How to properly wind flax onto threaded connections. How to properly and securely wind flax onto plumbing connections

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Despite the presence modern materials for sealing plumbing threaded connections, flax remains relevant due to its reliability, resistance to high temperatures, the possibility of adjustment and a long service life. Even with all the advantages, not everyone is ready to use tow, since working with it takes longer and is more difficult, and besides, it is possible to overdo it with its quantity, which causes fittings, shut-off valves or other elements to burst. If you adhere to certain rules, then all this can be avoided and only positive properties can be achieved from the compound.

What is needed to seal joints with flax

Unlike anaerobic gels, when working with tow, you cannot tighten the connection by hand. In this regard, before starting work you need to prepare:

• adjustable wrenches;
• gas keys;
• flax fibers;
• plumbing paste for Unipak type sealing.

How to use flax correctly

The purpose of using flax is to tightly seal the space between the external and internal threads of the two elements being connected. If you wind it right away without preparation, then it will be difficult to tighten the fittings in the future. You must first run them dry so that the threads get used to it. If you have to work with different materials, for example, a brass barrel and an American cast iron for circulation pump, then it is simply impossible to tighten the connection manually. In this case, it is convenient to fix the barrel in a vice, and if you don’t have one, then gas key. The connection must be driven to the end several times so that it can be screwed and twisted by hand.

After grinding the thread, you need to take a bunch of flax. Ideally, the tow should be clean without straw. Its quantity is taken based on the thread depth. The higher the diameter of the elements being connected, the more tow will be required.

The bundle should be combed out by hand and the fibers leveled, then begin to wind from the middle of the nipple.

This should be done in such a way that the flax is folded in half with a small tail. Its loop is thrown onto the thread from itself. The tail is wound counterclockwise.

Having tucked the tail under the main flax whip, you need to start winding the remaining long bunch of tow clockwise. It is laid with a wide tape so that each turn lies halfway on the old loop and partially extends onto the clean thread.

Gradually blocking the thread, you need to move to the edge of the fitting. If there is a small tail left, you can start winding it back to the middle. The flax needs to be smoothed by turning the joint between pinched fingers so that it tightens and does not unwind.

Now, ideally, lubricate the surface of the flax with a specialized plumbing paste, which will prevent its rotting and greatly increase its service life. It will act as a lubricant and make screwing easier. You can do without it, but only in sections of the pipeline that allow you to carry out repairs with ease. For clarity, I do not use it in this example.

After preparing the element with external thread, you need to screw on the American thread, tap, plug, or whatever is needed. If the tow is wound correctly, then after the connection is completed, the flax practically does not protrude. Rare protruding fibers are convenient to cut off with a blade, and even easier to burn with a lighter.
Unscrew the connection.

As you can see, the flax clearly sealed all the grooves of the thread.
When using tow, if it turns out that the thread has been overtightened and this interferes with further installation, then it can be released or tightened. This connection allows up to 45 degrees of rotation in both directions. Of course, when tightening, you cannot overdo it so that the connected elements do not burst. Be sure to watch the visual and detailed video.

Some people ask: what is best for sealing threads, fluoroplastic sealing material (FUM tape) or plumbing tow? This dispute is already ongoing for a long time, because an exact answer cannot be given.

For each specific type of procedure, its own material is suitable. And every product can become great alternative option to another. But the goal is the same - to make the connection airtight. Therefore, let's look at plumbing tow, its specifications, as well as the process of winding it.

Flax is popular material for winding. The outdated name is tow. Linen is an environmentally friendly material that does not pose any harm to human health. The product does not require certification, therefore, it is possible to seal drinking water pipes.

The additional material that is also needed for impregnating sanitary tow is environmentally friendly. Thanks to impregnation, this material will last for a fairly long period of time. Linen is a publicly available product. The product is sold in absolutely any plumbing store, so finding it will not be difficult.

Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of this material in detail.

Benefits of flax

Pros of this product:

• Low cost. Tow has the smallest price tag in comparison with other windings. Therefore, when purchasing, it is better to pay attention to the quality of sanitary tow. If flax is sold in the form of a braid, then it is a quality material. If it is in the form of a tight coil, then this indicates low quality.
• Versatility in use. Can be used for any type of connection if winding is carried out correctly.
• During swelling, the volume of the winding becomes greater. This means that if the connection starts to leak, the material will immediately close everything. Leaks small size will be closed.
• Resistance to mechanical stress. Only flax allows you to orient plumbing fixtures more accurately. You can make one revolution back without losing the seal.

