How do you keep silicone tubes from drying out?

[rbattelle]

I swear I've tried everything to recap tubes of silicone sealant so they won't dry out and nothing works. The plastic applicator they give you just dries up and becomes a solid lump of silicone. Then I remove it and just use the tube for a second use, which promptly dries out rendering about 75% of the tube completely useless. So I'm getting 2 uses out of each tube. At $4 per tube, I'm wasting about $3. 50.



Someone must have some "miracle" idea for keeping these things from drying out. An enterprising person might make a small fortune selling silicone sealant as a package of 12 small single-use tubes rather than the 1 giant tube you normally get.



-Ryan

 

[radcam]

Try pushing the plug of silicone out of the plastic applicator re-installing it on the tube use and repeat.

 

[supersonic]

I usually used a nail for the smaller holes or a small bolt for the bigger holes, to stop the end up. this gives you a good way to seal it off from the air and it's easy to remove. I sid that in past tence because I rarely use silicone in the larger tubes, instead I have been using the smaller pressurized sealents, kind of like a can of eazy cheeze, they have a twist valve that turns off the can and a good cap to seal it off (yes it works ) best thing other than the ease of controll is the variety that they come in,from RTV to black, red, blue, hitemp, whatever you usually have to buy in the big tube now comes in a smaller size. I pick mine up at any of the local KOI distributors, but they also sell it at all the major chain stores. Definetly a nice thing to have around the shop.

 

[nickleinonen]

most of the time, you should be able to pull the dry lump of silicone out of the applicator nozzle/tip. if not, you can get extra tips/nozzles... at work, we throw away lots of the nozzles for the dow corning silicone tubes. if we are building multiple GE traction motors, we use about 1 tube per motor to seal the gearcase, and we use the same nozzle from the first one... so 2-3 will be tossed out. . i think there are also industrial supply places that will sell the nozzles separately.

 

[rbattelle]

Thanks for the suggestions! Supersonic, I don't think I've ever seen the cans you're referring to... but I'll be on the lookout next time I'm at the parts store



-Ryan

 

[Black-Smoker]

Go to home depot and go to the shelving area where they sell the white wire shelving for closets. There you will find the little white rubber caps that fit on the end of the shelves when you cut them. They work great to seal the tubes.

 

[Paychk]

An electrical wire nut will work also.

 

[thejeepdude]

A cap never worked as good for me as a plug. I always use some sort of screw to plug my RTV tubes. I've had them sit around for 6 months and the screw gets stuck in there pretty good, but the threads make it so that you can usually pull the whole dried silicone chunk out. I tried nails, but when you pull those out, the hole in the silicone where the nail was seems to shrink to the point I still can't squeeze much out. BTW, permatex ultra black rules!

 

[Paychk]

Aerosol cans of RTV



http://www.mckanica.com/index.html

 

[cap-n-cray]

I use a very expensive type of silicone for solid surface counter tops (Corian) food grade. I keep it (as the direction state) in the refrigerator. Seem to last a long time.



Cary

 

[rbattelle]

Great suggestions by all! I will probably try all of them until I find one that works best for me. I'm definetly trying the refrigerator thing.



-Ryan