How to treat the asbestos in the water jacket?

[Balder]

I remember somebody here had a recipe for neutralizing the asbestos in the water cooler jacket. I believe it involved some sort of glue - can anybody help?

 

-Balder

[DARIVS]

I have years of experience with replacing asbestos and non-asbestos seal packing in steam valves aboard steamships.  Asbestos used in the packing for the seals in is generally not dangerous unless it is allowed to dry, and it becomes friable.  That is, the packing generates microscopic fibers that allowed to become airborne, which is a threat to your lungs and could cause cancer with enough exposure. 

Usually the grease used in the braided asbestos packing material will hold the fibers such that they are not at great risk of becoming airborne.  Disturbing the packing mechanically, such as when cutting the old packing out while replacing it, could release some fibers into the air, and as such, you should do that outside and wear a mask rated for asbestos to eliminate all chance of inhaling the fibers.  Many of us have replaced the original packing with nitrile O-rings in our Maxim guns.  Removing the original, worn out packing and replacing it with modern asbestos-free packing rope material or heat resistant rubber O-rings is what most do to eliminate the risks from asbestos.  Wet asbestos generally does not emit the tiny fibers which are a health threat.  Dry asbestos does when disturbed.  Abating (sealing in) the asbestos fibers in the packing by excapsulating the material in a coating or saturating it with glue could remove all the flexibility from the packing, making the seals ineffective, and thus they may leak jacket water.  The packing needs to be flexible, and under just enough compression in the packing gland (the space where the packing resides) in order to seal the water in the jacket, but not be under compression so high as to cause excess friction that would slow the barrel's ability to move easily and allow the gun's action to operate smoothly reliably. 

The small amount of original asbestos in the packing rings of my MG-08/15 which is old and trapped by grease saturated throughout the packing, and the fact that it is sealed within the confines of the glands in the gun, and the fact that water from the jacket also saturates the packing while the gun is in use and prevents it from drying out and becoming friable reduces the risk of asbestos exposure to a low level in my opinion.  The only way to be sure is to use expensive detection equipment to measure air sampled neat the gun while operating to determine the actual exposure level.

Edited April 2 by DARIVS

[Balder]

Sorry if I didn't explain well enough - this is the cover I'm talking about. I need to secure the asbestos in it. 

-Balder

[RoscoeTurner]

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