how does teflon tape hold up on heat

[qip]

i just put some on my dads minimag 5ex , for the head and wrapped it so the head is tight and doesnt unscrew easily, the 5ex for long durations gets hot so i was wondering will the teflon melt ?

i searched and saw some use it for their lights but i havent seen any comments on thread heat effects ...even saw this and theres 2 different answers

 

[Yoda4561]

The temperature where the tape is won't get over 150F. That should be well within safe levels for teflon tape.

 

[qip]

good to know

 

[elgarak]

Just to add: We use Teflon tape to vacuum seal small heaters in an experimental research setup. Heaters go up to 150 C/~300 F, with no problems for the Teflon. I doubt you get that high.

 

[IMSabbel]

i just put some on my dads minimag 5ex , for the head and wrapped it so the head is tight and doesnt unscrew easily, the 5ex for long durations gets hot so i was wondering will the teflon melt ?

i searched and saw some use it for their lights but i havent seen any comments on thread heat effects ...even saw this and theres 2 different answers

Well, teflon degrades with heat, but doesnt really break down below 200C. (It is _shrinking_. Big problem with solid objects made out of it. Once at 80C for a few hours, and they didnt fit quite as well anymore. Deadly in an UHV enviroment).

 

[greenLED]

The big problem now is heat conduction from the emitter off to the head of the light. I guess you'd have enough of a thermal path through the body, though... :thinking:

 

[kramer5150]

I used teflon tape to improve the seal on my accords radiator drain plug. (I'm cheap, going this route alleviated me from spending $35 on a new drain plug, only to have the gasket rot away every 2 years). Water boils at 212F, I think radiator water flowing through that junction is around that temp. Has worked fine for over 10 years like that. Whenever I flush the radiator I replace the teflon tape and it comes off easily.

 

[Gunner12]

If the tape becomes affected by the heat, I'd be much more worried about the person holding the light then the tape.

 

[qip]

sounds all good , the teflon tape just feels so fragile ,it shreds like wet toilet paper and looks like it could melt easily cuz its so thin...but greenled now brings up a good point on thermal path but i think it should be ok

 

[GregWormald]

Since plumber's teflon tape is used to seal the joints in water heaters, I doubt you'll have a problem.
Greg

 

[IMSabbel]

Just think about it: Teflon is used to coat frying pans, and to uranium hexafluoride isotope seperation centrifuges.

Its not that fragile or heat sensitive

 

[adamlau]

MSDS and spec sheets of the PTFE product you plan to use will tell you what you want to know.