Which grease

[vyv_cox]

The only use I can recall of Viton is for the rubber tip on the float needle of some carburettors I've worked on. As they spend the whole of their life immersed in petrol that resistance to hydrocarbons is pretty important! I think (although I'm not sure) that rubber O-rings and gaskets as usually neoprene so your post has convinced me to continue to use the silicone grease for this application, just to be on the safe side.

Thanks

Richard

Gaskets, O-rings and many other things are made in a huge variety of elastomers. It's not possible to generalise, depends entirely upon the duty. Viton GF is usually used for fuel as it has (well it had when I worked with it) the highest fluorine content but slightly lower are Viton A and Viton B. It is expensive stuff, usually only used for fairly critical duties. If you really want to spend money look at Kalrez, incredibly expensive stuff with even higher fluorine content.

 

[cindersailor]

'Red Rubber Grease' is specifically intended not to cause problems with rubber components. Available quite cheaply in small quantities through your chosen online auction site. Bought some this year to assemble the O-rings in my heat exchanger.

 

[RichardS]

'Red Rubber Grease' is specifically intended not to cause problems with rubber components. Available quite cheaply in small quantities through your chosen online auction site. Bought some this year to assemble the O-rings in my heat exchanger.

It is good stuff which I've been using for a couple of years when I couldn't justify the cost of great dollops of silicone grease. However, it does dry out eventually unfortunately, a bit like vaseline does although it never attacks the rubber.

As I said above, I've now bitten the bullet and bought the silicone grease in bulk so I feel a lot better about chucking it on when required.

Richard (from Yorkshire!)