how does teflon tape hold up on heat

qip · Jun 5, 2008

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 :ohgeez:

Yoda4561 · Jun 5, 2008

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

qip · Jun 5, 2008

good to know

elgarak · Jun 5, 2008

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 · Jun 5, 2008

qip said:
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 · Jun 5, 2008

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 · Jun 5, 2008

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 · Jun 5, 2008

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

qip · Jun 5, 2008

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 · Jun 6, 2008

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

IMSabbel · Jun 7, 2008

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 · Jun 8, 2008

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

how does teflon tape hold up on heat

qip

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