Bob, Absolutely interested! Thanks for taking an experimental approach to this
oft-discussed issue.
Mirek
-----Original Message-----
From: Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Bob
Spidell
Sent: June-22-18 3:19 PM
To: Healeys
Subject: [Healeys] Ethanol effects on rubber
Just when you thought you'd heard the last on this ...
Having bragged about my scientific creds, I decided I needed to do some
'scientific' experimenting. I bought a new HD8 diaphragm jet from Tom's and
put it in a jar submerged in denatured alcohol. If you're not familiar with
denatured alcohol, it's ethanol--i.e. booze--with one or more denaturing
chemicals to make it unpalatable to drink. When I first did this thought
experiment, I thought DA was mostly ethanol, but the quart I bought at a
hardware store claims to be 45-50% ethanol and the remainder methanol (and
probably some water as both alcohols are hygroscopic). Though this mixture
doesn't represent the 10% or so of ethanol in gasahol, IIRC from my college
chemistry and lab technician days that methanol is even more corrosive than
ethanol. So, this should be a good test of the rubber part of the jet's
resistance to these solvents (and the brass part too, I suppose). I put new
jets in my BJ8's HD8s two years/12K miles ago, and should have done this then
in case the results were scary, but maybe this will tell us something. I'll
check the jet periodically for degradation and, if anybody's interested let you
know.
Cheers,
Bob
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