food grade silicone sealant

[Alan277]

I got my hands on an older galvanized extractor, and upon cleaning it up to be painted on the outside and camcoat on the inside, I noticed that it had a bead of some type of caulk on the exterior of the bottom. I am assuming it had some type of leak. The inside looks fine..no rust or deterioration so I was thinking of doing a food grade silicone on the inside before I camcote. Would camcote stick to the silicone? Or would it be better to silicone the exterior?

[gunter62]

Most paint will not adhere to 100% silicone caulk, I don't know about Camcote. If it were me, I'd just caulk the exterior and coat the inside.

[eqnox]

Check your local laws. A lot of states will not allow you to use the old galvanized extractors on honey you plan to sell. A lot of them use lead solder, which since honey is acidic will leach the lead out.

[Alan277]

I'm not planning on selling honey, just for myself, friends and family. I'm also not worried about the effects of the galvanized metal as the honey will not be stored in it. Galvanized has been used for many years before stainless steel, and people were fine. Personally, I'm more concerned about the water at my house that is supplied through lead pipes.

[beemandan]

I'm more concerned about the water at my house that is supplied through lead pipes.

I'd be pretty worried about that too.....

[Intheswamp]

I'd be pretty worried about that too.....

Uh, yeah,..me too.

As for putting silicone caulking on the inside of the extractor I think I would rather clean the crevices inside the extractor very good first. Then apply the camcote, making sure I got all the crevices filled/coated really good and then finish coating the interior surface. I think the silicone will stick to the camcote better than the camcote to the silicone. You may not even need the silicone once the camcote does it's sealing.

Ed