up a winder for the first time asks the question: how to wind a plumbing thread? Everything is very simple! To wind a plumbing thread, you do not need to put a lot of effort, as is inherent in winding a thread with flax and paste. This does not require special skills and labor. Even an inexperienced master will adapt after the first time and will wind the plumbing thread next time on the next threaded connection without any problems.

Here is a small instruction that will help you deal with the question: how to wind a plumbing thread.

The first turn of the thread is fixed closer to the edge of the thread, and the rest is applied crosswise. Upon completion of the winding, the connection is twisted. Thus, the wound plumbing thread will reliably seal the threaded connection.

We looked at the three most popular winding methods for: linen strand, fum tape and synthetic thread. All of them have the right to be used, since in each specific case it is necessary to take into account a number of features of the sealed systems.

The favorite for the price is, of course, flax or plumbing tow. Its motto could be the slogan: "Cheap and cheerful." Being quite demanding and not universal material, he can, nevertheless, claim the role of a temporary thread sealant, which it is desirable to soon replace with a more modern one. However, the price of this sealing method may vary depending on the impregnation material (paint, paste, sealant, etc.). Fum tape at an average price of 3.5 rubles / rm. m is a less reliable sealing method than a synthetic thread (plumbing). It will serve well for sealing cold "calm" pipelines (without temperature fluctuations and vibrations).

Winding "Record", which is a plumbing thread, perhaps the best option seals from all presented. This is the most versatile sealant, unpretentious and durable in plumbing work, which fully justifies its price.

However, if you need really durable and reliable connection, universal to all aggressive environments, what to choose? When choosing a sealant, it is also important to remember that in some cases it is better to seek help from an anaerobic sealant. For example, all windings - flax, fum and plumbing thread - are well suited for notched or coarsely cut threads, but are not suitable for smooth and for taper thread- slide off. European threads are often found "smooth". Here, winding or thread will no longer save, you need a plumbing sealant.

A reliable connection is provided by modern anaerobic sealants, which are easy to use and much more economical than other methods of sealing in terms of one fitting. You can purchase such sealants from us directly from the manufacturer or at the nearest store, the address of which can be specified in the "" section.