Why a plumbing clamp with a rubber seal is convenient - secrets of choice
Steel pipes It is difficult to repair under pressure, but a plumbing clamp with a rubber seal will help save the situation. You can buy a simple device or make it yourself. And it’s better to get a plumbing clamp in advance - at a critical moment you won’t have time to think about it.
The content of the article:
Types of clamps with rubber seals
A huge number of different types of clamps are used in everyday life and home appliances. More often these are models with a tape or wire base, tightened using a built-in worm, a wrench, or simply a bolt-nut pair.
They are used to attach hoses to washing machines, secure electrical cables, and crimp flexible connections. In design, such parts are similar to each other, differing only in the width of the clamp and the fixing element. But they are not suitable for plumbing work.
A real plumbing clamp differs from its “brothers” in a number of ways:
Clamping on plumbing fixtures is done using a nut-bolt pair. Only in this case can it ensure reliable fixation on the pipe surface.
Any other type of worm-screw, self-tapping, spring or self-clamping type clamps do not provide constant force.This means that it is technically possible to tighten the clamp with the seal to the required amount of force, but over time, release will occur and the seal will be weakened.
The second important element is the rubber seal. Conventional fasteners may use hot-formed black rubber. For repair work, such a seal can only be used as a compensating rubber band between the clamp band and the surface of the pipe. At the same time, there should be no water leakage or condensation at the attachment point, otherwise, at the point of contact between the metal and the gasket, the metal or the clamp itself will rot from corrosion over time.
Repair clamps use an EPDM seal.
Let's look at the main types of clamps for plumbing pipes and determine the most popular ones.
Pipe clamp
More often, a model consisting of two halves is mistaken for a plumbing clamp. The design consists of two half-arches made of profiled steel tape with galvanized coating.
A rubber seal with a profiled inner surface is placed inside the ring.
A pipe clamp is primarily used as a support bracket for fixing pipes at a certain distance from walls or floors. Therefore, on one of the halves there is a welded nut for installing a support from a threaded rod or bolt.
Clamps can be made on the basis of a bolt-nut pair or in the form of a pair of metal screws.
Bolt clamps can be used as plumbing or repair clamps. In this case, the standard seal is replaced with a gasket made of EPDM rubber, or the damaged area is additionally wrapped with a thin tape of plumbing rubber.
On sale you can find yellow clamps without a rubber seal. These are protective seal rings used on gas pipes. They cannot be used for repair work.
Reinforced type plumbing clamp
One of the problems with using repair devices is considered to be high pressure in the pipe being repaired. In domestic water supply and steam heating lines, pressure and temperature can reach 30 atm and 120 °C, respectively.
Therefore, for repair work at joints or damaged areas, loop-shaped models bent from a thick strip of stainless steel are used.
To open the doors, the hinge must first be wedged using a wooden insert. The rubber seal is placed on the pipe separately. After the device is placed on it, the wooden wedge is knocked out, a rubber gasket is placed inside and the bolts are tightened.
To block fistulas on high-pressure water pipes, one-piece pipe clamps with a double loop can be used as plumbing pipe clamps. The quality of the clamp is high, but such a device can only be attached through the end or cut of the pipe.
Rubber Clamp
One of the simplest and cheapest options. It is a stamped strip of steel, 15 mm wide. Essentially, this is a steel loop with two bolt holes, which is covered with a rubber seal.
The Rubber clamp is used for plumbing repairs of small diameter pipes, from 8 mm to 50 mm.
In addition to blocking a damaged area, the Rubber device can be used to crimp hoses on pipes, strengthen previously installed but damaged clamps, and fix pipes on walls and load-bearing surfaces.
The only drawback is that when choosing a Rubber system, you need to select the correct loop diameter. It must exactly match the diameter of the pipe without taking into account the rubber seal.
Repair couplings
Used as a reinforcing bandage on high-pressure pipes with signs of corrosion and deep metal damage. The usual repair option is not suitable, even when using a self-adhesive rubber seal.
Deep double-sided corrosion of the metal means that the pipe can fail at any time. Therefore, in such a situation, simply crimping with a rubber seal does not give the desired result.
The situation can be corrected using a repair coupling consisting of two identical halves.
There are already threads inside the holes, so plumbing work to repair a fistula is simple:
- The metal surface is cleaned and treated with a composition that stops corrosion.
- Screw a rubber seal onto the pipe.
- Connect the halves of the coupling and tighten them with bolts.
Large diameter plumbing clamps
For pipes from 100 mm to 160 mm, blocking bands and clamps made of thin sheet steel with clamping based on threaded rods and nuts are used.Plumbing clamps for repairs are made in the form of a one-and-a-half loop with welded shelves under the clamp.
In this case, a standard rubber seal is hot applied to the inner surface of the steel strip. Or a ring liner is used.
Before installing the bandage, the damaged surface is treated with polyurethane paint or sealant, which ensures stable operation of the rubber seal even under conditions of temperature changes or alternating mechanical loads.
On large-diameter free-flow pipes, plumbing clamps can be installed without a rubber seal. It is enough to blow out the surface of the pipe around the damaged area with polyurethane foam and put on a clamp. Self-expanding polyurethane foam will fill all cavities and securely fix the repair pad. There is no need to tighten the fasteners after the foam has hardened.
Using large diameter steel clamps you can make retraction, and without releasing the water pressure in the main.
For polypropylene and polyethylene lines with a diameter of 1.5-2 inches, it is easier to make a tie-in using a plumbing saddle clamp.
What are the benefits of a clamp with a rubber seal?
The use of a protective bandage in the form of a clamp tie is allowed only for straight sections without sockets and turns.The pressed rubber seal must evenly adhere to the surface being repaired. Otherwise, it will not be possible to achieve reliable fixation of the bandage. This is the only drawback.
Installation of the patch does not require special preparation of the bandage or pipe surface. The repair device can remain on the damaged area indefinitely. After installation, you need to additionally tighten the fastener once to compensate for the residual deformation of the seal.
How to choose a clamp
The choice of repair bandage model directly depends on the pressure in the pipe and the installation location. For high-pressure lines, repair couplings with four tightening points must be used. Any other models, even with a high-quality rubber seal, do not ensure the tightness of the bandage.
For home plumbing work, it is best to have two-half bands or a Rubber loop on hand. For small diameter water pipes, you can use products made of mild galvanized steel. For lines with a diameter of more than one inch, stainless steel bands are used.
A plumbing clamp with a rubber seal can be considered a universal repair tool. The design turned out to be so successful that the bandages can remain on the heating or water supply for several years before major repairs. The device is easy to make yourself.
How to install a clamp on a heating register: video
Have you ever had to make plumbing clamps of a non-standard design? Share a description and experience of using homemade bandages. Does it make sense to make a bandage yourself if you can buy it? Save the article to bookmarks and share it on social networks.
It's best to do it yourself. An ideal clamp is made of two halves, knocked out with a hammer in a yew on a steel mandrel made of soft low-carbon steel with a thickness of 2.5-3 mm. This way you can adjust the inner diameter of the bandage exactly to the pipe being repaired plus 2 mm for the rubber seal. If you do less, it won’t fall into place. If you do more, the ears will bend, and the contact patch of the rubber with the damaged area will turn out to be small. In addition, a clamp made of two halves can be placed anywhere, even on a tap, even in a corner.
I wanted to clarify about the loops. Any loop can only be used to clamp the winding with a rubber band. They are not suitable for a full repair, even if you put three pieces on the seal. Loops are only convenient for fixing the pipe.