Stopping silicone going hard in the tube - an idea!

[jabell]

After googling around looking for solutions to the problem of silcone going hard in the tube, I had an epiphany, a serendipitous thought, at least in theory!

What if..........
I glued a cap onto 400mm length of 75mm rain water pipe, drop the silicone tube in straight after last using it, fill it with water so the tube is submerged, leaving it there until next required? Probably fit another cap on top to stop the water evaporating over the following months as well.

This would exclude the air which starts the hardening process, and the tube would be very easy to dry off with a rag when ever you wanted to use some.

Great idea(even if I say it myself), but so far untested. Will have to slip off to Bunnings to get a tube...

Thoughts???

[Evanism]

I keep it simple.

Just grab a few spare nozzles with the purchase and when done wind in a plasterboard screw into the nozzle. When it comes to next use, you can either:

- pull the hardened plug out by hand or multigrips
- if the plug is big, unwind the nozzle and push the plug out, refit, or
- toss the nozzle screw and all and just put a new nozzle on.

I've left tubes for....hmmm, a year or more and this works great. All the tubes or various goozes live in a big black plastic crate. I know this works even on a mega-industrial silicon tube I bought....wow that stuff was offensive, it was made for nuclear reactor sealing or something, even that tube stayed usable but I did have to pitch the nozzle on second use some moths later.

[nrb]

Save yourself a heap of mucking around,just get some spare nozzles,then if you can't get any out on the next use,put on a new one.

[steve-37]

This would exclude the air which starts the hardening process, and the tube would be very easy to dry off with a rag when ever you wanted to use some.

Great idea(even if I say it myself), but so far untested. Will have to slip off to Bunnings to get a tube...

Thoughts???

I think most of the silicon sealants will cure under water.
Steve.

[Master Splinter]

Silicone needs moisture to cure...so a bucket of water for storage might not be ideal.

How about surprising the master of the kitchen (he or she) with a vacuum sealing machine, and you can borrow it to seal the caulk in an airtight plastic bag (I disclaim any responsibility for a vacuum sealer full of caulk!).

If it works well, you could delegate the job to the he/she of the kitchen, and when you need a tube sealed, you could hand over the caulk tube for vacuum sealing with the words "Could you suck my caulk, please?".

[ash233]

Steve is correct, the silicone will most likely cure better in water than what it does in air! Good lateral thinking though but the chemistry unfortunately won't let it work.

Cheers

[Uncle Al]

Silicone needs moisture to cure...so a bucket of water for storage might not be ideal.

How about surprising the master of the kitchen (he or she) with a vacuum sealing machine, and you can borrow it to seal the caulk in an airtight plastic bag (I disclaim any responsibility for a vacuum sealer full of caulk!).

If it works well, you could delegate the job to the he/she of the kitchen, and when you need a tube sealed, you could hand over the caulk tube for vacuum sealing with the words "Could you suck my caulk, please?".

Having a vacuum sealing device would come in handy, but may cause delays if you have a bit of a southern accent.

Alan...

[twosheds]

I store my opened silicone tubes in the beer/bait fridge. I just tape a few layers of glad wrap over the end of the nozzle to seal it after I have finished and put them in the fridge. I have found that most nozzles are single use and put on a new one when I use the silicone tube again. Like Evanism I grab a couple of nozzles every time I buy a new tube and I now have about 3 or 4 dozen spares. The big green shed usually has a bin of them in the glue aisle.

I usually get up to 12 months storage in the fridge but have stored sikaflex for over 2 years. The silicon can be a bit stiff when cold out of the fridge but when it warms up to room temp it is usually quite flowable.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Twosheds

PS I do like the idea of vacuum sealing. Unfortunately my other half is likely to 'baulk if I ask her to vacuum my caulk'.

[Master Splinter]

I have to say that one of my fridge's vege compost bins (you know, the bins down the bottom of the fridge where you leave fresh fruit and vegetables to compost) has already been re-purposed as my superglue storage bin and superglue keeps quite well there.

Next time I need to grab my caulk I'll have to give it a go - I've never thought of slamming my caulk in the fridge door between uses!

[Robson Valley]

RTV silicone products do not stick to wet surfaces. I don't understand how moisture would promote curing.
Now if we were talking Gorilla glue. . . . yes of course. Even saliva works.

I mold things, make castings, make my own rubber stamps, with RTV in a bucket of warm soapy water, nothing happens, not even tomorrow, until it's in contact with dry air.

I have the ultimate solution: final use involves puncturing the side of the tube in the pump gun for the finger-painting alfresco approach. Then? Throw it out. It's always been my hope that there would be 50ml tubes but the companies are far too smart for that. Seems such a shame but throw it out.

Once a year, I figure that I need no more than 4 tablespoons of the high temp (450F) silicone. From now on, the next physical gesture is the bin-toss.

[Cliff Rogers]

I keep mine in the fridge, both new & open ones go in there.

[dinosour]

This won't stop it going off but will delay it. I take the nozzle off the put a piece of plastic over the open end then refit the nozzle, and as others have said block the nozzle with screw or piece of timber etc..... As I said won't stop it going off but it does really delay the process