Food Grade Sealant for pans

[royalmaple]

Hello-

Anyone used any sort of "tube" sealant for sealing up pans? I wanted to seal up my dividers in my pans. I have been tacking them in place with a welder and rather than solder it would be nice to find a food grade high temp sealant that would do the trick with no ill effects.


Anyone used anything before with success?

[cheesegenie]

One sugarer used "stainless steel putty". It is to repair ss in
food and dairy equipment. It is made by Devcon, Danvers MA.
Easy to find dealers on web. I was going to buy some but found it
very costly,1 lb. $70.00, also a cleaning product is needed ,Devcon
has that too.

[DougM]

I don't know if it's food grade or not, but we have used a TON of JB Weld over the years.. Once it's in place nothing moves it, not even direct flame.

[royalmaple]

Thanks, I have not read up on JB weld as far as food grade, but I have used it in other applications. Were you using it on food equipment?

[DougM]

It was basically the only thing keeping the sap in our old (English tin) pans.

MapleTrader DaveY has them now, and I think he tried to use silver solder on them with no success, and he's doing the same thing now.

[royalmaple]

Thanks, I'll look into it.

I found some RTV caulk from grainer that is rated fda approved, clear, and good for 400 degrees. I was thinking this would work?

At least they said it would on the tech line, but I was not sure if I got some yahoo that didn't know what they were talking about.

[DougM]

Sounds like it might work.

The thing we liked about JBW was that it stayed in place. If we needed to scrub or wire brush the pans we didn't have to worry about taking it off.

I don't know if that would be a problem with the RTV or not... guess you could easily replace it.

[royalmaple]

Doug-

Called JB weld just a min ago, they say that JB Weld is not FDA approved but when fully cured it is not toxic. So the woman told me yes people do use it in food applications all the time, but I guess they just can't tell you to go out and do it with out fda approval.

So I guess it is ok to use, just Uncle Sam hasn't said run out and do it yet. I do like your point on cleaning / scrubbing.

[Dave Y]

Matt
JB Weld Is the best thing since the ball point pen. Buy the JB Kwik. Sets in 15 mins. That is whats keeping those old tin pans in servce.It can't be bad I had a sugarmaker taste my syrup last nite and He told me that It could
not get any better. Thanks Doug It was sure worth the trip to Indiana!

[royalmaple]

Dave-

I agree, I know 1/2 the planet could be re fabricated with duct tape and jb weld. I guess it is just one of these things with FDA etc. But they do clearly state it is non toxic when cured so perhaps that is the key.

Can't be any worse that guys using old rusty pans that were soldered with lead solder back 40 years ago. And there are people using them out there.

[WF MASON]

The partitions in the pan don't need to be welded solided at the bottom , if you can put a 1/2'' flange or bend on the bottom of the partition and tac along that, keeping it flat, the sap flows the easest route. If you can't put a flange on the bottom of the partition , tac it flat to the bottom both sides , niter will fill any leaks in three boils. I'm 'no' expert at any thing, but putting JB on a leaking seam on the outside of the pan is one thing , but putting a couple tubes inside the pan is something else. I don't think the syrup would be healthy to consume.

[DougM]

WF Mason,
we used JB both inside and outside the pans for three years. As far as we could tell with no ill effects. And like Dave Y says, it's still holding them together since he moved them to PA. The thing about JB is that it's hard enough that it doesn't come off. And, like the mfr. says, it's non-toxic once it's cured. And it's gotta be better than lead.