Sat down with a 70 year old plumber over coffee and he said something about pipe tape that made me trash my whole approach

He told me I was wrapping it the wrong way for two decades and showed me how a single clockwise wrap under pressure can stop a leak that three wraps in the other direction couldn't touch, has anyone else had a simple trade trick like that totally flip how they do stuff around the house?

3 comments

3 Comments

michaelgrant26d ago

Man, honestly that plumber just handed you a lifetime of free wisdom right there. Tbh I had the exact same thing happen with a mechanic and tire lug nuts - I was tightening them all wrong for years and wondering why they kept loosening up. Ngl it makes you feel a little dumb at first but then you realize these old school guys just know things from decades of trial and error. That clockwise wrap trick is gold though, I'm definitely switching my whole tape game up this weekend.

nancyg1426d ago

I'm not gonna lie, I see where he's coming from but is wrapping tape clockwise really that big of a deal? Like I've been doing it the other way for years and the only time I notice is when I'm trying to peel it off and it sticks to itself. That's just bad tape in my opinion. The lug nut thing I get because that actually affects safety, but tape direction feels like one of those things people get way too worked up about.

ivan77426d ago

Oh man this whole tape thing reminds me of when my buddy tried to fix his bike chain with electrical tape and ended up wrapping it around his whole hand by accident. We still laugh about that. I think some people just get stuck in their ways and overthink little stuff like tape direction.