Silicone tubing.

[iamjoeyjo]

I realize this is beating a dead horse and this has been gone over again and again, and rule 8 in forum rules and so on.

I am just asking if there is a scientific reason NOT to ise silicone tubing.
It is used for baking up to 270 degrees c and doesn't leech
Completely inert and non toxic. Even if you did eat it you could not digest it.
Cannot melt, no reaction to steam or ethanol.
Used inside human bodies as a prosthetic.

We bake cakes and make soap made with caustic soda in these moulds and nothing.

So help me understand the fear with 88 degree alcohol?

[shadylane]

Why use silicone tubing if you don't have to ?
Your right silicone is beating a dead horse.
After only 17 posts, this isn't the place to go.
Posting while in my cups.
Shadylane.

[T-Pee]

It's not a fear. It hasn't been proven to be safe for our uses. We don't use it and we don't discuss it's use anywhere in the vapor path.

Drop it or risk the wrath of a mod, k?

tp

[morefog]

It's not a fear. It hasn't been proven to be safe for our uses. We don't use it and we don't discuss it's use anywhere in the vapor path.

Drop it or risk the wrath of a mod, k?

tp

That's the problem. Everyone says we don't condone the use of silicone, but then qualifies their statement with "in the vapor path". Fine, I get it, no argument from me, no intent to violate the rules. But it's a half answer. Is Silicone safe to use with high-proof alcohol in liquid form? Its nearly impossible to find things designed for liquid (such as mason jars) that don't, best case, use silicone. I don't care what the answer is as I have taken great pains to use no silicone, but distillers everywhere deserve a complete answer.

As an aside, silicone is a synthetic material, which violates the board rules, it is not a plastic. I vote we change the rule to say "These forums take a very strong negative view on the use of plastics, SILICONE and synthetics in distilling." It might reduce the frequency of these questions and avoid new people thinking "since silicone is not mentioned in the rules and I know others use it must be safe". Just a thought from someone new.

[Deplorable]

Everything I've read on silicone testing, says it's a non starter for some of the constituents in alcohol as it comes off the still.
If I can find the information so can anyone else. I believe I even posted links to the material here at some point.

[Sporacle]

I realize this is beating a dead horse and this has been gone over again and again, and rule 8 in forum rules and so on.

I am just asking if there is a scientific reason NOT to ise silicone tubing.
It is used for baking up to 270 degrees c and doesn't leech
Completely inert and non toxic. Even if you did eat it you could not digest it.
Cannot melt, no reaction to steam or ethanol.
Used inside human bodies as a prosthetic.

We bake cakes and make soap made with caustic soda in these moulds and nothing.

So help me understand the fear with 88 degree alcohol?

Maybe accept that it is a rule for this forum, much the same as there are rules for society. Do I agree with every single rule that is deemed necessary in society? No I don't but I pretty much understand why they are there. Go and make a still entirely from silicon and store everything in silicon if that is what you want to do, just don't discuss it here. It is really not that difficult.
There has to be a line drawn as to what is acceptable to use in distilling and what is not, just stay behind that line

[NZChris]

I don’t give a toss what the forum rules are on silicone. I don’t use it because my industrial gasket supplier did my research for me and advised me against using it.

[higgins]

https://marketing.industrialspec.com/ac ... om-ism.pdf

[Dancing4dan]

And PTFE wins by a mile!

And the crowd goes wild

[jward]

And PTFE wins by a mile!

Even stainless has lots of incompatible things, but PTFE was straight A's.

[Dancing4dan]

PTFE tubing is available if people want it. Pricey though.

[DRHillier]

PTFE tubing is available if people want it. Pricey though.

Ptfe tubing on Amazon, 4mm is 18 dollars for 32.8 feet. Pretty inexpensive. Comparable on other sites as well. Seems like a reasonable price when it comes to not taking a chance on your health. I too wonder about the silicone, my pot still came with silicone gaskets and a small piece for attaching the condenser to the takeoff tube. I only distill water with it so I'm not too worried about it, but ethanol gas is a different story. I'll trust everyone on here and get what I need that would be deemed safe for my boka build. I'm an expert auto mechanic ASE certified Master tech, I hold my L1 certification for advanced engine performance in automobiles, also an RVIA certified master rv technician. I know that there are many ways to make a car run. But only 1 way to do it right. I see people's solutions to car problems almost every single day. I laugh at what I see. I'm sure the experts on this site read what us novices ask, look at our pictures and laugh as well. I'll do what is recommended by the experts and anyone with more experience than I do when it comes to distilling. I'm sure they'll still get a laugh when I'm done with something and post it, but that's the price you pay when you step into someone else's arena I guess. Anyone ever wonder why engineers make cars so hard to work on nowadays when they used to be simple? I have a theory. An engineer came home one night and caught his wife in bed with a mechanic. And there you go.

[NZChris]

I have PTFE tubing, but don't use it for anything to do with distilling alcohol.

Right at the start, I researched what were the best materials to use for distilling. Many of the obvious, convenient, cheap and easily available options that I thought would be OK got eliminated before I spent a cent on anything.

[The Baker]

Ptfe tubing on Amazon, 4mm is 18 dollars for 32.8 feet.

Here it is #40 Australian for a METRE (about 40 inches) on one site!!!

Geoff

[morefog]

Thanks for posting that chart. Of note is both PTFE and silicone get an A for alcohol. I will not use silicone in the vapor path, unless I can' find a way around it in which case I'll wrap in with PTFE tape.

Thanks for the endorsement of PTFE tubing. I will make sure I get some for anything on the still, preferably not in the vapor path unless absolutely necessary, but there is one place where 1/2" exposure would come in handy.

I'll redirect my silicone to cooling water, which never touches the high-proof stuff. I choose to assume silicone is safe for low-proof beer transfer unless someone says otherwise.

I really appreciate that everyone was able to give me an answer without too many trolls and hellfire. I don't trust threads that are 10+ years old on these matters.

[morefog]

May I assume PTFE shrink-wrap tubing is not the correct tubing?

[Yummyrum]

Thanks for posting that chart. Of note is both PTFE and silicone get an A for alcohol.

Looked like a B for Silicone to me for Ethyl Alcohol

[jonnys_spirit]

Thanks for posting that chart. Of note is both PTFE and silicone get an A for alcohol.

Looked like a B for Silicone to me for Ethyl Alcohol

Yep it’s rated as a B on that sheet. Compare to other B rated items for an idea of what B might mean and which would be a hard no.

Cheers!
-j

[NZChris]

Thanks for posting that chart. Of note is both PTFE and silicone get an A for alcohol.

Looked like a B for Silicone to me for Ethyl Alcohol

Ethyl Alcohol isn't the only chemical in a still. It's just one of many, all hot, not at room temperature which is what the chart is based on.

[Yummyrum]

Exactly Chris , there are quite a few other B and even some D including Acetone , Ethyl Acetate , Pentanols and Butanols

[The Baker]

May I assume PTFE shrink-wrap tubing is not the correct tubing?

Probably not sturdy enough.

But, just maybe, you could (if say joining two stainless tubes) put the shrink wrap on first
(for a safe material) and cover that with silicone tubing (for sturdiness without touching the product).

Geoff

[stud_distiller]

Once i did the mistake using silicone tube in my collection end, the result was terrible silicone smell all over my distillate. So i bought more copper and replaced that junk. It made me clear that this is not a hobby for a lazy fella.