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Thread seal tape (also known as PTFE tape, Teflon tape, or plumber's tape) is a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film tape commonly used in plumbing for sealing Threaded pipe. The tape is sold cut to specific widths and wound on a spool, making it easy to wind around pipe threads. Thread seal tape lubricant, allowing for a deeper seating of the threads, and it helps prevent the threads from seizing when being unscrewed. The tape also works as a deformable filler and thread lubricant, helping to seal the joint without hardening or making it more difficult to tighten, and instead making it easier to tighten. It also protects the threads of both pieces from direct contact with each other and physical wear.
Typically the tape is wrapped on the male threads before the parts are screwed together, in the same direction a female piece would be rotated to tighten. This method can be used to figure out tape wrapping direction regardless of which piece is fixed/stationary, or which side of the fixture the person is working from. The tape is commonly used commercially in applications including pressurized water systems, central heating systems, and air compression equipment. A common home use is for shower heads.
Thread seal tape used in plumbing applications is most commonly white, but it is also available in various colors. It is often used to correspond to color coded pipelines (US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand: yellow for natural gas, green for oxygen, etc.). These color-codes for thread sealing tape were introduced by Bill Bentley of Unasco Pty Ltd in the 1970s. In the UK, the tape is used from coloured reels, e.g. yellow reels for gas, and green for oxygen.
In Europe, the BSI Group standard BS-7786:2006 specifies various grades and quality standards of PTFE thread sealing tape. BS-7786:2006 Specification for unsintered PTFE tapes for general use
Thread seal tape is almost always applied by hand, although at least one machine is available for the production wrapping of fittings.
Thread seal tape is also commonly used in the stretching of body piercings, through a process known as taping, because it is inert and safe for this use. The wearer wraps a layer of tape around a plug and uses the jewelry, adding another layer every few days, thus gradually stretching the piercing.
Most references to "plumber's tape" nowadays refer to thread seal tape; however, the original use in the plumbing trade describes a strap of material with holes in it used for supporting pipes and fixtures. Example of the original strapping "plumber's tape".
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