Reseal Silicone Sealant Joint?

[Gavin Allan]

Totally off-topic question here. I need to reseal a component of my hottub that had gobs of silicone sealant on it from the factory. How can I remove all traces of the old silicone sealant so new sealant will stick? Is there anything else that will stick to silcone sealant? It doesn't have to look pretty, as it is inside the enclosure.



Thanks for any ideas

 

[Richard L]

Gavin,

It's a hard job because there are few solvents so it will require cutting, and scraping, and pulling out pieces with pliers, but there are some products that will soften the silicone to make it easier.



1. Mineral Spirits. soak rags in mineral spirits and apply to soften the silicone.

2. Methylated spirits. Us the same as Mineral Spirits.

3. Lift Off. It's available at Lowes and claims to disolve Silicone calk/sealant? I have never tried it, but it may be worth giving it a shot?



good luck



...Rich

 

[Gavin Allan]

I have another idea: The leak is at the joint between the acrylic hot tub shell and the PVC filter cannister mounting surface. The factory tried to fix the leak underneath the tub at the mounting ring and threads instead of at the top where the gasket is supposed to seal it. They must have used a whole tube of silicone sealer on it! Instead of trying to remove all that sealer and resetting the filter cannister, I am going to do the seal from the top (water) side with some of this stuff (link below). I will never need to remove the filter cannister from the tub shell anyway, as the plumbing challenge underneath would be phenomenal. Gonna drain it when it is warmer and try this stuff.



The local hot tub dealer tried some more sealer from underneath, charged me a hundred buck, and told me it was unfixable if that didn't work.