Latex seals breaking down

[boulderjohn]

I learned from Whites that their supplier suggests copper contamination from handling pennies.

I just put a square in a dish with four pennies and a little water. We'll see what happens.

 

[Kern]

I learned from Whites that their supplier suggests copper contamination from handling pennies.

I just put a square in a dish with four pennies and a little water. We'll see what happens.

My seals turned to goo. We haven't had copper coins in Oz for a long time. I used UV Tech regularly.

 

[Crush]

I just spoke with a colleague of mine who is an expert in bio-defence.

Having described the process of diving, rinsing, and drying a suit, he feels that:

• The formation of one discrete area of "goo" is more consistent with a biological growth than with chemical contamination;
• The goo could potentially be a biofilm;
• There are organisms that will attack latex;
• Organisms will probably attack an area which (for whatever reason) is most hospitable to them (on a micro scale the latex will be non-homogeneous);
• The growth of a bacterium on a dry surface is uncommon - the organism is therefore likely to be a fungus (therefore much more adapted to dry environments);
• Good fungicides would be chlorox, formaldehyde, and hydrogen peroxide.

Boulderjohn - feel like testing out chlorox, formaldehyde, and hydrogen peroxide on latex seals?

 

[boulderjohn]

Boulderjohn - feel like testing out chlorox, formaldehyde, and hydrogen peroxide on latex seals?

The only thing I could do with them would be to try to stop something from spreading, and I have a sense that it has already stopped. Or is there something I could do?

I did a test earlier in which I bagged two samples that were already partially contaminated. I heated one to about 140°F. I am waiting to see if there is any difference in the two over time. So far it does not look like it, but it looks like the entire sample has also stopped spreading, so I may have lost my chance to test a biological source.

Perhaps someone else who is in the earliest stages could treat one part and not treat another and compare.

 

[carrielsal]

I learned from Whites that their supplier suggests copper contamination from handling pennies.

I just put a square in a dish with four pennies and a little water. We'll see what happens.

How about animal fat from like a hamburger or steak?

 

[Crush]

A very good, current article: Biodegradation of Natural Rubber and Related Compounds: Recent Insights into a Hardly Understood Catabolic Capability of Microorganisms -- Rose and Steinbchel 71 (6): 2803 -- Applied and Environmental Microbiology

 

[Crush]

How about animal fat from like a hamburger or steak?

This is all purely conjecture, but the reason that I am now shying away from a chemical source is that most chemical sources would be on your hands and therefore distributed over large portions of your seals, rather than being present in what might be a distinct colony.

 

[carrielsal]

This is all purely conjecture, but the reason that I am now shying away from a chemical source is that most chemical sources would be on your hands and therefore distributed over large portions of your seals, rather than being present in what might be a distinct colony.

If you had your drysuit pulled down around your waist and eating a burger and it dripped on your wrist seal, I would think it might be just a small spot.
The diver I was with only had these spots on the wrist seals and not the neck seal which was hanging behind his head.

 

[boulderjohn]

A very good, current article: Biodegradation of Natural Rubber and Related Compounds: Recent Insights into a Hardly Understood Catabolic Capability of Microorganisms -- Rose and Steinbchel 71 (6): 2803 -- Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Is it just me, or is this beginning to sound like The Andromeda Strain?

 

[peterbj7]

Look guys, latex seals degrade and let go. They always have done, regardless of manufacturer or indeed country of origin. I've had several wrist and neck seals go, and I don't think I've ever eaten in my suit. That and the discomfort of latex seals, the way they pinch your skin and catch the tiny hairs, are why I swapped to neoprene seals. Finding they are more waterproof and seemingly everlasting was a bonus.

IMO latex is a crazy material to make suit seals from.