Disadvantages of flax

There are also disadvantages:

• In addition to tow, it is necessary to use other means, for example, grease, sealing paste, silicone and other products. If flax is an organic material, then it can rot due to the influence of water and air. Air gets in during repairs or maintenance, which must be carried out every year. And the listed products can interfere with this process.
• It is necessary to carry out preliminary preparation threads. Most manufacturers who produce fittings make already prepared threads for plumbing tow. It has notches. If they are missing, then they must be created. This can be done using pliers, a file or a hacksaw. They are necessary so that the plumbing material cannot slide along the coils.
• If the connections are made of brass or bronze, then during winding it is necessary to carry out the work carefully and carefully. If you apply a thick layer of winding to such connections, defects will appear on the threads. It may even happen that the thread breaks.
• Strict rules must be followed when winding this organic material. In addition to the thread, you need to first prepare the plumbing material itself. It is necessary to impregnate it with some substance to prevent future rotting. Winding must be carried out observing the direction. Winds against twisting. The ends of the flax must be brought beyond the boundaries of the thread, then they should be tightened. Hold with your finger and twist.
• It is also worth noting that the additional materials indicated above do not prevent the destruction of the connection. If you use silicone to glue different connection elements, then it will be extremely difficult and even impossible to separate them later. If flax is used without the use of additional materials, then rust appears on the winding, which will transfer to the steel.

Comparison with FUM tape

Sealing involves sealing the water pipe. If it is necessary to seal pipes for cold water, then in in this case Linen and ribbon work equally well. You just need to wind it correctly. But if it is necessary to seal pipes made of plastic or metal-plastic, then it is better to choose FUM tape.

The main advantage is that using tape the work will pass much faster, since installation is quite easy. Also, the threads of the fittings are smooth, so the use of plumbing tape will be much more effective.

However, fum tape loses its effectiveness if it is necessary to seal a pipe whose diameter is more than 20 millimeters. For pipes with this diameter, flax should be used.

Pipeline for hot water sets his own conditions. The product must not only seal perfectly, but also have good resistance to high temperatures. PTFE sealing material (fum tape) in this situation is not the best option.

During winding, the FUM tape splits into fibers, which fill all the voids, thereby preventing the penetration of water. Heat water can affect the fibers so that they begin to shrink, eventually leading to leaks. Tow has high level resistance to hot water.

Also, do not forget about the low price of tow even with the use of additional materials. Plumbing tape is an expensive rewind. If you need to carry out large volumes of work, then you will feel a significant difference in cost. But installation is much easier and faster using fum tape.

It may be that a combination of the two is needed plumbing materials. The turns of the FUM tape can be laid using tow fibers. Or in a completely different way, that is, two turns of plumbing tape can be wound from the top of the tow. This procedure is rarely practiced due to distinctive features mounting.

Mounting a linen product requires certain skills from a person. Installation of fluoroplastic sealing material even a beginner can do it.

The procedure for winding plumbing tow

How to wind tow on a thread? Before winding tow, it is necessary to carry out preliminary preparation of the thread. Since the surface of the thread is most often flat, the winding will begin to slip and bunch up. And it is not possible to seal it. The thread must have grooves so that the fibers can catch on threaded surface. The winding will not slip and will provide high-quality sealing.

You can make such notches or notches using a file or needle file. If you don't have these tools, you can use pliers. Using them you need to squeeze the thread in a circle. But it is better to purchase threads on which the manufacturers have already made notches.

Then you need to separate a strand of fiber from the braid. Choose a strand that will suit the thickness. The material should not be too thick, but not too thin. The fiber strand should not have any lumps. If there are lumps, they must be eliminated. The winding process can occur in different ways.

Many specialists twist the product before winding, others braid thin braids, and some wind it loose. It depends on the person himself. The overall result will be the same.

You can first apply additional material to the thread, then wind the dry fibers of the strand and then apply one layer of the product. You can immediately wind it using the impregnated product. The result will also be the same. It depends on convenience.

How to wind tow correctly? In any chosen option, the winding of turns is carried out in the direction of the thread. Beyond the thread boundaries, the end of the fiber strand must be clamped with a finger. The first turn is applied in the form of a “lock”. Be sure to twist the strands tightly, leaving no gaps. Once the winding is completed, a strand of fibers must be glued to the accompanying product closer to the outermost part of the thread. Winding of tow on the thread is done crosswise.

These are the most common and popular methods for sealing threaded connections. They are all great, but you need to follow certain rules and nuances.

