On 1/29/13 7:35 AM, n8de@thepoint.net wrote:
I'll be obnoxiously repetitive ... use SILICONE SEAL as the lubricant
... after some hours .. the silicone seal will cure and 'harden', though
it will still be pliable years later.
The silicone seal will act as a lubricant while tightening ... and will
protect the 'gears' from moisture.
Use the type made for aquariums to avoid the problem of acetic acid
formation while curing.
What brands have you found work well with exposure to sunlight UV? I
had some old Dow stuff that worked fairly well, but about 5 years ago I
had another brand (don't recall which.. Permatex perhaps) which kind of
got "crunchy" on the surface after a couple years. And yet others (I
think it's a GE caulking compound.. it was in a big tube) seem to hold
up well.
So it appears that there are some that are better than others...
BTW, for this application, I doubt you need the aquarium/non-acetic acid
type. I've got regular ungalvanized nails and bolts that are covered in
gooped silicone and they seem ok after 10 years, at least where they're
covered by the silicone.
I think, also, that the acetic acid curing varieties work better on
surfaces that might have water on them. In particular, things like
masonry and stucco.. not that this is relevant here with hose clamps,
but I use a lot of silicone sealing up things like faceplates where
cables go into the house.
This is all about single part silicones, not the two part type you mix.
I will say though, that the caulking stuff doesn't survive in the tube
very long. Better get all your silicone-ing done in a weekend. After a
month, the entire tube seems to gel,or at least, the entire nozzle..
When I was younger and cheaper, I probably would have cut the tube open
to see if the rest could be used, but today, I just throw the tube out
and get another one.
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