The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Sealants, threadlockers, and epoxies???s

I have an assortment of sealants, threadlockers, epoxies, etc. that are used on an occasional basis. Today, I went to use a red threadlocker and found that it 'weeped' out of the original sealed tube for no apparent reason. The major brand name materials I have are all less than three years old and have been carefully stored so as not to subject them to freezing temperatures. Perhaps, I just don't use enough of these materials and I recognize there is a reasonable 'shelf life'(older product = longer curing time), but I hate to purchase another tube from project-to-project.

I have a few questions:

How are you storing these materials?

Do you have confidence that a product will perform as intended for weeks, months, and years?

Do you discard opened tubes after a year or so?

Any other thoughts or comments on this subject would be appreciated, thanks.

We use a refridgerator for storing all our chemicals; the cool slows down the reaction. Partial tubes of caulk are helped the most. A second box that used to be a small camper fridge has a light bulb in it to keep welding/brazing rods dry. DON'T keep food in with the chemicals.

I've noticed, with silicones in particular, that the cap on the tube will split open for no apparent reason. Once that happens the stuff will of course dry up and be worthless. Why those caps fail I have no idea.

I've started buying thread locker in small foil pouches- - - -just enough for one job and discard the leftovers, which usually isn't more than a few drops. Even if two pouches are needed for a big job, the cost savings is considerable. Silicone anti-seize for rubber spark plug boots and heat-conducting dielectric compound for ignition modules is sold the same way. Brush-on gasket sealer like Permatex Super 300 seems to last forever as long as it capped snugly.
Jerry

For the thread lock in plastic tubes, I drilled a 6" long piece of 2x4 with holes almost through and stand the tubes in the holes. If I lay them on their sides, they leak that sticky mess.

I use loctite thread loc in lips stick style tubes .Great never leaks and is good for a very long time. I have red, blue ,green some over five years old,still the same as when new.

We use a lot of loctite on the ranch. Have blue, red and green sleeve retainer in the "big" bottles. No special storage, just room temp on a shelf. Products are nit over 5 years old and still work fine. Just keep the cap on to seal the bottle.

Silicones are best used quickly. They all seem to dry out once they are opened.

Antiseize....that stuff seems to last forever, especially Catapillar brand.

Thanks for your replies. There are some good purchasing, usage, and storage suggestions we can all benefit from while using these products.

I like the stick form. It seems to last forever and not near the mess. Also the gel form is nice for inside threads. I am using all stainless fasteners. The anti seize in stick form is a godsend