Silicone not curing...

WarDaddy

New member
I repaired a baffel in my sump. The sump was drained, dried, cleaned with acetone and the new silicone was added and everything was done.

The silicone is GE SiliconeII doors and windows, clear.

It has been 36 hours, 8 with a box fan blowing on it. The silicone is still tacky on the surface, and it gives if I press it. The weather s cold and wet here. How long will this take until I can get water in the sump again? I want to gget my water fully circulating and skimming ASAP!

Thoughts?
 
heat

heat

get a little area heater, turn on the heat and set it near that, but don't leave the room with it on, please.
 
at 73 it should cure in under 36 hours moist or not i would think.....raise temp or get a dehumidifier....or put in warm dry closet.
 
About how thick was it applied? Silicone has its limitations as to how thick it will dry. It should inevitably dry, but if applied very thick it will take quite a while.
 
It iwas a thick bead, I wanted it to be strong :)

The outer edge is still tacy, that is what is worring me.

I placed a space heater in blowing into the sump down the baffels. I will give this a few hours tonight and see how that works :)

This is my last ditch effort, after this I am out of ideas.
 
Was your tube of silicone still good? I found out the hard way that silicone has a shelf life and a expiration date on the tube. I accidentally used a expired tube that I had never opened but had left in a drawer, and while it got tacky, it never cured. Apparently, the silicone has to smell strongly of acetic acid (vinegar) or else it won't cure, and that over time, the tubes lose the acetic acid. The worst part was that it not only did not cure, but was a pain to clean up in order to apply silicone again.

HTHs
 
Tube says use by 11/07


Should be fine... I wil lgive it until tomorrow when I get home from work. Then I am getting new and cutting out 1 extra baffel to get at it and redo the whole thing again.

Grrrrr... I hope the heater helps.
 
sometimes when it comes to Silicone less is better, your just gonna have to wait much longer, when you put it on so thick the outer layers get hard and seal the inner layer from curing as if it was still in the tube, yes it will cure but you'll have to wait much longer.
 
I am tossing in hte towel, I am starting over this afternoon...

Fun times!

I hope my tanks do not suffer from not having a sump for 5 days
 
Thanks for your help guys!

I pulled everything out last night, got a new tube of Silicone. The new silicone was cured hard inside of 3 hours. I refilled the sump and hav the water warming now.

Wow, leaving water on the porch, got nice and cold, 55 degrees.
 
i have used some door and window silicone that took 1 week to cure. I actually used it on a wall before i read the directions. "paintable after 7 days."
 
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