The Miracle of Plumbing that is PTFE Tape

We recently discovered (amongst lots of other things going wrong all around us) a small leak a the point that our washing maching inlet hose connects to the water pipe.

This was a problem when we first moved in and we initially fixed it by buying a new hose and doing it up really tight. So I was a little disappointed to find it leaking again.

I mentioned this on the phone to my dad who said, quite cryptically, “wrap some PTFE tape around the thread”.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s poly-terta-flouro-ethalene” (or something).

Oh well, I’ll look it up I thought.

Turns out it’s a minor miracle. Why don’t people tell you things like this at school? How are you supposed to find out?

Just wrap it (CLOCKWISE…to go with the thread) round the thread a few times, and screw the connector back on. Drips gone!