What's the best way to store inner tubes?

[steve s]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

... I've seen "American" made military inner tubes stored in unsealed boxes like the ones you have for over 20 years with no problems with folding or being exposed to the atmosphere.

Have no doubt they could have endured ozone, artillery & rifle gunsmoke, concentrated corn fed European cow pee, severe freeze/thaw cycles, concentrated poisonous mustard gas, plus whatever else one could find on a military battle field. ...

I too have no doubt about rubber surviving open storage AWAY FROM ELECTRICAL MOTORS OR OTHER SPARKING OR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AIR, cow pee, and freeze/thaw cycles--the latter is only an issue for aqueous systems. Ozone, however, WILL eat rubber, no matter where or by whom it was made. The natural sources of ozone in our part of the atmosphere are UV light and lightening storms. Its half-life is only about 1/2 hour so the natural concentration is extremely low, as it converts back from O3 to O2.

According to the EPA, atmospheric ozone "is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of sunlight. Emissions from industrial facilities and electric utilities, motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents are some of the major sources of NOx and VOC."

My college room mate who grew up in Claremont told me they had to buy new windshield wipers every time it rained because the rubber decomposed in between rainfalls. In addition to eating rubber, ozone is REALLY hard on living tissues, which, of course, is why the EPA is so motivated to limit NOx and VOC (like dribbly gasoline fillers). Don't know if that qualifies as part of the idiotic government intervention you mention, but I'm all for it!

Steve

[H. L. Chauvin]

American made rubber?

One can witness & see rubber gaskets still serviceable & pliable on 1946 Frigidaire refrigerators -- right next to the refrigerator's ozone producing electric motors.


Some may remember 1940's filling stations with enclosed store rooms, with no ventilation, where they stored tires & tubes collocated with filling station's air compressor with 5 h. p. electric motors seriously pumping out ozone.

Similar environments at many military installations could be witnessed Worldwide.



Some may remember tires & tubes stored & collocated inside 1940's vehicle repair bays, all exposed to the motor vehicle exhausts of several vehicles; gasoline vapors everywhere when gasoline was used for cleaning parts & grease.


In my opinion, U. S. Government EPA philosophy & regulations, EPA permit regulations, over taxation, mandated employee benefits & insurance coverage will continue to make us buy "more & more" May Pop foreign made tubes & poisonous Chinese gypsum board, (i. e., sheet rock).

As we speak, we are in high gear, full speed ahead.

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by steve s

My college room mate who grew up in Claremont told me they had to buy new windshield wipers every time it rained because the rubber decomposed in between rainfalls. In addition to eating rubber, ozone is REALLY hard on living tissues, which, of course, is why the EPA is so motivated to limit NOx and VOC (like dribbly gasoline fillers). Don't know if that qualifies as part of the idiotic government intervention you mention, but I'm all for it!

Steve

That's interesting. I get two years minimum out of wiper blades on both modern cars. Maybe that thin layer of "California smog" we often get here is protecting us from all that bad stuff!

[wi0v]

I've stored rubber bands (used to hold wings on Model Airplanes) that had oil on them in a container with oil Dry (Cat Litter) for months and years. They come out with all the oil gone and in perfect condition. Don't know why it wouldn't work with Tubes.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Anyone here close to the "Northener Boot Company" where it appears they are holding on as a U. S. Manufacturer of rubbber boots in Illinois, U. S. A. -- supposedly "LaCross" is currently solely importing from China.

Maybe someone could ask "Northerner" to crank out a few 19" & 21" tubes during their lunch hours.

Nothing like good old U. S. tubes that could last over 40 years, (even with 30 or so nail hole patches in each), rolling through mud holes laden with horse pee & exposed to an ample supply of highly toxic horse gas along the route.

Of course, these rubber material creations were developed by simple Americans prior to our highly scientific EPA rules.

[700rpm]

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Things may have been wonderful in 1940, and innertubes made out of real rubber might have had a better shelf life than what we have now, but that doesn't address what I'm dealing with today, in 2012: i.e., innertubes made from butyl rubber. This isn't a political discussion or decision. I just wanted some suggestions on how to store my tubes for a couple months.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi 700:

Appears:

1. Fill partially with air to avoid folds; &,

2. keep away from mice & squirrels; &,

3. wrap in large opaque plastic garbage bags to avoid sunlight & harmful vapors; &,

4. keep fingers crossed previous owner(s) did same.

Hope this helps.

[steve s]

Originally Posted by Marco Tahtaras

That's interesting. I get two years minimum out of wiper blades on both modern cars. Maybe that thin layer of "California smog" we often get here is protecting us from all that bad stuff!

Marco,
The guy's wiper blade experience was from about 50 years ago. Apparently, things are better now. I know that the ozone alert threshold is now less than 1/5 of what it was in 1955. The "good" protective ozone is up in the stratosphere and is not linked to the "bad" ozone that is part of the smog near the surface.

Here's a list of ozone concerns at time of 1988 standards revision:

2.

Most Relevant Effects to be Prevented Include:

a.

Short-Term Exposures

• Pulmonary function decrements and localized lung edema in humans and animals.
• A risk to public health from ozone exposure is implied by alterations in pulmonary morphology and host defense in animals.

b.

Long-Term Exposures

• Risk to public health implied by altered connective tissue metabolism and altered pulmonary morphology in animals after long-term exposures and pulmonary function decrements in chronically exposed humans.

c.

Welfare Effects

• Yield loss in important crops and predicted economic loss to growers and consumers.
• Injury and damage to native plants and potential changes in species diversity and number.
• Damage to rubber and elastomers and to paints, fabric, dyes, pigments, and plastics.

d.

Comments

• The standard is intended to prevent adverse health effects.
• The standard, when achieved, will not prevent all injury to crops and other types of vegetation, but was intended to place an acceptable upper limit on the amount of yield and economic loss, as well as on adverse environmental impacts.

700 rpm:

Apologies for the semi-hijacking of your thread. If butyl rubber really is more ozone resistant as SAJ reports, and if your tubes really are made of it, it sounds like you don't have much to worry about for storage times you're asking about.

However, I too have been impressed with how poorer quality modern inner tubes are, for whatever reason. So, if you wind up having problems, they may have nothing to do with the storage--may just be crappy tubes.

Steve