Bottom line

Linen is a popular material in plumbing, intended for threaded connections. The wound tow will ensure high-quality tightness of the connection. Plumbing tow is cheap even with additional use related materials. Correctly carried out winding eliminates the possibility of leaks due to the swelling of the product itself.

Most people will choose linen as it is environmentally friendly. However, before winding it is necessary to carry out additional work related to thread preparation. It is necessary to make notches to wind the strands of fibers. When sealing connections made from bronze and brass, care must be taken not to damage them.

Anyone can carry out installation, but you must strictly adhere to the rules and then you will not have problems.

How to wind flax on a pipe with your own hands: step-by-step instruction+Photo. IN Everyday life very often you have to perform small renovation work, which requires the use of flax for winding pipes. This may be required for a radiator or plumbing. Every master should be able to use tow correctly, as sooner or later he will need it. can be made of plastic, metal, nylon or metal-plastic. Each type of material has its own adapters in order to connect to other pipes.

We will talk about such connections.

Since everyone House master If you have ever encountered a problem where you need to wind flax onto a tap thread, you should learn how to do it. If you want to hermetically connect each element of the water supply and pipes, then you should perform packaging. To do this, two pipes must be packed at an angle of 90 degrees using a coupling, and there must be a thread at the end of each pipe. The coupling will have internal threads as well as external threads. Twisting alone is not enough, so for best connection should do .

Description of flax (tow)

Before you start winding flax onto pipes, you should become more familiar with what flax tow is. This is a fibrous type material that is used to seal threads. The product is natural, it is made from the primary processing of homogeneous, thin and long-fiber flax. The scope of application of the material is wide. Depending on the manufacturing method, the material can be tape, jute, plumbing or construction. In our case, we will talk about insulation, which makes it possible to reliably seal each connection.

To make this material, combed fibers are used, which are brought in bales. They are used for construction work when sealing seams, when insulating a log house and laying wood elements. The material is natural, and this is especially valuable among those people who are engaged in construction wooden house. If rolled material was used to connect pipes with flax, then it can be called tape. This material is also used to caulk seams in log houses and lay crowns. The advantage of using flax is the cost, since the material for carrying out plumbing work costs several times less than other analogues. In addition, it is economically consumed, and the fibers, although thin, are very strong. If you wind them correctly, you can use them for various types works where any types of connections will be used. Can be used for cast iron and ceramic pipes.

Advantages

Before you start wrapping flax on the thread, you should know that it begins to swell and absorb moisture, which allows you to increase the level of tightness, since there will be no way out for leakage. In addition, the material has high mechanical stability, and it is this characteristic that makes it possible to adjust plumbing fixtures, and the hermetic properties will not be lost; connections can be unscrewed half a turn or a full turn.

Disadvantages of use

If you are thinking about how to wind flax on a thread, you should first become familiar with all the shortcomings of the material. So, the basis of the material is substance organic origin, and therefore it can begin to rot when exposed to moisture and air. Also, it sometimes gets inside even during a routine examination. To do this, when using tow, you should also use another material, additional, which will help prevent the rotting process. This can be sealing paste, oil paints, solid oil or lithol.

Sometimes, before winding, you should first prepare the thread, since if you lay the material in a large layer, then there is a possibility of damage to the joints, and this is especially true for bronze and brass. If you are faced with the question of how to wind tow on a threaded connection, then you should remember that such a seal requires knowledge of the rules of winding.

Additional materials in combination with tow will make further disassembly difficult, and this applies to oil paint and silicone. Sometimes such additions make the installation process completely unbearable. It is not suitable to use flax when the temperature reaches +90 degrees. In such places, the material begins to weld, and then completely loses its sealing properties. If you are dealing with steel, then you should definitely follow the winding technology, as otherwise the thread may be subject to corrosion.

How to wind flax on a thread

Before you start winding, check the threads - if they are completely new, then you should prepare the turns. Most manufacturers currently produce fittings that already have threads, but with notches for winding flax. The fact is that the material begins to jump off the smooth thread and bunches up into a single bunch, and this can lead to a violation of the tightness. So that the fibers can catch well, notches should be made on the turns. If necessary, you can always apply them with a needle file, file or hacksaw. Some of the craftsmen may use a plumber's wrench or even pliers - the thread should be grasped, and then apply the notches with a slight movement of the hand.

The main thing is that roughness appears on the turns. Before you start winding flax onto the thread, you should separate a small strand from the whole braid. You should capture enough fibers so that the winding is not too thin, but not too thick. Professionals advise using a thickness of material that is the same as 1 or 2 matches in girth. If there are lumps in the strands, remove them and small lint.

