Best way to disolve silicone?

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loogielv

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2008
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Las Vegas, USA
I did a DIY a few years back and I went buckwild on the silicone. It was sorta an accident. It wasn't on a tank, it was in a chandelier that i was trying to convert to a hanging terrarium. I never fixed my silicone job because I didn't have a place to hang it anyway. Now it's a few years later and I want to disolve the first mess and start fresh. There's too many seams and too much silicone to just scrape it off. Plus majority of it is over metal bracing that holds glass panels together, so a good scrape over the whole thing isn't a possibility.

I'm so ashamed of my job that I dont want to post it..but if I get some good ways to disolve it off, I'll man up...

It's so damn ugly.
 
I believe they have stuff to remove silicone at Home depot. My roomate got some one time for a botched sealant job.
 
As far as I know there are no solvents that will dissolve silicone, but some chemicals will soften it enough to make it easier to scrape off.
 
Gasoline, benzine, or toluene will cause it to release. It softens and sort of crumbles but doesn't dissolve completely. I think kerosene (diesel) will also do it.
 
CHOMPERS;2471978;2471978 said:
Gasoline, benzine, or toluene will cause it to release. It softens and sort of crumbles but doesn't dissolve completely. I think kerosene (diesel) will also do it.
Click to expand...
which of those is the safest to use in a very small, fully enclosed tank (for lack of a better word) There's no opening the top, and the side door is just big enough to reach into...
 
Kerosene because it is less volatile. For safety, they should line up like this:
kerosene
benzine
gasoline
tolulene
For effectiveness, reverse the order. I'm not sure if gas or tolulene would work better though. All will leave an oily residue that will need to be later cleaned. Kerosene is the worse and I think tolulene will be residue free but double check that.

Lastly, carcinogen wise, tolulene is the worse and gets safer as you go up the list.
 
sweet. ty for the info. do you think something is available from home depot or such that wont be so hazardous to work with and necessary to clean later?

I know i'll have to clean pretty much anything that is strong enough to help remove silicone, but the enclosure is so tight, it'll be impossible to get everything perfect... i'd like a little leeway on the after cleaning if i can avoid it
 
loogielv;2472050; said:
sweet. ty for the info. do you think something is available from home depot or such that wont be so hazardous to work with and necessary to clean later?

I know i'll have to clean pretty much anything that is strong enough to help remove silicone, but the enclosure is so tight, it'll be impossible to get everything perfect... i'd like a little leeway on the after cleaning if i can avoid it
Click to expand...

I could have sworn Home Depot sells stuff to remove silicone. I remember
getting into a discussion with my roommate about it when he bought it. He wanted
to reseal his tank and I was worried that that stuff would eat away the the glue holding the tank together and mess with the integrity.
 
I'm not sure if or what HD or Lowes will have in terms of a specialty product. They will have the benzine and tolulene with the paint solvents. For clean up you can pour alcohol in it and swish it around. The kerosene will need to be degreased with a soap/detergent.
 
Camshaft Ramrod;2472073; said:
I could have sworn Home Depot sells stuff to remove silicone. I remember
getting into a discussion with my roommate about it when he bought it. He wanted
to reseal his tank and I was worried that that stuff would eat away the the glue holding the tank together and mess with the integrity.
Click to expand...
If they have something specially made for it, that would be ideal.
 
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