The shrinking sealant pulls away from conduit walls and/or cable jackets, opening a pathway for water, gas, dirt, insects, snakes, rodents, fire ants, etc. Too often, initial installation results in no seal at all.Įven with adequate installation, when duct putty’s volatile content evaporates, it causes shrinkage that results in gaps. Even a rudimentary seal is difficult to craft. It is very sticky and hard to manipulate. Putty comes with no instructions on how much to use or how to properly seal a conduit. Related Content: Is Meeting a Standard Enough?-An Examination of Duct Sealing Code Compliance.Īpplication is one cause of failure. Specifiers and engineers should understand that this is problematic for reliable cable installations because duct putty fails as a long-term sealant solution. Certainly, it is frequently used as such. Despite this, duct putty is often recommended for and marketed as a conduit sealant. In the case of duct putty, the UL mark is generally for sealing junction boxes, not conduit entrances containing electrical or communications cables. It is important to note that a UL mark does not make a product suitable for a purpose other than the one it’s designed or marketed for. Many commercially available duct putties are UL approved.ĭuct putty is not, however, an excellent conduit sealant. It seals gaps and cracks and works well to reduce drafts, moisture, dust, insects, and noise. Uses in the electrical and communications markets include sealing around electrical boxes, flashings, junction boxes, pedestals, service mast entries, etc. It is also commonly used in the refrigeration and plumbing trades. It can be easily worked by hand to form an infinite variety of shapes that are pressed into place to seal HVAC ductwork-thus its name as a duct putty. Variations include mastic or oil and wax blends. Though formulations obviously vary by manufacturer, duct putty is typically a thick and pliable inert commodity made of clay and water. This article reviews duct putty and analyzes specifically why its use as a duct sealant can be problematic. Unfortunately, this seemingly ideal sealant too often falls short of expectations, resulting in expensive damage that far outweighs any perceived convenience or cost savings over high-performance, engineered sealing solutions. It ostensibly allows cable installers to comply with industry codes mandating that conduits are sealed. The product is cheap, safe, easy, and ubiquitous. Duct putty is arguably the most common product used to seal electrical and telecommunications conduits worldwide. You would need to live a decade or even more without any plumbing problems in your home. To have the right tool of work used appropriately and for long-lasting results, you may need to consider calling the experts for the best results. Plumber’s putty does not need any time to cure. To appropriately apply plumber’s putty, the plumber in question may need to clean the surface where he or she needs to apply the product and may need to warm the putty with the intention f improving its malleability. Plumber’s putty is best used in plumbing especially in a case where there is a connection such as a tub drain and a sink or a drain pipe and the source. Plumber’s putty is known to repel water and hence tend to be very good when creating watertight seals. Plumber’s putty tends to be moldable and tends to allow versatile use especially at home. Plumber’s putty, on the other hand, is more like a clay substance that is mostly used to ensure watertight seals. However, the plumber may need the duct sealant in a case where he or she is maintaining or repairing dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machine and may also use it in electrical connections. Sealant duct tends to have limited plumbing applications and tends to be used more in the repair of electrical and HVAC systems. While duct sealant is mainly used to repel moisture, it is also used to seal air leaks and not plumbing leaks. Duct sealant does not dry out and hence easy to reshape, remove or even reapplied. Duct sealant tends to be nonconductive and it is also non-corrosive. As the name suggests, a duct sealant tends to be used to block out the moisture, air movement, dust and may also be used in a case where one to block noise. Furr.ĭuct sealant tends to be a soft compound that looks like dough and tends to be very easy to handle as well as use initially only used for HVAC purposes. You can get the best of this service at F.H. One may need to use one or both depending on the job at hand. One would, however, need to note that they are two products your plumber may have at his or her disposal any time he or she is doing a plumbing installation, repairs, and maintenance. They also tend to have different properties something that suits their uses. However, they tend to be different and also tend to be used for different purposes. Most people tend to assume that duct sealant and plumber’s putty are the same things.
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