# Electrical tape. What is it used for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 30, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550 "2017-04-30T01:48:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/61 "2017-05-02T23:20:29Z")
It is handy for covering joints on copper pipe when silver-soldering medical gas systems so you don’t lose your nitrogen purge. ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/62 "2017-05-03T02:57:43Z")
Ive used it on numerous occasions to stop the bleeding. Usually in conjuction with a peice of cloth. Note: Wirenuts secure themselves, tape isnt required on a joint made properly with wire nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/63 "2017-05-03T20:52:27Z")
> [@K2500](#): > > Note: Wirenuts secure themselves, tape isnt required on a joint made properly with wire nuts. True enough, but I will sometimes tape the two wires together to a point just shy of the bare wire, then screw on the wire nut. It makes it easier to get an even bite on all the wires and helps keep a wire from pulling loose. I do this especially if there is slight tension on any of the wires or if the wires are in a place that is difficult to get to. When pulling wire I tape them to the fish tape as extra security to make sure the fish and wires don’t part ways before I want them to. Also used electrical tape to fix my grandson’s Harry Potter wand. Apparently, those things aren’t meant to be used as a baseball bat… ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/64 "2017-05-03T21:06:43Z")
I’ve always used it to seal the joining of a plug and outlet when doing the lights in my Sukkah. (That’s a little outdoor clubhouse with a roof that leaks, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Jewish tradition.) That said, I’m not an electrician, I just bought it because it sounded like the right thing to use. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2017, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/65 "2017-05-03T23:57:03Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > (That’s a little outdoor clubhouse with a roof that leaks, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Jewish tradition.) 🙂 The temporary booths Jews lived in while wandering in the desert for forty years. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/66 "2017-05-04T02:42:34Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 🙂 > > The temporary booths Jews lived in while wandering in the desert for forty years. I googled it. Apparently, a Sukkah is made deliberately crappy for religious reasons. A shack made by a hobo would be better, so would an REI tent. Amusing, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2017, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/67 "2017-05-04T12:20:45Z")
> [@K2500](#): > > Note: Wirenuts secure themselves, tape isnt required on a joint made properly with wire nuts. It’s a belt and suspenders type thing for some. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/68 "2017-05-04T13:15:25Z")
As a mechanic I used it all the time. I would very often use it to hold a bolt or nut in a socket so I could get to a hard to reach place without it falling. I would use it to insulate the shafts om metal tools when working around hot wires. On occasions when emergency repairs were needed and the proper connector was not available the tape could be used to insulate. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/69 "2017-05-08T01:14:59Z")
Used it by the case at my last job. Spliced motor leads together. We were forbidden from using wire nuts. They don’t play well with stranded and high flex wires. They also don’t work with high heat areas. Here we’d insulate with black tape and cover with fiberglass tape. Even had the 3" wide electrical tape for the paired 350mcm leads over the split bolt connectors on the 300HP motors. Each thickness of the quality black plastic stuff was rated at 600volts so the multi-layering on a 480V system was not an issue. Loved it when self vulcanizing tape came on site. Comes off so much easier and a lot easier to work with if it can be kept clean. Also used quite a bit when pulling wires through conduit. Biggest sin was dropping 2-3 leads out of a bundle of 225 wires in a 1000’ run somewhere 120’ back. That and a quick fix on insulation in boxes, covering the ends of spare leads, covering bare outlet terminals, using the colored stuff for phasing black wires, identification of circuits and components - again with the colored stuff. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/70 "2017-05-08T01:24:21Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > Used it by the case at my last job. Spliced motor leads together. We were forbidden from using wire nuts. They don’t play well with stranded and high flex wires. They also don’t work with high heat areas. Here we’d insulate with black tape and cover with fiberglass tape. Even had the 3" wide electrical tape for the paired 350mcm leads over the split bolt connectors on the 300HP motors. Each thickness of the quality black plastic stuff was rated at 600volts so the multi-layering on a 480V system was not an issue. Loved it when self vulcanizing tape came on site. Comes off so much easier and a lot easier to work with if it can be kept clean. > Also used quite a bit when pulling wires through conduit. Biggest sin was dropping 2-3 leads out of a bundle of 225 wires in a 1000’ run somewhere 120’ back. > That and a quick fix on insulation in boxes, covering the ends of spare leads, covering bare outlet terminals, using the colored stuff for phasing black wires, identification of circuits and components - again with the colored stuff. Damn, where do you work? ---
**Author:** ![Bibliothecarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@Bibliothecarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliothecarius)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/71 "2017-05-08T09:38:54Z")
I’ve used it to wrap around the hose connection on a washing machine to help prevent any possible leakage. Also for the same things you’d use duct tape for. A transgender friend of mine has a novel use for it: he uses it to secure his chest binder. It’s just a re-purposed abdominal binder with Velcro so he wraps the tape (loosely!) around himself a couple of times to make sure the Velcro doesn’t pop open at some inopportune moment when he’s in public. I’m told duct tape crinkles with movement and makes a noise. Electrical tape is silent so it’s perfect for the job. The hardware store is a fair way from his house so he buys in bulk so it’ll last a while. I was with him once when he ducked in and bought like ten rolls of electrical tape. He joked that he always wonders what the hardware store guy thinks when he rocks up and buys a bunch of electrical tape every now and then, or if one day the FBI will be waiting, having cottoned on to the mysterious bulk purchases of electrical tape. I’ll bet they’ll never guess what he actually uses it for! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/72 "2017-05-08T12:43:58Z")
Merely an example of my most recent use. I got a voltage regulator/converter gadget like one of [these](https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Converter-Step-down-Transformer-Stabilizer/dp/B015CD5HLG/). (But for less, of course.) I have been picking up those 12V Belkin UPSes for cable company modems at thrift stores for a few bucks. (One was still in its original wrapping.) I pulled a power socket out of a piece I’m scavenging from. Soldered it to wires. Wires are screwed into the regulator. Result: standby 5V/USB for power outages. (And we get too many of those.) Plus remote power. The socket is too big for my heat shrink, so out came the electrical tape. (Only 12V so not much to worry about.) I’ve been doing this sort of stuff for _ **mumble** _ years now. Had to be under 10 when I first started using electrical tape. I remember the fun I had with an motor pulled from a turntable, a power cord, solder and some electrical tape. Now I’d use shrink for that. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/73 "2017-05-08T17:28:51Z")
When I worked briefly in construction, we commonly used electrical tape as a temporary ‘bandage’ to wrap small cuts on our hands and fingers. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550/74 "2017-05-08T23:49:16Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Damn, where do you work? Gray iron foundry in the upper Midwest. There is a reason electrician tool pouches have the little dangling chain or strap for carrying tape. As I said colored tape was mainly used for identification. Black was used for insulating everything. Low voltage connections like T/C leads or signaling systems. More wraps went on the lethal voltages. We connected small wires with bare crimp connectors, bolts, and tape. Wire nuts were banned after a bad experience two generations ago. Not many other options for some of the stuff we did. Larger wires were screw on lugs or split bolt connectors. All covered with tape. Sometimes we used varnish tape first. Electrical tape was quick, cheap, available, and functional. My current job in a food plant bans tape in the processing area. Bit of a culture shock for me at first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrical-tape-what-is-it-used-for/785550.md?page=3)