# DIY help: Tap becomes upside down after screwed tight... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904 "2016-07-26T01:16:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/21 "2016-07-26T23:57:45Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > Quoted to emphasize. > > Teflon is not a seal. It reduces friction. Pipe threads seal by jamming crest to root while having matching flanks. The Teflon just reduces the friction so you can jam the threads tighter with the same torque. If you are needing the tape to seal, you will leak. > > To the OP: > Try loosening and tightening a few times. This will work-harden the thread surfaces which will allow you to make the joint up tighter. It will also help prevent galling of the threads. I’ve always heard tighten it until it stops, then put enough torque to make it straight. I really have to suggest to the OP to just use some tef tape. You do need to wrap it in the right direction, or the female fitting will chase the tape around the male pipe (this is a common mistake of people that don’t know how to use it). You wrap it like you are tightening a fitting on the pipe. Covering the start/free end of the tape with additional tape so you can pull it tight. [quote = wiki] - Thread seal tape (also known as PTFE tape or plumber’s tape) is a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film for use in sealing pipe threads."… and … “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,[3]”… and … “Typically the tape is wrapped around a pipe’s thread three times before it is screwed into place. It is commonly used commercially in applications including pressurized water systems, central heating systems, and air compression equipment.”[/wiki] Chemours (the trade mark holders) do consider this usage incorrect. But they no longer manufacture it in tape form. In thousands of times I’ve used this, I’ve never had a problem with leaks. And if the fitting can’t be wrenched to line up properly and have a seal (or break something), it’s a simple matter to add or remove tape. Since this is the problem the OP is having, I have to suggest the tape. Its use has passed State Plumbing Inspections for me. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/22 "2016-07-27T00:33:00Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > I’ve replaced a lot of bathroom floors where the plumbers used tape … I avoid the stuff like the plague … I’ve found it difficult to use and typically I need repeated attempts to get the pipes threaded properly so the tape remains unbroken. A trial of patience as it were. It takes a little bit of experience to get it wrapped correctly. Including how you hold the role of it to get it properly tight and wound in the right direction. But then that’s it. Snap the ‘hood’ over the roll and set it aside. > [@watchwolf](#): > > I use plumber’s dope. It’s a white paste in a “brush-in-can” container. Much better success ratio than tape, but still not perfect. Couple of pipe wrenches and crank until they either line up or break the fittings. I also avoid plastic pipe above ground and in buildings … I’m kinda old fashioned when it comes to solder and Schedule L copper pipe (I think that’s the thicker walled stuff). Line up or break the fittings? Ummm… Tef tape is much better when you have that difficulty. I’ve put thousands of feet of poly in the ground for sprinkler systems. But I’m a bit old fashioned too. In the house it must be copper. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/23 "2016-07-27T01:24:09Z")
> [@teddybound](#): > > However, after tightening it full, it ends up upside down. […] > What are my options?? Bidet! ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/24 "2016-07-28T20:22:25Z")
IANA plumber. . . Could you put a large “stop” nut on the threaded pipe, to shorten it up, so that you can get the faucet straight without over any worry about stripping the threads? ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/25 "2016-07-28T23:36:27Z")
This is what I have always done: Put a couple of wraps of teflon tape on the threads in the direction the fitting (tap) is going to screw on, tighten the fitting as tight as I can by hand. Use a pipe wrench or slip joint wrench to tighten it to the direction I want it to go. This is usually sufficient. Test. If it leaks, remove the fitting, clean off the, by now, shredded tape. (you don’t have to be too thorough about it. Just wipe off all of the loose stuff.) put 2 or 3 more wraps of tape on the threads, again in the correct direction, and do the same thing I said before. I’ve never had to do it more than twice and it always worked. Or go buy some of the dope. the problem with the dope that I have had is that after a while it sets up really hard and you run the risk of damaging your plumbing trying to get things apart again. My $0.45, adjusted for inflation. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/26 "2016-07-29T00:05:25Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > Bidet! Hah! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/27 "2016-07-29T00:20:47Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > IANA plumber. . . > > Could you put a large “stop” nut on the threaded pipe, to shorten it up, so that you can get the faucet straight without over any worry about stripping the threads? Well, that’s thinking out of the box. But won’t work. The face of the valve will not seal against the ‘stop’ nut, and will prevent the threads from getting sealed. The OP has not returned, and we don’t know if they used pipe dope or tape. Perhaps nothing. We don’t know the condition of the nipple. Or how far it’s threaded. And we don’t know just how tight the OP has turned the valve, or if they have a good idea of just how tight you can go (or not). The solution in my humble but experienced position, is to just use the right amount of Teflon tape. Adjust as needed. ---
**Author:** ![teddybound](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@teddybound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teddybound)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/28 "2016-07-29T19:34:09Z")
Hi all, thanks for the suggestions! I went for the easiest solution suggested first and bought some plumbers tape for $1.20. It worked!!! (At least for now) But I realized I bought the wrong tap without examine the water flow rate first. It’s a water saving tap that flows water so slow. Any solution to that? Or a new tap? Or just live with slow water? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/29 "2016-07-29T22:54:27Z")
> [@teddybound](#): > > Hi all, thanks for the suggestions! > > I went for the easiest solution suggested first and bought some plumbers tape for $1.20. > > It worked!!! (At least for now) You should be good to go. > [@teddybound](#): > > But I realized I bought the wrong tap without examine the water flow rate first. > It’s a water saving tap that flows water so slow. Any solution to that? Or a new tap? Or just live with slow water? I’d try taking the valve apart and see if there is some sort of restrictor that you can remove. From the pic, it looks like the black cap on the outflow is treaded in? Perhaps that is the restrictor part. You may be able to just grab that with a pair of pliers/channel locks and screw it out. Otherwise, I’d just get another valve. You’re PLUMBING!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/30 "2016-07-30T01:43:03Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > You’re PLUMBING!! 😃 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![teddybound](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@teddybound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teddybound)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/31 "2016-08-02T01:03:48Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > You should be good to go. > > I’d try taking the valve apart and see if there is some sort of restrictor that you can remove. From the pic, it looks like the black cap on the outflow is treaded in? Perhaps that is the restrictor part. You may be able to just grab that with a pair of pliers/channel locks and screw it out. Otherwise, I’d just get another valve. > > You’re PLUMBING!! 😃 OMG! I followed ur advice and took out the black cap. Now the water flow is excellent!!! I did something stupid though. I tried to yanked the cap out before realizing it can just simply be screwed out. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904/32 "2016-08-04T00:31:08Z")
> [@teddybound](#): > > OMG! I followed ur advice and took out the black cap. > > Now the water flow is excellent!!! > > I did something stupid though. I tried to yanked the cap out before realizing it can just simply be screwed out. That’s GREAT! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diy-help-tap-becomes-upside-down-after-screwed-tight/760904.md?page=1)