Pipe sealants

From: <Christopher>
Date: Tue Jul 01 2003 - 18:19:00 EDT

Curious (because a client is curious) about the lifetime of pipe dope. I've seen 20 year old installations with enough pipe dope remaining that I imagine its life is pretty much indefinite. My understanding has always been that the purpose of any sealant is to act primarily as a barrier agaisnt corrosive material and secondarily as a lubricant during assembly. Specifically, it doesn't seal against pressure--the tapered threads themselves do that. I imagine the actual lifetime of a sealant depends on how fast the media attacks it, so a sealant in a firly benign environment would indeed last indefinitely.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=27UeF1oT0Xhas8thNvmgnn3YegWmzfePtDBtPqyfFgI3UAvA_kygBOJaCCcJk8kqHvl5Om8NlABu_g">chrisw@skypoint.com</a> | this distance" (last words of Gen.

___________________________| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)

<a href="http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw">http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw</a> Received on Tue Jul 01 18:19:00 2003