half-assed plumbers of the world, stand down. you never, ever use teflon tape on the threads of flare or compression fittings. why not? because the flared end of the tube, or the compression bead, are the things that are supposed to be making the seal, not the threads. any impediment to tightening the threads makes it less likely, not more, that you'll get a proper seal. add to that the fact that brass is brittle, and that slight increase in male thread diameter may be enough to split the female part.
some halfwit painter reconnected the dryer the wrong way, and gas was leaking into the closed laundry room all night. the goddamned thing could have exploded, in fact it's a miracle it didn't because the gas water heater was running, and in the same room. and we were sleeping in the bedroom right above it.
last updated 2015-03-22 20:42:22. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com