Everyday life Quite often it forces a person to carry out minor repairs, during which rewinding is required. This could be a radiator, as well as plumbing fixtures. Every House master must learn to use 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 onto the tap thread. If you want to hermetically connect the elements of the water supply and pipes, then perform work called packing. If it is necessary to pack two pipes at right angles using a coupling, it is best to cut threads at their ends. The coupling will contain internal thread and outer turns. Twisting them will not be enough for correct connection The thread must be sealed.
Description of flax tow
Before wrapping flax on threads, you should become more familiar with the flax fiber material used to seal threads. The product is natural, it is made from the primary processing of fine, uniform and long-fiber flax. Area of use flax tow very wide. Depending on the manufacturing technology, the material can be tape, plumbing, jute or construction. In the latter case we're talking about about insulation, which can ensure reliable tightness of almost any connections. For its production, fully combed fibers are used, which are supplied in bales. This material is used for construction work for sealing seams, insulating 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 houses and laying crowns. The advantage of using flax is its cost. The material is much cheaper compared to any other. It is consumed economically; the fibers, although thin, have high strength. If you wind them correctly, they can be used for any type of work where any connections are used. These can be ceramic and cast iron pipes.
Additional benefits
Before you wrap flax on threads, you should know that it swells as it absorbs moisture. This allows you to increase the tightness, because the leakage has no paths. The mechanical stability of the material is quite high; it is this characteristic that makes it possible to adjust plumbing fixtures without losing the hermetic properties; connections can be unscrewed a full turn or half a turn.
Disadvantages of using flax
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 base material is organic, so it can rot when exposed to air and moisture. They can get inside during routine examinations. For this, tow is accompanied by additional material that can prevent rotting processes. This can be oil paint, sealing paste, lithol or solid oil.
In some cases, it is necessary to prepare the threads before winding, and if the material is laid in too thick a layer, this can cause damage to the connections, 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 seal being described requires the master to know the rules for winding. Related materials in combination with flax can significantly complicate disassembly, this applies to silicone or oil paint. Sometimes such additions make the installation process impossible. Flax is not suitable for use where temperatures can reach 90 °C. In such places, the material is welded and loses its sealing qualities. If you work with steel, you should definitely follow the winding technology. Otherwise, the threads may be subject to corrosion.
Winding flax onto a new thread
Before winding flax onto the thread, if it is new, you should prepare the turns. 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, it bunches up into a bunch, which leads to a violation of the seal. In order for the fibers to be able to hook, the turns must have serrations. If necessary, you can apply them with a file, a hacksaw or a file. Some craftsmen use a plumber's wrench or pliers: grasp the threads, and then apply notches with light pressure.
The main thing in this work is to achieve roughness on the turns. Before winding flax onto the thread, it is necessary to separate one strand from the whole braid. It is important to capture enough fibers so 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 strands, they need to be removed, as well as small villi.
Work methodology
You can apply tow using your own technology; some experts twist it into a rope, some braid it into a loose braid, while others lay it in the form of a loose thread. The order in which additional material is applied may also vary. 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 the strands along the thread, others do the opposite. 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 allow the material to be fixed. There should be no gaps, 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 coupling. Brass connections, which is relevant for those that are manufactured according to modern technologies, burst under strong pressure.
Around the wound flax it is necessary to apply plumbing paste or any other sealing material, the movements must be rotational. The work should be as neat as possible. The second end should be glued closer to the edge of the thread, and before tightening, you need to check whether the pipe hole is filled with sealing material. Now you know, you can see photos of these works in the article. However, from them you will not be able to understand that it is necessary to tighten the elements with moderate force. If the nut goes easily, then little flax was put in. The 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 the silicone, which is used additionally, are destroyed. Here it is most appropriate to use fum tape.
Winding flax on ecoplastic products
If you are thinking about how to wind flax on a 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 and the number of revolutions counted. The flax is wound evenly, its surface is coated additional material, only then can the fittings be connected. If at idle you counted 5 revolutions, then after winding the tape it is best to make about 4.5 revolutions, but you do not need to reach the end. In this case, it is more advisable to use packaging paste instead of sealant.
