Hey guys,
I went to use my PVC glue last night and when I opened it, the glue instead had the consistency of jelly.
The can specifically says, "Do not use if jelly like." Does that really mean this can of glue is trash? It's mostly full too! I only bought it like 4 months ago. What causes this? A loose lid?
Anyway, if anyone can give me some tips on how to avoid this problem in the future, I'd appreciate it... (or even better, how to salvage my mostly full can of "jelly").
G
throw it out.
buy smaller cans so you use them up faster. it doesn't have a long shelf life in some cases once opened
Yep, it's gone...unless you happen to have a little tetrahydrofuran and/or methylethyl ketone laying around to replenish the solvent and "juice" it back up. Next time, cap it up tight, turn the container up-side down for a few seconds, then turn it back upright and store on the shelf. The upside-down treatment puts some of the glue directly at the top of the cap, which will seal the minor air leaks through the threads. The stuff will eventually go bad anyway, but this will give you the maximum life.
PS - this also works to seal paint cans!
Good Luck
Corey
Sounds like a cool trick, but will that make it doubly hard to open the can? Last time I tightened the can super tight, I needed channel locks to get it open.
I'm pretty sure the reason this went south so quickly was that I didn't tighten it enough.
Thanks for the advice,
G
Toss it, it's trash. You can not keep that stuff very long, no matter how tight you make the cap. Who knows how long it sat in the store too..... I never buy more than I need. I too, learned the hard way.
Note: In a pinch, I did use jellied glue once and it worked. Depends on how stiff it is..... I do not recommend this, but in my case I had no choice, it was 2am and a weekend, and nowhere to buy more glue. It was drainage too, so no pressure. It's still attached !!!!
That was my exact situation... I'm doing drainage... so for kicks I tried using it on one fitting until I could get out to HD the next day, when I got home, I tried my best to rip off the fitting and no go,.. so I probaby could've saved money on a new can since I only had one more attachment to do, but oh well...
GI have never known this trick to make it terribly hard to get the can open. I usually just grab it with a pair of channel locks anyway. Because you are tipping the can after it's already sealed (and only for a couple of seconds) you aren't really coating all the threads, just forming a little seal at the very top. From the way it sounds, you could back off a little on the initial tightening and let the "trick" do the work. At a certain point, overtightening the can lid just makes things worse...they aren't like pipe threads or anything with a tight tollerance...just bits of stamped steel. Go too tight and they just deform and let in even more air (or more precisely, let your solvent out!)
Good Luck!
Corey
"Corey872" wrote
All plastic pipe cement cans have a seal in the lid. In 15 years of sometimes daily use, I've only had a problem of 'jelly' glue (once or twice) when I didn't tighten the lid properly. When I do it properly, I always have to use channel lock pliers to open the can. Same for the cleaner. I never use them to tighten lids, just my hands. And I don't mess up the inside and cap of the can, or the can threads, by tipping the can upside down. Damn I hate a messy glue can! But I always set the lid back on the can between dauber entries and actually tighten it if I'm not going to use it again for a few minutes. That keeps my various cans good for many months. When I buy a new can, I tighten the lid by hand and some sit for a year or more before I use them, and I only do pressure pipe.
Gary Quality Water Associates
replying to Corey872, Phil Hart wrote: Would acetone work as a solvent?
Typical Home Moaners post. Thirteen year old thread. Would it work as a solvent? Sure, I'd use it to get PVC cement off my tools or maybe my fingers. Would I use it to thin out old jelly like cement and use it to glue my water lines, which apparently was the question, NO.
replying to trader_4, Phil Hart wrote: Thanks for the answer, no need to be a dick about it.
I tried to salvage some years ago with acetone...it did not work. You can't get the consistency back...I believe it absorbs moisture when it thickens.
replying to trader_4, JavaMan wrote: Why not? Acetone is one of the ingredients of the PVC cement.
replying to Me, JavaMan wrote: I had a can get jellied a few years ago, think it was only a few months old when it first jellied. I use the jellied can for those non-pressure cases, save my good can for pressure pipes. I use PVC pipes for projects (recently did curtain rods).
Next time you open a new can of the cement put vasoline on the threads. It helps to both make it easier to open and helps to seal the cap.
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