How and When to use PM Silicone’s Mineral Spirits
In 2020 PM was proud to announce that we started carrying mineral spirits. This product has been great for our contractors as they can now get everything they need for a silicone coating job in one place – from start to finish. Since we started carrying this product, however, we have received some questions about its use and application. This blog is dedicated to explaining more about our mineral spirits and how they work.
A useful blog on abutterflyhouse.com states, “Water is often called the ‘universal solvent,’ because it dissolves just about everything. Except oils. And that’s where mineral spirits come in. Mineral spirits are a solvent that dissolves oil.” Because of this, mineral spirits have two general uses with our silicone roof coatings: thinning silicone and cleaning equipment.
Thinning
If you are spraying silicone in cold temperatures, the coating can become more viscous. This can be hard on your spray equipment. Sometimes aged packings in the spray equipment can struggle with silicone as well. Enter – PM Mineral Spirits. Silicone is a thixotropic material meaning it becomes less viscous the more you stir it. Add some mineral spirits to the stirring process to thin it and it will pass through a spray rig more fluidly. If you are using mineral spirits to thin your silicone make sure you are using a 10:1 ratio. For instance – if you are trying to thin 10 gallons of silicone, use no more than 1 gallon of mineral spirits.
Always keep in mind that the more mineral spirits you use to thin silicone, the more silicone will flash off in the curing process. Always try to use as little mineral spirits for thinning as possible.
Cleaning
As stated above, mineral spirits also act as a great cleaning solvent for silicone application equipment. Once cured, silicone can be hard to clean and can wreak havoc on spray equipment. If left in spray equipment hoses, you could possibly have to replace the hosing. Mineral spirits can break through the tough silicone, making the cleaning process easier. Using 20 gallons of mineral spirits for every 250 feet of hose, you can pump the spirits through the machinery to clean it efficiently. You can also leave mineral spirits in the pump and hoses when in storage. This will prevent coating set up in the machine.
If you have additional questions about thinning our silicone or cleaning equipment, you can reach out to your Regional Manager here for more details.
If you are interested in purchasing our mineral spirits, you can login into our customer portal here!