Conclusion
Quite often, home craftsmen wonder how to wind flax onto a pipe thread. In this case, you should dismantle the connection and inspect the thread. You need to go through the coils with the tip of a knife or an awl; this method will allow you to get rid of accumulated debris. Before winding the tape, use a wire brush to clean the coils until you see a shine.
Dear master! Is it possible to use penofol instead of tow, flax, and jute in the construction of a house made of timber? At first glance, the advantages are obvious. Penofol is elastic, waterproof, windproof, good insulation, easy to use. And why not use it as a spacer between the beams? And what are the contraindications? Thank you in advance.
Evgeny Vladimirovich, Pereslavl district, Krasnogor village.
Hello, Evgeny Vladimirovich from Krasnogor!
Penofol is an insulation material made from two main components, namely polyethylene foam and aluminum foil. Whatever type, type or brand it is.
Polyethylene foam is not 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), full nameethane, which at one time was advertised as completely harmless. I remember how they generously sprinkled clothes in closets to prevent moths, how they diluted water and then watered the greens in the beds in order to destroy all sorts of bad agricultural pests. In short, it was a panacea for all, or almost all, troubles and misfortunes.
A little over fifty years have passed and I don’t remember that this substance was used so widely anywhere. It's so harmful to human body and is capable of accumulating in it, which is used only in the most extreme cases to combat mass epidemics. When “I don’t care about fat, I wish I could live.”
Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else can say with 100% certainty in about twenty years or so that polytilene, which does not completely decompose during the entire time it was produced, does not have bad properties that are not currently known.
I'm not a fan of rejecting technical progress when using more and more new materials in construction, but I still give preference to old ones, tested for many decades, or even hundreds of years.
At the right technology construction tow (linen, jute, hemp) 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, beams, etc.), and with outside, on the street side, ideally should be covered with drying oil or other types of coatings that protect the insulation from absorbing atmospheric moisture.
Yes, sometimes it is used as insulation and when coven-makers do not have normal tow on hand. But I am not aware of any cases of using penofol to fill the inter-crown space.
In my opinion, this is also 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 there are solid walls, creating an array. Why is this done? Then, even with local, concentrated ingress of excess moisture onto any section of the wall, this moisture is not retained in one place, but is redistributed in all directions. And over time, this moisture evaporates not with little, but with larger area. As a result, there is no rotting of the wood and destruction of the masonry.
If you put penofol, then layers of aluminum foil through each crown will not allow moisture to penetrate onto one log (or wooden beam), to others and be redistributed with faster further drying from large area surfaces. With all the ensuing consequences.
But this is more from the realm of theory.
Tightness threaded connections It depends entirely on the packaging. And although only at first glance, winding flax on a thread does not represent anything complicated, as in any other matter, there are also subtleties and secrets here.
For example, it often happens that the tow is cut off by the thread or, on the contrary, comes out. In this case, it is necessary to scrape the thread, making small notches on it.
So, how to properly wind flax on a thread and the best way to lubricate tow in the process of sealing the thread will be discussed below.
Today, there are two most popular materials for sealing threads: fum tape and flax - also known as tow. Both materials for packaging threaded connections have both their positive and negative sides.
The advantages of flax for winding threads are low cost, durability in use and some other advantages. For example, flax swells when in contact with liquid and it often happens that a small leak heals the next day.
It is more convenient to work with tow and you certainly cannot 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:
- Winding flax onto the thread is done clockwise, or in other words, along the thread, in the direction of its twisting.
- After sealing the thread with tow, its surface is lubricated with a special paste to prevent rotting during operation.
- To prevent the flax from slipping off the thread during the process of winding it, small notches are made on threads made of non-ferrous metals (bronze, brass, copper) using pliers or plumbing crabs. You don't have to scrape black metal.
