Sealant Shelf Life

[.RJ]

Ran into a bit of a weird situation the past few days.

I've got a bottle of Stan's, probably about a year old that was getting low, which has been my go-to forever, sitting in a garage cabinet. I shake it up before use and has been fine, as it always is. Thursday I mount 2 new to me tires on 1 gravel bike, a new conti on the rear of my other gravel bike and top off the front with sealant while its on the stand as I noticed the rear was dry. All the tires aired up nice with a floor pump and popped into place, the beads looked seated all the way around. I was feeling pretty proud of my productivity

Friday morning every one of these tires is flat, and I aired up the 'other gravel bike' and rode it anyways. Neither tire would hold air and I ended up topping off on the way until I ran out of charitable bike shops and co2 and had to call for neutral support.

So I pulled all of the tires off, cleaned them out and remounted everything with Orange Seal. Everything is holding air just fine, not even any pressure loss overnight.

Anyone else have sealant go bad sitting in the bottle?

[AngryScientist]

Where was it stored? Like beer, I dont think it freezes well.

[MikeD]

Sealant does have a shelf life. I'd check with Stans. However, did you rotate the tire and move it all around and shake it to distribute the sealant? Also, natural latex sealants like Stans are not compatible with CO2.

I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma; should I just top off my sealant every other month like I do, or just replace it? I had a flat and almost the whole 3 oz. was spewed out of a 45 psi gravel tire before it sealed (Orange Seal regular). Is the sealant in a tire (still liquid) any different than being stored in a bottle in this regard?

Edit: Stan's says this: What is the sealant shelf-life? Stan's Sealant does not have an expiration date and will last many years in the bottle. Sealant bottles should be kept tightly sealed, and stored in a cool, dry place. Sealing crystals can settle, so be sure to shake the bottle thoroughly before use.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Ran into a bit of a weird situation the past few days.

I've got a bottle of Stan's, probably about a year old that was getting low, which has been my go-to forever, sitting in a garage cabinet. I shake it up before use and has been fine, as it always is. Thursday I mount 2 new to me tires on 1 gravel bike, a new conti on the rear of my other gravel bike and top off the front with sealant while its on the stand as I noticed the rear was dry. All the tires aired up nice with a floor pump and popped into place, the beads looked seated all the way around. I was feeling pretty proud of my productivity

Friday morning every one of these tires is flat, and I aired up the 'other gravel bike' and rode it anyways. Neither tire would hold air and I ended up topping off on the way until I ran out of charitable bike shops and co2 and had to call for neutral support.

So I pulled all of the tires off, cleaned them out and remounted everything with Orange Seal. Everything is holding air just fine, not even any pressure loss overnight.

Anyone else have sealant go bad sitting in the bottle?

Sealant has a shelf life. A year, maybe two, I think. I don't exactly know what happens when it goes "bad", but it does have a shelf life
From Orange Seal (what I use): We recommend a 1-year shelf life, opened or unopened. We suggest buying what you need for the season then start fresh at the beginning of the next season.

[catchourbreath]

I've seen a few things happen with older sealant that kinda speak to the same issue. It seems to separate to some extent and no longer a homogeneous liquid. Even when shaked up I think it loses it.
I have specialized sealant that's about a little over a year old stored indoors, seems to have done that with my last puncture (all spray no seal)

[Dave]

I've been using orange seal endurance that expired 12/23, all year. I haven't noticed any problem with losing air this year. It's been about 2 years since my last puncture.

[BeRad]

I’ve had Stans separate in the tire and then it wouldn’t seal a puncture. Opened it up and the liquid was water while the latex had solidified into stanimals. The same product still in the bottle was perfectly fine (18 months old). The sealant was in the tire about 2 months.

I’m still using this sealant in other tires and it’s fine.

[HenryA]

I think something changed with Stans’ formulation. I noticed it around the pandemic times. Prior to that I never had a problem with Stans. I’ve switched to Panaracer sealant and have better results.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by HenryA

I think something changed with Stans’ formulation. I noticed it around the pandemic times. Prior to that I never had a problem with Stans. I’ve switched to Panaracer sealant and have better results.

Now that I think about it, I did have one puncture that didnt seal up with stans on my mountain bike a few months back - needed to use a plug - I wonder if the whole bottle was bad and I just got lucky with punctures. And one of the reasons I swapped tires on the first gravel bike, was that one of them had gone flat sitting in the garage and not holding air so I figured it was as good a time as any. Hmmm.

I dont think I saved the Stan's bottle to check for a date code but I'm gonna write the date on this orange seal bottle now.