Problem with SILCA drip wax clogging

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

At the prices Silca charges for *everything* they should have sent you a replacement for free.

I suggest you call again and request the replacement. If the young lady on the phone doesn't provide satisfaction, ask to speak to a manager.

Then post back here and let us know how Silca's customer service performed.

They're also a "small" company in the grand scheme of things.. I haven't had the OP's issue but am still curious what the science-based answer is from Silca. Would make a good follow-up on their YT channel.

[mcteague]

I'm on my 2nd bottle of the SS stuff and have not had any issues with the cap. Just another data point for you.

Tim

[jadmt]

Originally Posted by NHAero

She did not offer a replacement but she sounded quite young and not really trained up yet as a customer service person for a premium brand.The web site says,

"It is our sincerest belief that products built to last should come with the finest warranty and support coverage in all of cycling."

Which is why I called first instead of posting here. But now I really want to understand why the clumps happen, and whether the next bottle sitting on my shelf will have the same issue.

I have been using Silca wax (on my second bag) and the super secret drip and really like it, but Silica CS is not very good. I ordered a bottle of the chain stripper and the bottle top was not closed and have the bottle had leaked out in the plastic mailer bag. I contacted Silica and was told it was the shippers problem and to take it up with the shipper....It was freaking Silica not the shipper who failed to screw the top on....

[verbs4us]

MY bike (and the Silca drip bottle) live a storage closet next to an uninsulated exterior wall. So in the winter, it's pretty cold in there. I routinely resorted to putting the drip bottle on the force hot-air heating vent the night before a ride. So in the morning, the fluid has low viscosity and flows with ease and no sudden blob jets. The rest of the year, I just drop the bottle into a pan of hot water for five minutes.

[weaponsgrade]

I’ve got about 1/8 bottle left of Super Secret labeled lot #3. The bottle has always had some sparse clumping of black particles that I could never shake loose no matter how hard I shook. Never tried warm water. It never clumped so much as to clog the nozzle. It doesn’t last nearly as long as a hot wax. I use it on trips and sometimes to extend the hot wax intervals.

[NHAero]

I put the bottle into a jar of 160F water last evening and let the water cool naturally. After 1-1/2 hour I came back and used it to lube a chain. It worked fine, but there's no way to know if it will clog again soon since I wasn't able to determine without pouring it out if there are still big clumps inside. TBD!

[NHAero]

I took apart the tip just now and gave both parts a thorough cleaning. I fished around in the goop in the bottle with a long 2mm hex wrench and I didn't drag up any big clumps as there were when I first posted. Certainly there are some black "grains" but I didn't find lumps. So maybe the hot water trick de-clumped the goop? I feel as though with the cleaned tip I will see before too long.

Thanks for the help. If this works, Silca should find a new CS person and educate them. The interaction I had on the phone made me feel really old (I am!) as I got frustrated with the lack of offering any suggestions or initiative - it didn't feel to me as if I was being engaged with, which is part of customer service.

I had a friend in the olden days who used to say, I'm a master at smiling and saying "F-you very much, thank you" when I can't help someone.

[zennmotion]

NFS, FTW.

[jimoots]

I had this issue with the new Silca bottle. Looks like this.



Prior to this I had a jar of the immersive super secret lube and was tipping that into my older, smaller bottles. I had a few of the old bottles that look like this:

https://i0.wp.com/baumcycles.com/wp-...4%2C1424&ssl=1

I haven't had any issue with the old bottle. So definitely seems like an issue with that nozzle thingo.

[catchourbreath]

Can you just swap the top from an old bottle?

[John H.]

I get the same thing with the nozzle on my Sriracha sauce

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by catchourbreath

Can you just swap the top from an old bottle?

The first bottle had just a tip with a hole in it, and a cap. Kinda like rim brakes and cable shifting. The new bottle (mine is half used up now) has one of the captured tops that one twists and it screws open but doesn't come off. The material has to flow within the conical annular space to the hole in the captured twisted open top. More opportunity to clog IMO. As John H. said, my hot sauce also switched to one of these tops and it clogs now too.

I think both types of bottles in Jimoots' post have the twisty cap.

[nmrt]

You must have one HOT bike!

Originally Posted by John H.

I get the same thing with the nozzle on my Sriracha sauce

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by nmrt

You must have one HOT bike!

See post #10 above

[jasflyfisher]

I'm a recent convert to the Silca wax lube, and haven't been crazy about the applicator tip. I find it dispenses either too much or too little. Cross-pollinating from fly tying where I use a needle tip applicator bottle for applying head cement, I thought something similar might work for the lube. I wasn't sure about whether the lube would work with the needle (maybe too viscous or chunky), so I purchased a set of bottles with four different sized needles. Turns out it works like a charm, and the 18g needle worked best for me. You can buy bottles with caps for the needle, but I was concerned about the lube hardening in there. After application, I pull the needle off the bottle, cap the bottle, and rinse the needle under the tap. So far, so good. Hope this might help.