I bought a piece of nitrile rubber off of fleabay a couple of months ago along with a cheap set of punches and I have been happily making sets of nitrile and lead washers for my stoves. However, the washers I have made and fitted have become soft, to the extent that I can easily tear chunks out of them with a fingernail. These affected washers are a little softer than a school pencil eraser. The washers expand in thickness too, making it difficult to unscrew the caps they are fitted to. I fitted a washer to the tank filler plug of my Primus 100, and after a month or so not only has it become soft, but it has "ballooned" out. I suspect therefore that the rubber I bought is not as "nitrile" as the seller had me believe. I don't have any previous experience of nitrile, so I would be grateful for anyone's thoughts. I had assumed that it was supposed to be completely unaffected by petrochemicals such as paraffin. I would have thought that it is pretty dangerous to mis-sell a product like this. Is there any way to identify / verify nitrile? Your guidance, as always, would be greatly appreciated.
The nitrile Trevor and I use doesn't behave like that at all. I suspect you may have been supplied with a different type of rubber - there are many types, each with a different set of properties designed for different applications. Nitrile has a good resistance to hydrocarbon fuels and heat but poor resistance to light, so it's ideal for making seals where it's hidden away. Other types e.g. Neoprene behave in the reverse way so they are useless for making seals but ideal for other uses... I wouldn't know where to begin distinguishing between the various types - sorry... 8-[
Hi Strikealight PT me your name and address and I will send you a piece of nitrile and you can then compare it with what you have. Kind regards Trevor
The same thing seems to be happening to mine. This is the auction I bought from (seller is littledre61): http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NITRILE-RUBBE...geNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ht_656wt_1167 Here's the first filler cap seal I made with the stuff: It was a flat disc when I fitted it about five weeks ago. I too suspect that this stuff is being mis-sold, but how can I prove it? Also, I already left good feedback because there was no way when I received it that I could have known it wasn't actually Nitrile.
Didn't realise he was on here - I was thinking of contacting him through eBay but wanted to be more sure of the problem first.
i've pm'd him myself so i expect he will be in contact soon, i'm sure he uses it himself so he might not even know of a problem and i'm sure he will want to
Hi all, yes I do sell nitrile on ebay and I did sell some to Alex back on the 15th June. I have also sold some of this to other members of CCS so I would ask them to check their stoves to see if the nitrile has gone the same way as Alex has. I am in the proses of opening up my shed to check my user lanterns that I have used the nitrile on. This could have been a bad batch but I have sold over 30 pieces of this and have yet to have a complaint. I have a tilley table lamp that has a washer made out of this nitrile around the top of the pump and it was lit on Monday. I have just released the pump and the air pressure was still in the tank. The washer is still intact with no swelling and has the same amount of give as it did when I put it in several months back. I have just collected a new batch of 2mm and 3mm nitrile and I will send those members who have had problems a sample of this new batch. If the sample works out I will then replace their original length of nitrile with a strip from this new batch. I will PM Alex shortly as I will need to get a small piece back from him to have tested. I buy this nirile from a company that makes seals and gaskets for Ford motor company amongst others and I will take a copy of this post to show them. At the end of the day it is a problem that can be rectified and if there is a CCS member who knows his nitrile from his rubber and is willing to put a piece of my nitrile through its passes please PM me and I will get a bit in the post. Den
Thanks for the quick and fair response Den. I'll get some sent back to you tomorrow, and I'll send you the swollen seal too. I just prised it out and had a look at the other side. There was liquid paraffin on the surface of the rubber, and it has split most of the way through in a neat circle around the edge of the 'ballooned' portion. I have also noticed that the filler seal on the second stove I did has begun to swell and soften but it's not yet as obvious as this one.
just been checking mine i haven't bought from Den as i was already sorted but i found this,luckily it's one i haven't touched from a pile of scrappers and is as solid as a rock but
Speaking as the chap who started all of this, can I thank Den for acting so quickly and comprehensively to put things right. He positively hounded me to identify me as one of his customers as soon as he saw my post, and since then he has bent over backwards to explain what happened and why any mistake on his part was entirely innocent. I would have no hesitation to buy again from such a concientious seller, and I hope that everyone reading this will come to the same conclusion. I must also thank another certain member for very kindly sending me not just a sample of 2mm nitrile like the stuff I had been using, but 1.5mm too! And he wouldn't even let me reimburse him for the postage! (Not sure if he is happy for me to reveal his identity, so I won't.) This whole episode has confirmed to me just what a truly fantastic site this is. Interest in stoves aside, it is so nice to find yourself amongst such a friendly and helpful bunch. The new nitrile samples seem to be a bit harder than the rouge stuff - you can tell the difference particularly by giving it a bite. The rouge stuff is a little softer and squashier. Is this a test for the correct grade of nitrile for our purposes, I wonder?
Hi all, I would like to keep people in the picture so here goes. Today I contacted one of the biggest manufacturers of Gaskets, Seals and Rubber Mouldings. I spoke with the head of the technical department and I have emailed some of the pictures from this thread. I have asked him if he could test a piece of my nitrile and hope to get an answer tomorrow. He is sending me a sample of their product but has said he could send me a piece of 2mm rubber and I would not be able to tell the difference. As with nitrile there are different grades of rubber. I will keep you informed of the outcome with these people. I have sent out some samples from a different batch of my nitrile to some of the lads on CCS who had trouble with the nitrile they bought from my ebay sale. I have also sent a sample to one of our members who has not bought from me and he is going to do some tests and Unlike our Labour government his findings will be made public. I also know Ross is doing some tests using my nitrile with different fuels so I look forward to the results. I have checked most of my lanterns and the O-rings are intact. I use paraffin in my tilley lamps and panel wipe in my coleman lamps and all are fine. I cannot change the wording on my ebay advert until the adds run out but I will inform people who buy from me that until the tests are conclusive not to use my nitrile on stoves. To be honest only 5% of my sales have been to fettlers of stoves as most of the CCS members already have a source elsewhere for buying nitrile. I wont go into some of the requests I get from ebay buyers regarding this nitrile. Apart from Big Si who is away at the moment if anyone else from CCS has bought from me that I have not contacted already please PM me. Regards, Den.
Good Evening, Den, I must tip my hat to you, Sir, for your honest, forthright, and concerned attitude in all this!! Well done!!! As has already been said, if all FleaBay sellers were as honest as you, most of the myriad problems that occur there would be non-existent! Again, very nice, Den!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc (who believes that a man's word is his bond, period!)
