Rubber O Rings

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HopWroester

HopWroester

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Hi,

This sounds stupid in my head but can't work out the answer....

I'm attaching ball taps to my boiler today, they have rubber O rings to form the seal, question - i use gas to heat and the metal pots get very hot, will the rubber seals take the heat?

Thanks,
Mark
 
I use fibre washers on mine, for that very reason. Got a plumbers merchants nearby? Take one of your taps with you to get the right size. My pot gets really hot when I use the gas burner, not sure rubber would stand it mate.
 
As i thought really,thats buggered brew day!

Something like this:

Capture.PNG
 
It depends if they are "rubber" or not. If they are latex type rubber, which I very much doubt, then they will burn at around 180 degrees. Most O rings are actually made from PTFE which has a burn point of well over 300 degrees. Some are also made of neoprene, which also has a burn point of slightly less, but still up towards 300 degrees. So unless they come into direct contact with the flame, you'll be absolutely fine.
 
Notlaw said:
It depends if they are "rubber" or not. If they are latex type rubber, which I very much doubt, then they will burn at around 180 degrees. Most O rings are actually made from PTFE which has a burn point of well over 300 degrees. Some are also made of neoprene, which also has a burn point of slightly less, but still up towards 300 degrees. So unless they come into direct contact with the flame, you'll be absolutely fine.
Click to expand...

Put it this way - whilst not in direct contact with the flame, my tap is about 4 inches from it, and it is a 7.5kw burner. The steel in that area I would suggest would be well in excess temperature wise for anything rubber. I certainly wouldnt risk losing the contents of my brew through a tap hole for the sake of a fibre washer, and any failure would most likely be when the wort was very hot - not only a crying shame waste of a brew, but a high likelihood of getting a nasty burn/scald....
 
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'd still change it. But, I wouldn't cancel a brew day just for that reason. It would deteriorate over time, faster than a fibre one, but it would still be perfectly fine for a handful of uses before it needed changed. Another thing though that I've just thought of, a 'rubber' one has more likelihood of tainting the wort. But it depends on what its actually made of. PTFE is fine, neoprene is a bit more 'rubbery'.
 

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