Hello. I am trying to find a food grade spigot that doesn’t have silicone and EPDM gaskets inside. I suppose the outer gaskets can be replaced, but the O-rings can be a pain. I tried searching the web and nothing came up. So, is there a spigot that uses natural rubber or any other biodegradable material for its gaskets? Thank you in advance for any response and sorry if I posted this in the wrong “sub-lemmy”.
In my home repair experience, if you’re not an expert in a field and you’re having trouble finding something specific, there’s probably a good reason for that.
If nobody’s making what you’re looking for, there’s a good chance that it’s not safe or legal.
Or it’s not really worth it financially, I suppose. I mean, my initial idea was to find an all-metal pump dispenser. There are none and I think they would be both safe and legal?
My guess is if they made one without the gaskets, it would leak.
I have been trying to get my hands on some pump dispensers from like 100 years ago. I am curious how they used to be made then. Obviously no plastic, but perhaps rubber was most likely used.
I know they had a leather flap that worked as the pump check valve… likely the same for gaskgets. It would have been tanned but not treated (rawhide?)
I’ll obviously never use leather for any future products. I did have graphite in mind, but it’s still on the drawing board (another project). Right now I think I will have to give up and rely on the food-grade spigots that are available on the market. I would honestly make them myself from scratch but the investment required is astronomical for me right now. Maybe in the future.
Everything is toxic, it’s just a matter of dosage.
Also, there are plenty of rubber O rings, gaskets, and bushings between your tap and your water source - using anything else in your spigot will make absolutely no difference.
Unless you use something biodegradable. Then it would be an E-coli farm AND “toxic”.
I actually wasn’t aware of the natural rubber vulnerability to e-coli… And the spigot will be placed in a highly humid environment. So I guess back to the drawing board.
Is silicone toxic?
Though non-toxic, it seems liquid silicone can block the bood pathways in your body if it gets in your system. Also, industrial grade (and cheaper) silicone can contain toxic additives, which has been causing a stir lately.
However, accidentally ingesting a tiny amount of non-liquid food grade silicone particulates shouldn’t raise any concerns, but I see why op might still be wary about it in a spigot.
To op: Have you considered getting a spigot with silicone o-rings and buying third party natural rubber o-rings to replace them with?
Edit: Ah, just reread that you did for the gaskets. Hm. Lemme see if I can find anything.
Edit 2: I found a site selling natural rubber gasket material. You may have to cut it to size:
Edit 3: Natural rubber spigot o-rings doesn’t seem to yield many results, but I got some hits for natural rubber faucet o-rings. Maybe try there? Hope you find what you’re looking for.
Thank you for your very comprehensive response. I am currently trying to replace the outer silicone gaskets with cork, with mixed results, which is why I hoped that natural rubber may do the trick. I also did see that the inner O-rings were made of EPDM, so I hoped that those could be replaced with something better for the environment.
I hope the word “natural” in rubber doesn’t cause the illusion that it is safe.
Natural rubber is pretty bad if you are allergic to it, and repeated exposure increases risk of developing allergy.
But that’s minor anyway. The process used to create/extract the material and create the product can add toxicants for both rubber and silicone.
Then check for degradability. Anything that degrades develops cracks and pores, i.e. bacteria breeding grounds.
Make sure you pick “food grade” or “cosmetic grade”, and either pick should be perfectly safe.