If you don’t yet know how to lubricate tow for carvings, then you should understand that both special purchased pastes, such as “Unipak” or plumbing sealants, and other lubricants, in particular litol and grease, are suitable for these purposes.
It is not very convenient to work with the latest lubricants for tow, since you cannot wash your hands from them afterwards, 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 from the whole “braid” a small amount of, and from the beginning of the thread, begin to lay flax in each turn clockwise. In this case, it is important to ensure that the flax is wound evenly so that each turn of the thread contains approximately the same amount of flax.
You should not wrap flax tightly around the thread, since in this case it will be very difficult to tighten it later, and the risk of the thread bursting increases significantly. This is especially true for threaded connections made of non-ferrous metals, which have very thin walls and low strength.
It is normally believed that after winding tow on the thread, its upper edges are barely visible. In this case, installing a threaded connection with your own hands can be done quite easily and without excessive effort.
As a rule, you should not skimp on the amount of tow when winding threads made of ferrous metal - cast iron or steel. This is especially true for cast iron threads, from which, after screwing, the tow simply comes off.
After the flax is wound onto the thread, its surface is lubricated with sealant, and the paste must be pressed into the tow, and that in turn into the thread. Just do this again clockwise, or in the direction in which the flax is wound.
Many owners wooden houses are asking the question: “Why and when should caulking be removed and replaced with new insulating material?” We answer.
Materials such as tow, linen, felt have a very limited shelf life. Both tow and flax fiber can absorb moisture over time, become a haven for insect larvae, and significantly decrease in volume (due to the same larvae that simply eat the “natural” caulk). It is clear that such caulking ceases to perform its main functions, namely to preserve wooden house optimal microclimate, protect the home from drafts and wind. Here is the answer to the question: “Why remove caulk?” Then to reseal wooden building using modern, higher quality and durable materials.
It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question about the timing of replacing caulk, since many factors come into play here. How long ago was the house caulked? What material exactly? Was the caulking done by experienced professionals or was it done by hand? We still want to give you a few useful tips regarding the timing of replacing the old caulk with new material.
- If you are going to thoroughly restore a wooden house, for example, make repairs to it, replace some logs, insulate it from the inside or outside, it is better to immediately take care of dismantling the old tow.
- Has your home become uncomfortable and cold, it’s unclear where the drafts are coming from, or can you hear the “whistle” of the wind in the cracks? This means that the time has come to remove the caulk, since it is precisely because of its ineffective operation that the home is exposed to atmospheric factors.
How to remove caulk?
Removing old caulking is not so much a complicated process as it is labor-intensive. What exactly is a caulked seam? This is the gap into which during finishing works sealing material was tightly compacted, for example, the same tow. Please note: they did not glue, did not screw, but rather “pushed”. Naturally, it will be relatively simple to remove the caulking of a log house, which has also served its purpose, decreased in volume, and crumbled. For this you will need any handy tool, for example, chisel, iron ruler, nail, sharp hook, etc. Take it in your hands, put on safety glasses to prevent small particles of old oakum from getting into your eyes, and feel free to get down to business.
The second method of removing old insulating material is simpler, but less financially profitable. You can simply contact any of construction companies, performing various dismantling works, and qualified specialists will quickly and efficiently prepare your home for further finishing work.
Whichever of these two methods you choose, do not forget that the caulk should be removed very carefully: not a piece of tow should remain in the seams, which could cause a breakdown in the adhesion between the wood and the new thermal insulation material.
Caulking of wooden houses with tow, flax, etc. carried out in several stages, the seams must be caulked at least twice with an interval of 1-1.5 years. Dismantling of old material should be carried out in in full, removing both the rough caulk and its final “top” layer.
How to replace caulk?
Once old thermal insulation material will be completely removed, the seams in the wooden house must be resealed. Of course, you can caulk the house again, again using tow or flax fiber, but is it worth doing this, because after some time you will have to remove everything again. It is much more expedient to use special wood sealants for sealing and thermal insulation of seams, which are not susceptible to atmospheric influences, are not afraid of moisture and insects, and are environmentally friendly. Another important advantage of sealants is their durability. So, for example, the predicted service life of Accent-136 acrylic sealant is at least 25 years, which means that you definitely won’t have to remove it and reseal the seams in 3-4 years.
