Sealant Shelf Life

[rwidman]

Products like 3M 5200 and 4200 keep fine until opened. Once opened, the entire tube seems to cure in just a day or two, wasting the remainder of the tube.

I seem to recall someone posting that this curing could be slowed down by refrigerating or freezing the opened tube. If you've tried this, did it work? Any other suggestions for prolonging the shelf life of an opened tube of sealant?

 

[Nomad Willy]

And I would very much like to know this too. I've tried everything I could think of and nothing seems to work. Noth'in like a $12 tube of the best stuff for a little dab of high tech goo. What a waste. More so the goo than the money.

 

[Shoalwaters]

Yes, refrigerating 5200 and similar goo works. Can't speak for freezing it - probably a bad idea. I keep opened tubes of sealant in the door of my refrigerator and they last for months. Squeeze the stuff right up to the top of the tube before screwing on the cap - don't leave an air gap in there. If you use the little screw-on tapered nozzles that come with each tube (cut to the size of hole required), don't throw them away. Unscrew and put aside for a couple of weeks, then extract the tapered sausage of cured goop with a metal hook - Voila!

 

[Tom.B]

Yep... I can also say it keeps fine in our freezer. I have a ziplok bag of three or four tubes in the door tray of the freezer at home and on the boat. Just remove the cap of cured goo and off you go.

Tom-

 

[Capn Chuck]

We've been keeping ours in the freezer to help preserve it for years. I don't mean it lasts for years. It will last a long time and doesn't seem to affect the caulk. Works for all kinds. Chuck

 

[rwidman]

Thanks. Now how long between the time you take it out of the freezer and the time is can be used?

 

[jeffnick]

One More Time Around: Taming the Tube - 3M 4200 and 5200 -

 

[twistedtree]

I've had tubes last for months by just recapping them and zipping up in a ziploc bag and putting in a drawer. I've been surprised they lasted as long as they did. Maybe it's a UV thing and being is a drawer helps?

 

[Capn Chuck]

Thanks. Now how long between the time you take it out of the freezer and the time is can be used?

About as long as it takes for the caulk to be able to come out of the tube in the caulk gun or easily squeezed from the tube. Chuck

 

[Tom.B]

Thanks. Now how long between the time you take it out of the freezer and the time is can be used?

Right away.

 

[rwidman]

Right away.

Thanks. That will help me plan my work.

 

[LaBomba]

Just a guess but I have to think that a Foodsaver vacuum sealer would work well also. No air it shouldn't cure.

 

[jeffnick]

I was told that 5200 cures by heat and moisture. Recent purchases have lasted far longer after initial use than the same tubes I used 5 years ago. I've had a recent tube take a week to begin getting tacky after application.

 

[rwidman]

Just a guess but I have to think that a Foodsaver vacuum sealer would work well also. No air it shouldn't cure.

There's no air in the tube if you screw the cap back on. It still cures. As I recall, there is a warning on the tube to use it all within 24 or 48 hours.

I'll try the freezer trick.

Jeff, I've punched holes in the side before to get some out but then the rest cures even quicker. I like your idea about the syringe. I have several of these left over from some medication my wife was using. And that will solve my problem of having some outside the boat for one person to use when inserting thru hulls and some inside for the person tightening the nuts.

 

[JAT]

I found the solution to this problem was to use Sikaflex products....

 

[HopCar]

Those products are moisture cured. Keeping them in low humidity should extend their shelf life. No matter what you do, their shelf life is limited, even unopen tubes will harded in a couple of years.

 

[Brooksie]

Sort of on same subject.
Silicone caulking products do have a shelf life without ever being opened and if they have gone bad, they apply fine but never cure. So after having a huge mess one time, I always check the date on the tube and discard after a year.

 

[FF]

"I've had a recent tube take a week to begin getting tacky after application."

A spritz with water from a Windex style squirt bottle will start the cure and at least stop the surface from being sticky.

Moisture does the curing ,

 

[Marin]

A trick I was taught many years ago by a shipwright we hired occasionally is to cut the end of a finger off a thin surgical glove. Put the fingertip around the end of the tube of sealant and tape it around the nozzle with electrical tape. Then squeeze enough sealant up into fingertip to form a small ball that stretches the end of the finger and seals the nozzle opening.

This works especially well on caulking gun tubes. We've kept partially used tubes of Sikaflex, TDS, and Polyseamseal in excellent, usable condition for close to a year using this technique. We do not refrigerate the tubes, just keep them in a drawer in the forward cabin.

The sealant in the fingertip cures and seals off the rest of the tube which has no air in it. When we want to use it we remove the tape, break off the ball of cured sealant and it's like working with a brand new tube even if it's been months since we last used it.

 

[meridian]

I stick a screw into the screw-on tapered nozzle, then when it sets I just pull it out.

I like Marin's idea.

 

[Brooksie]

"I've had a recent tube take a week to begin getting tacky after application."

A spritz with water from a Windex style squirt bottle will start the cure and at least stop the surface from being sticky.

Moisture does the curing ,

On silicone?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I had contacted 3M on this very subject and they told me the same as posted here was to put it in the frig, once opened. I had contacted them because the cap would crack and then it cures, but 3M consider a tube as a "one-time" use. Yep at a price of $8 at Home Depot or $20 if you buy it at WM...

 

[rwidman]

I had contacted 3M on this very subject and they told me the same as posted here was to put it in the frig, once opened. I had contacted them because the cap would crack and then it cures, but 3M consider a tube as a "one-time" use. Yep at a price of $8 at Home Depot or $20 if you buy it at WM...

I think it's a little more at Home Depot and a little less at WM, but my home centers only carry the 5200 and I need 4200 for my project. I think I paid $12 or $14 from an Internet vendor.

3M puts the 5200 up in smaller tubes, but there's not that much cost savings compared to the standard tubes.

 

[koliver]

SW: sorry to bust your bubble, but I have had the small tubes of sealant last far longer without refrigeration than any large tubes, despite putting the big ones in the fridge. Is a different formula used on the small tubes? I suspect there is a reason for them lasting so much longer than the big tubes.

 

[rwidman]

SW: sorry to bust your bubble, but I have had the small tubes of sealant last far longer without refrigeration than any large tubes, despite putting the big ones in the fridge. Is a different formula used on the small tubes? I suspect there is a reason for them lasting so much longer than the big tubes.

You'll have to ask the manufacurer, but I can't imagine them using a different formula in different sized tubes. 5200 is 5200, 4200 is 4200, etc.

 

[HopCar]

The large tubes and the small tubes are made of different material. If there is a difference in shelf life maybe that would explain it.

 

[JD]

For small tubes I found that after you use some cover the top with plastic wrap and then screw the lid back on tight. Kept a small tube active for over a year and used it many times for little projects until the cap finally got weak and cracked.

 

[jeffnick]

Has anyone had a problem LATELY with small tubes becoming useless?

 

[CPseudonym]

No Jeff. When I finish a project I toss the tube in the trash if it won't be used in the next month. Cuts back on the disappointment factor later on.

 

[FF]

"Moisture does the curing , On silicone?"

On 5200.