Self-Fusing Silicone Rescue Tape

    

Highly praised by Sean Ragan in Make magazine, who wrote:

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Silicone Rescue Tape

In case the advent of plastic bakeware wasn't enough to convince you of the wonder of silicone polymers, I relate the following tale. Shortly after moving into my current home, an air conditioner drain line in the attic sprang a leak, and water started dribbling through the ceiling. The proper fix would have been to cut out the leaking section of pipe and replace it, a task I was not looking forward to in the Texas summer heat. After complaining to a fellow chemist, he suggested I try silicone tape as a temporary fix.

Four years later, that "temporary" repair, which took all of 45 seconds to complete, is still going strong. Apart from a bit of dust, there's no sign of degradation in the tape, and I'll be surprised if it doesn't make it another four years at least.

  

Rescue tape comes in relatively short rolls, which is necessary because it's about 1mm thick and requires backing on both sides to keep it from sticking to itself, which it does almost instantly. If you wait a minute or so and then try to pull the bond apart, the tape itself will fail before the joint does. It's soft and flexible and highly resistant to heat, cold, water, and oil, and it can be used on any kind of material, clean or dirty.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

12-foot-long x 1-inch-wide roll in a variety of colors: $9.99-$12.11.