So I get a tube of RTV103 from Grainger today

[chimmike]

And it's a GE labelled tube. Funny, I thought. Didn't Momentive buy out GE silicone like, last year? I made mention of it to the sales guy, he's like, yeah, must be an old tube.

Flash forward to a few minutes ago. cut the tip, puncture the seal......nothin sticking on the puncture wire. Tube is dry as a bone. Sealant fully dried in there.

Don't they have a shelf life on this stuff? I mean, that stock has to be OLD. The numbers under RTV103 starts with 06. I wouldn't honestly be surprised if the tube was 4 years old.

Anywho, it's goin back tomorrow for hopefully a fresh tube.

Ugh.

 

[evsalty]

When you get the fresh tube check the back for a note saying Not for use ....under water. Mine says that and I am wondering if all the new ones do or if I got something else from Grainger. Mine does say RTV100 series though.

 

[chimmike]

yeah, my new tube of RTV108 says "not for use on stovepipes, fireplaces, or under water"

However, I read the facts on the old GE stuff, and if they haven't reformulated the RVT100's, they're even FDA approved food-safe.

 

[evsalty]

I think it is just a CYA type of statement. Even the GE silicone 1 tubes no longer state "aquarium safe". Also Jager heaters no longer state "can be fully submerged" yet they haven't changed the design either.

 

[uncleof6]

And it's a GE labelled tube. Funny, I thought. Didn't Momentive buy out GE silicone like, last year? I made mention of it to the sales guy, he's like, yeah, must be an old tube.

Flash forward to a few minutes ago. cut the tip, puncture the seal......nothin sticking on the puncture wire. Tube is dry as a bone. Sealant fully dried in there.

Don't they have a shelf life on this stuff? I mean, that stock has to be OLD. The numbers under RTV103 starts with 06. I wouldn't honestly be surprised if the tube was 4 years old.

Anywho, it's goin back tomorrow for hopefully a fresh tube.

Ugh.

Yeah that be old stock, 4 years old. check the expire on the next tube, look for 10 or 11. Make sure it is in Momentive packaging.

 

[uncleof6]

When you get the fresh tube check the back for a note saying Not for use ....under water. Mine says that and I am wondering if all the new ones do or if I got something else from Grainger. Mine does say RTV100 series though.

Every tube silicone, regardless of make or model, says not for use under water-- because silicone is not for use in continuous submersion. That is why there is an inner seal in aquariums-- to protect the structural seam. It is sacrificial, and needs to be redone periodically. The inner seal of course, also completes the water tightness.

 

[uncleof6]

I think it is just a CYA type of statement. Even the GE silicone 1 tubes no longer state "aquarium safe". Also Jager heaters no longer state "can be fully submerged" yet they haven't changed the design either.

The aquarium sealant ("sealant" is the operative word here-- not an "adhesive") label was pulled, yeah as a cya thing: the stuff is junk and folks were building tanks with it-- they were not holding together. (It CAN be done, but why take the risk) Also the terms are ambiguous, in that "aquarium safe" does not mean it is a good idea to build a tank out of it, it simply means it is an FDA approved silicone and won't kill the fish. The tank you build with it, just might fall apart. There is a world of difference between consumer grade sealants, and industrial grade adhesives.

 

[chimmike]

yeah my rtv108 is in the momentive packaging.

 

[DanMgy]

Momentive uses a pretty sophisticate method if printing the production date on the back of the tubes. When you look by the serial number on the bottom you will see something like 10 H WF A 005. Here is the important part, the first two "10" and "H". The first number will refer to the year (i.e. 09 = 2009, 10 = 2010, 11 = 2011), the second part "H" refers to the month (i.e. A = Jan, B = Feb, C = March). All the other stuff is not really important, mainly used for internal tracking about where it is made and which batch it was part of.

According to momentive RTV10x has a shelf life of 18 months, now I am not sure how realistic that is but that is what they will tell you. I personally have used stuff a bit over a year old and have not had an issue with it. The big problem is that air starts to slowly leak in the packaging and having an affect on the cure properties. Easiest example would be like opening a plastic bottle of soda, a real old bottle loses is carbonation.

If the stuff you got is all dried up go back to Grainger, they have always been very easy to work with whenever I had any issues with them.

 

[chimmike]

I took it back, no problem. The issue was, all 5 other tubes he had were all GE labelled. I was like "those things are probably all hard as a rock too, man" and he nodded........but I doubt he did anything about it, haha.

Looks like I'll order from McMaster-Carr. I wasn't really in need of it, it was more for aesthetics on my end. I'll probably do without for now, as a whole tube would've been more than I needed anyways.

 

[Phyxius]

I took it back, no problem. The issue was, all 5 other tubes he had were all GE labelled. I was like "those things are probably all hard as a rock too, man" and he nodded........but I doubt he did anything about it, haha.

Looks like I'll order from McMaster-Carr. I wasn't really in need of it, it was more for aesthetics on my end. I'll probably do without for now, as a whole tube would've been more than I needed anyways.

I bought some adhesive from a Ace True Value and got it home and it was hard as a rock. Took it back and complained about it and we found the other tubes on the shelf hard too. Got my money back...Went back a few weeks later and ALL of the ones we checked as well as the open one I returned were back on the shelf......

I try to order or buy things locally from people I know rotate stock on a regular basis..