Work methodology

You can apply tow using your own technology, which you like more than others. Some specialists twist flax into flagella, while others braid it into a weak braid, while others simply lay it in the form of loose threads. The order in which materials such as pastes are applied also varies. Sometimes you can first lubricate the thread, wrap it with fibers, and then apply a second layer, and someone saturates the fibers in advance, and then everything is prepared. Both options are correct, and if you think about how to wind flax onto a thread - counterclockwise or clockwise, then you should listen to the advice of craftsmen who wind pipes with flax both clockwise and counterclockwise at the same time.

In addition, the strands must be pinched with your fingers outside the turns, and the first turn should form a cross, which will allow the material to be fixed. Do not leave any gaps, lay all the turns one to one. If you are making a connection, a lot of the material used may be squeezed out of the fitting, this happens when working with a steel coupling and an iron pipe. Brass connections can burst under strong pressure; this is true for elements manufactured using modern technologies.

Plumbing pastes or other sealing type materials should be applied around the flax, and the movements should be rotational. The work must be done extremely carefully. Glue the second end closer to the edge of the thread, and before directly tightening, check to see if the pipe hole is filled. Now you know how to wind flax on a thread, and a photo of the process can be found in the article.

But from them you will not understand that twisting the elements should be done with force, but moderate. If the nut moves easily, then little flax was used. Winding will be considered correct if the material does not come out and the surface around the joint remains clean. For connections to gas pipes it is better not to use organic tow, since under the influence of gas the winding and silicone, which will be used as additional material, will be destroyed. Here it would be most appropriate to use FUM tape.

If you have ever thought about how to wind tape around a pipe thread, you can use the technology that is used when working on ecoplastic products. This material, like brass, can also burst. The main thing when twisting is not to overdo it.

Before starting work, connect both fittings and count the number of revolutions. Wind the flax evenly, coat its surface with additional compound, and only then can you connect the fittings. If you counted, for example, 6 turns at idle, then after winding the tape it is better to make 5.5 turns, but do not pull the fitting all the way. In this case, it would be more appropriate to use packaging paste instead of sealant.

Conclusion

Very often, men wonder how to wind flax on a thread. In this case, you should remove the old connection and carefully inspect the thread. Then go through the coils with the tip of a knife/awl to remove all accumulated debris. With help metal brush Before winding the tape, clean the turns, and do this until everything is shiny.

That's how many modern materials there are for sealing joints, but good old flax does not give up its position.
What is his task? Plumbing flax allows you to fill as tightly as possible all the free space inside the thread. To withstand mechanical loads and temperature deformations during operation.
What is needed for this? Master skill. High quality material and high quality carving.

Thread. Or rather, its preparation. May be a good master, but get a leak on an unprepared thread. The thread must be serrated. The flax must cling to something when screwing the thread into the coupling. On a smooth thread, there is a high chance that the flax will slip into the end of the thread.
Therefore, on a smooth thread you will have to apply the notches yourself.
You can scratch the thread for this. Use pieces for this hacksaw blade, broken drills, files, etc. But be careful, you can easily get hurt.

I bite the threads with plumbing pliers. It turns out quickly and accurately. Someone might argue that this could squeeze the thin-walled fitting and ruin it.
Very good. I’d rather crush it than for it to crumple inside the coupling later.

More. Before winding flax, it is necessary to assemble the connection dry, without flax. First, you will see how the thread is screwed in. It may be tight or skewed. Secondly, count the number of revolutions. This helps a lot when screwing on angles, tees, taps, eccentrics and other oriented fittings.
Screwed in? Have you checked? Have you counted the revolutions? Great. Let's take flax.
Flax comes in braids, in balls, and on spools. How it is rolled up and sold makes no difference. Main. Linen must be clean. That is, there should be no debris or tangled lumps in it.
Separate a strand of flax. It is difficult to say what the thickness of the strand should be. It all depends on the diameter of the thread and the length of the flax. The guideline is something like this - after winding, the thread should not be visible.

There is a lot of debate about where to start winding - from the beginning of the thread or from the end. It doesn't matter at all. From where your hands are sharpened, move from there. Whichever is convenient for you. I wind from the beginning, along the thread.

Now apply sealing paste. For example, I take Unipak paste. Not because it is the best, but because it is sold everywhere here. Previously, about 20 years ago, I used paint. Then, succumbing to fashion, he smeared silicone sealant. As soon as sealing pastes went on sale, I immediately switched to them.