Whats the best sealer for threads?

[Ridgeland Farm]

What are people using to seal threaded parts in their vac. lines. I've used both the teflon tape and the paste. Not sure if one works better than the other.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I use Teflon tape. Easy to carry around and works well even if it is very cold outside.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I always use pipe dope

[tuckermtn]

teflon tape here also...I buy it in those 5 packs you can get at Gnome Depot and have them scattered all over the place

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

Do you mean Home Depot? :lol:

[lpakiz]

There are two kinds of paste--"pipe dope" and teflon paste. I like the teflon paste.
The tape is OK but tougher to use.

[jasonl6]

I've learned a few things in life and had to pay for a few others. One bit of information i had to pay to learn is that "best" is a relative term. Just from the few responses you have received already you can see that thread tape is best because it's easy to carry, pipe dope is best because rossell's sugar camp always uses it. For me there is 3 factors that make my recommendation the "best".

http://www.accentshopping.com/product.asp?P_ID=148706

http://www.accentshopping.com/ImageGen.ashx?IMG_ID=8004&IMG_Height=350&IMG_Width=350

1) Recommended by professional plumber when i was plumbing black pipe for natural gas.
2) Never ever had a leak when using this stuff (ever)
3) Used it on for a a/c compressor head gasket. 3 years still sealed. (the gasket was no longer avail so we slapped a coating of this on and cranked down the bolts :-)

I have used this stuff for everything. It's almost like loctite but doesn't completely harden making it great for sealing threads. Don't get it on your hands or you'll have to wear it off. It will never come out of cloths from my experience.

Jason

[ennismaple]

Black electrical tape fixes all leaks!

We use teflon tape.

[thenewguy]

is liquid teflon or "pipe dope" food grade?

[thenewguy]

just noticed the "harmful if swallowed" writing on the picture

[tuckermtn]

Do you mean Home Depot? :lol:

I call it Gnome Depot because whenever you need help the guys in the orange aprons seem to be as hard to find as a gnome

[jasonl6]

just noticed the "harmful if swallowed" writing on the picture

Yep, wouldn't swallow plastic pipe either, or the fittings or... the whole food grade thing on this board is getting as bad as the whole politically correct thing in our country. I wouldn't eat any thread sealant, However i wouldn't hesitate to drink my spring water that goes through my cpvc lines that have blue block thread sealant or eat syrup that was made from sap that might have once upon a time touched a fitting that had blue block on it.

Jason

[Gary R]

For "best" I like to use a combination of teflon tape first, then teflon pipe dope. Usually tape is good enough. We use Jason's Blue Block on steam lines during installations. It is great, but I hate to use it. You can't help but get some on you and like he said, it doesn't come off:o