How Duct Tape Got Its Name (and Why It Shouldn't Be on Ducts) - Short #264
HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs
Bryan Orr
4.9 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 November 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this short podcast episode, Bryan explains how duct tape got its name and why it shouldn't actually be used on ducts. Duct tape is a versatile home DIY-fix tool, but despite its name, it wasn't initially made to seal ducts at all.
In 1943, we were in the thick of World War II, and ammo shipments were sealed with wax and paper tape. These were often not durable or difficult to open. Johnson & Johnson developed a tape with rubber adhesive on a cotton duck cloth backing (which was already widely used for military uniforms and tent fabrics). This new tape was nicknamed "duck" tape due to the material and its waterproof abilities (like the waterfowl). A woman named Vesta Stoudt informed President FDR about duct tape, and the War Production Board began using it in wartime supply packaging.
After the war, America had a housing boom in the 1950s, which included the demand for forced-air heating and cooling systems. Marketers thought the tape could seal the ducts in those homes, so they changed the color to match sheet metal and rebranded it as "duct tape." In the 1960s, this tape was available in retail outlets with the "duct tape" branding.
Unfortunately, in tests by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, duct tape failed miserably at sealing the ducts because the rubber adhesive dries out under heat, and dust weakens the adhesive. As a result, many building codes ban duct tape on ducts (spearheaded by California). Instead, UL-listed foil tape and mastic are approved for sealing ducts. However, duct tape still became famous for its versatility as a patching material. It's prevalent in pop culture and has been used in television shows and even in space.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Heyo, this is the HVAC school podcast. I'm Brian. This is the podcast that helps you remember some things you might have forgotten along the way as well as helps you remember some things you forgot to know. In the first place, this is a short episode. And it's about how duct tape got its name and why you probably shouldn't be using it on ducks. But before we do that, |
| 0:22.5 | we want to thank our great sponsors. Refrigeration technologies and their Viper aerosol coil |
| 0:27.8 | cleaner for condensers and evaporators. If you don't know, the Viper aerosol cleaner is a foaming |
| 0:34.6 | cleaner that you can spray into a coil with its really powerful pin spray. |
| 0:38.8 | It has a strong degreasing capability in a convenient package. |
| 0:43.7 | It's safe to use with rinsing or no rinse, so there's zero need to bring a bulky pump |
| 0:49.1 | sprayer into the house for an evaporator coil cleaning or in many refrigeration applications. |
| 0:54.4 | And like you mentioned, it works on our evaporators and condensers. |
| 0:57.8 | Find out more at refrigetec.com. |
| 1:01.1 | Carrier and Carrier.com. |
| 1:03.1 | I've been a carrier dealer for many years. |
| 1:05.7 | Carrier has their new green speed extreme, super high efficiency heat pumps out on the market now. |
| 1:12.4 | Find out more by going to carrier.com. |
| 1:16.0 | Navak at navakglobal.com. |
| 1:19.8 | Field piece and Fieldpeace University. |
| 1:23.0 | Field piece offers high quality product training for HVAC techs and distributors. |
| 1:28.1 | Whether you're using the tools or selling them, |
| 1:30.2 | Fieldpiece has training options for you. |
| 1:33.4 | There are categories for evacuation, recovery, leak detection, and heating. |
| 1:38.3 | Within the course, for heating appliances, |
| 1:40.1 | you get to learn how to do combustion analysis |
| 1:42.2 | and measure static and gas pressure. |
... |
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