Home Distiller

Has anyone ever used silicon tape to seal a lid on a boiler. I can get my hands on some aircraft electrical tape that is made out of silicon tape called fusion tape. Heat is not an issue with this stuff as it will not melt.

Look up the specs for the product, or contact the manufacturer.

•Thickness (in.): 0.018-0.022
•Width (in.): 0.9375-1.0625
•Dielectric Strength (volts/mil): 400 min.
•Tensile Strength (psi): 700 min.
•Elongation (%): 300 min.
•Bond Strength (lbs.in.): 2.0 min
•Volume Resistivity: 1x10^13 min.
•Water Absorption (%): 3 max.
THIS IS THE SPECS

Maybe you'll find your answer here: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=41

diesel1975 wrote:•Thickness (in.): 0.018-0.022
•Width (in.): 0.9375-1.0625
•Dielectric Strength (volts/mil): 400 min.
•Tensile Strength (psi): 700 min.
•Elongation (%): 300 min.
•Bond Strength (lbs.in.): 2.0 min
•Volume Resistivity: 1x10^13 min.
•Water Absorption (%): 3 max.
THIS IS THE SPECS

Those specs tell you nothing about its chemical resistance to the compounds it will be subjected to at distillation temperatures.

Important when looking up the properties of materials:

SILICON is used to make semiconductors.

SILICONE is the rubbery stuff your tape is made from.

The backing may be silicone but what's the adhesive ?

You must not have done much reading here. I can't believe you mentioned the "S" word and have not been warned of the impending doom that will fall upon you and all those around you..... You have been warned!.......

PTFE can help you avoid a fiery doom. A few wraps of PTFE tape and you're golden.

diesel,

Just go to the hardware store and buy some plumber's tape. It's PTFE tape and it is very inexpensive (around a buck USD per roll). Getcha' a couple of rolls so you always have some on hand.

Quit trying to "bend the rules"... be safe as advised. Do it right!
ss

Without MSDS proof of safety, and lengthy collaboration, nobody here is going to just say "go ahead and use it" about ANY currently unapproved materials... PTFE is the only tape approved at this point, and even that took years of discussions here in these forums... And if it is actual tape, with adhesive, it will never be approved here...

diesel1975
Sorry for the beating you just took
But saying silicone, glass thumpers and thermometers on a potstill,,,,,, get's some of the folks here riled up

diesel1975 wrote:Has anyone ever used silicon tape to seal a lid on a boiler. I can get my hands on some aircraft electrical tape that is made out of silicon tape called fusion tape. Heat is not an issue with this stuff as it will not melt.

The tape in question is excellent for electrical insulation.
But isn't good for sealing the lid on a moonshine still

shadylane wrote:diesel1975
Sorry for the beating you just took
But saying silicone, glass thumpers and thermometers on a potstill,,,,,, get's some of the folks here riled up

Well since I started off on the wrong foot here I'll be dumb enough to ask ...

How come the adhesive on ptfe tape is considered safe and doesn't cause concern

(before anyone bites my head off, I really want to know and am not trying to start an argument or be otherwise awkward. I 100% intend to always use ptfe washers, gaskets seals etc.)

(edit to say it's the adhesive on ptfe tape I'm confused by, not why ptfe is OK compared to silicon)

Ptfe tape has no adhesive.

Bigbob wrote:Ptfe tape has no adhesive.

ahh OK, we only mean plumbers tape for help with joint sealing. There are many ptfe adhesive tapes eg for wrapping cardboard homemade gaskets in so surface is ptfe and can replace a silicon gasket.

Thanks for clarification.

edit http://homedistiller.org/forum/search.p ... tfe+gasket

If it has adhesive period its out of bounds mulligan. Even for ez gaskets. Anytime you see ptfe on HD it is referring to non adhesive plumbers thread tape. It does stick to itself kinda though,but no adhesives.
Jbt

Just for the sake of clarity, What is commonly referred to as F-4 tape (aircraft electrical tape) has no adhesive, it only sticks to itself. It's great stuff for many uses and is resistant to most chemicals but I wouldn't use it on a still because silicone does degrade so PTFE is the better option.

Since ptfe is teflon, glue does not stick to it. It cannot have an adhesive back for this reason. Buy some and you will see.

I have here some adhesive ptfe. It is this "extruded" "expanded" or "e-ptfe". The stuff feels like cooked pasta, some of them have a thin strip of glue at the back, some not. I don't use them. It is not better than normal ptfe tape, at least for the places at my still where I use ptfe, because once it is compressed it remains flat and hard like the normal plumbers tape. Unlike silicone or rubber, which would be very helpful for some constructions of course (sight glasses for example).

Hound Dog wrote:Since ptfe is teflon, glue does not stick to it. It cannot have an adhesive back for this reason. Buy some and you will see.

Ya sure?

http://catalog.cshyde.com/category/all- ... ptfe-tapes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Der wo, have you actually tried it or does it just seem unsuitable? At least one member swears by it in multiple builds. Or are there eptfe tapes with more or less elasiticity or memory or whatever it would be called? I'm eyeballing it for a current project hence the question.

If it has any adhesive then it is not useable, simple as that. No one here is going to say otherwise.

Yes. I tried to seal a flange (from lid to riser) and to seal a cooking pot lid. The flange worked one time very well, but the second time the ptfe layer was too flat. But probably if I had used more of the e-PTFE, it would work. The adhesive layer is very useful, because PTFE normally is very slippery. And I thought it would be ok, because it's only a small strip in the middle, and when compressed, it never would have contact to the alcohol.
To seal the lid was cheaper and more durable with a few wraps of normal teflon tape and the flange I soldered on the lid. The best is to build the still in a way, that you can seal everything without such expensive and perhaps not 100% safe stuff.

zapata, it only compresses, it doesn't go back to the original shape like rubber or silicone does. It feels like cooked pasta, a bit harder. Actually I have sealed the flange once with a spaghetti. It worked better than e-ptfe, because it dries when the lid gets hot and then it sticks very strong. But it worked also only once of course. Same like flour paste would.
Post your plans of your build and we will find a solution without e-PTFE.