As paradoxical as it sounds, most plumbers manage to seal threaded connections... with tow, or, to put it into common language, with flax fibers. Flax with sealant, just flax - the imagination of the workers of the "plumbing field" is limitless. However, this approach cannot be explained otherwise than by inertial thinking. Tow, being a natural fiber, inevitably breaks down over time. The use of tow was justified in times of ordinary metal pipes, the main method of joining which was welding - and tow was present only at the junction of the pipe and the mixer. The number of threaded connections for metal-plastic pipes is many times greater, and the service life is much longer. As a result, there is a huge likelihood of leaks in threaded connections after a few years.
To avoid troubles, we recommend that you clarify with the contractors what specific sealing materials they plan to use before starting work. As you already understood, flax and its derivatives are unacceptable - require the use of modern polymer sealing materials, only they guarantee the reliability, tightness and durability of the thread. A small digression: if you urgently need to change the faucet, you don’t want to run for a supply of polymer sealant, and you plan to carry out the work in person - you can use an ordinary thin packaging bag from the nearest supermarket (not paper), simply wrapping it around the thread. However, let's return to professional materials: Italian, German, Polish materials, Chinese and naturally domestic brands are quite widely represented on the market. There is not much difference between them.
The main difference between new polymer sealing materials compared to traditional ones is the stability of their properties throughout their entire service life, high reliability, ease of use and tightness of joints. Polymer seals can be divided into two types: pipe winding and plumbing anaerobic sealants. They differ in “form factor” and method of application.
When choosing a material for sealing threads, you should take into account the conditions in which installation will take place (temperature environment above 15C or below), connection operating conditions (heating, hot or cold drinking water, the presence of antifreeze in the system), connection materials (metal-to-metal, plastic-to-metal and also type of metal), accessibility of the connection (easy or difficult access, the need for subsequent access to the connection). To put it simply, for threaded connections that you do not plan to disassemble in the future (for example, heating), it is better to use an anaerobic sealant, but for systems that are periodically disassembled (faucets, showers, water filters, and water supply systems in general) It is better to use pipe winding. However, you can get by with just one type of polymer seal.
How to use a polymer seal? The diagrams for winding and sealing are different, so we will present them sequentially. So, if the choice fell on winding: it is necessary to clean the thread from obvious dirt, for which it is enough to wipe with a rag, then pull the recommended amount of thread out of the box and cut it with a built-in knife, the thread should be wound randomly, crossing the turns of the thread, crosswise (in the middle of the thread, it is advisable to wind several more than at the edges), then use keys to connect the threaded elements as tightly as possible. Connections assembled on threads can be checked for leaks immediately after twisting. Another option is to use FUM tape (tape made of fluoroplastic sealing material) - we wrap it tightly around the thread and cut off the edge, the rest is as described above.
If you decide to use a sealant, then: it is highly advisable to degrease the threads by wiping them with a rag moistened with an alcohol solution, glass cleaning fluid, etc.; Next, take a brush and carefully coat the threaded grooves, cover the entire outer and initial turns with a layer of gel inner surface threads in an amount sufficient to fill the threaded gap as a whole. After the composition is applied, it is necessary to twist and unscrew the connection several times without disconnecting the fittings. Running back and forth promotes proper distribution of the compound in the thread and eliminates air inclusions. No twisting force is required; contact of several threaded turns is sufficient for sealing.
Compounds collected on anaerobic gel at room temperature can withstand low media pressure sufficient to test for leaks after 1 hour. The system can be fully launched within 1 day. Heating the connection with a hairdryer can speed up the sealing process significantly. The main symptom is hardening and decreased transparency of the gel in the thread gap.
The author’s subjective opinion is that pipe winding is somewhat easier to use and saves a lot of time.
