Adhesive and Sealant Applications & Tools

Winter hit the east coast this week, the upper west and Midwest almost a month ago. Sealants packaged in cartridges, sausages, or in 5 gallon pails stored in a cold warehouse or trailer or even the back of your pickup truck gets really thick. Some people warm the sealant up by putting it next to their car heaters or even on top of their engines. Some build their own heat chests with light bulbs, and some simply bring the material inside.

Energy In = Energy Out

This is a simple Engineering heat transfer equation. The body which is losing the heat (right side of the equal sign) and the body or bodys surrounding it that are gaining the heat (left side of the equal sign). Add to that equation different types of material, depending on their heat transfer coeffecient, absorb or discharge heat at different rates. A great example of how slow or quick heat is transferred take a hotplate after cooking and see how long it takes to cool down.... then put it in the sink and spray water over it. The water absorbs the heat from the hotplate faster then the air surrounding the hotplate.

Now take sealant which is thick and massive. How long do you think it will take to warm up the middle of a cartridge, sausage, and especially a 5 gallon pail of sealant? So, it will take either a long time or a significant amount of heat.

If you have been around the sealant world for maybe 25 years you will remember the "Tremco" heat chests. They were quite popular, and if you still have one you end up guarding it with your life. Over the years Albion has been supplying heat chest kits which allowed contractors to rebuild the insides of these heat chests when the heating elements burned out. And for years we have been looking for a chest like the old Tremco heat chest so we could economically build heat chests.

Before I tell you why this is so important to the sealant contractor, I want to acknowledge the contractor who brought to us the missing link. Philip Porter of the Masonry Preservation Group showed us how he used our heat chest kit to build his own heat chest.....he put it in a drum. Drum's are low cost readily available and perfect for a heat chest.

"Hot Pot" is an Albion heat chest kit in a drum.

Why is this so important? The "Hot Pot" and the old Tremco Heat chest heated the air inside the chest to 150 deg F..... now that is hot....and there is significant heat transferring to the sealant. Both units have lids, you open the lid take out your cartridge and close the lid and what happens? A good portion of the heat is lost. There is a thermostat inside the unit which causes rapid heating of the air inside.

The "Hot Pot" and the old Tremco heat chests are essentially one in the same. Same elements, and nearly the same capacity. They hold at least a case of cartridges, or sausages. The "Hot Pot" can also hold a 5 gallon pail of sealant, but 5 gallons of sealant is really thick and it will take a LONG time to get the heat to the middle of the sealant. You will also have to take the pail out of the "Hot Pot" to apply the sealant.

So, if you use your car heater or light bulbs in a box you and it really isn't as productive as you like then maybe this is a solution worth considering.

The "Hot Pot" is readily available at Albion distributors....

For more information see our website - www.albioneng.com Go directly to the sell sheet --- http://albioneng.com/bulletins/46.pdf

And thank you, Philip Porter of the Masonry Preservation Group, for sharing how you solved a problem.

Labels: Hot Pot, winter caulking