Drilling tapcons into hollow blocks



Is there any special tricks in using Tapcons on hollow concrete block
walls?

I want to secure copper pipes, PVC drain pipes etc... onto my block
walls using those copper straps. I am using 1-1/2" Tapcon screws and
drilled a hole then when I feed in the screws it reached bottom and
spins. The straps are still secured in that I can't pull them out,
but I would prefer I can drive the screws in and be tight and snug.

The block walls are built with the typical 8" thick hollow blocks
with a web in the middle. I think if I drill into the solid part of
the block it's better but most times this is not practical as the pipe
may be a vertical run from floor to ceiling and I want to secure it in
say three spots and they are all in the thin part of the blocks.

Is there a trick? Will a specific size and length work best, reading
the Tapcon website it says it needs a minimum embedding depth of 1" to
a maximum of 1-3/4". It looks like the blocks are about 1" thick.
When I drill them sometimes it punches through and sometimes it does
not. I am just not doing something right so I stopped before I
drilled too many holes.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
.



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