Author Topic: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?  (Read 5155 times)

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Offline Old Tele man

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"NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« on: July 16, 2013, 10:24:47 PM »
Has anybody tried spraying the inside of their Davis rain catcher with this stuff, "NeverWet," by Rust-Olium?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZrjXSsfxMQ

UPDATE: further reading finds this stuff to be a single-application product, because UV kills it (causing sprayed surface to flake off and peel). So, maybe it's NOT so good for this application after all...due to the constant solar/UV bombardment.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2013, 04:04:28 PM by Old Tele man »
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Offline DanS

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2013, 01:36:29 AM »
That may be similar to a Teflon/Silicone (dry type) that I always wondered about. This one says it's o.k. for and protects plastic. :?:

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2013, 09:41:49 AM »
Lemon Pledge? :)

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Offline moehoward4

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2013, 09:49:36 AM »
How about some plain old car wax???
3 Davis set-ups...which one ya wanna talk about? And I got ALL my manuals....

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2013, 10:24:54 AM »
Whatever you use/test just don't use anything with petroleum or acetone in it(maybe other chemicals to be careful with, too?)...those can degrade plastic.

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Offline Aardvark

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2013, 10:35:12 AM »
And you want to do this , why?   I have never,ever seen any water holding on to dear life in my rain collector, ever..

The only way I could imagine is if your collector wasn't level. you have to make sure it is level, one  of those periodic checks.   That is one of the reasons I am against mounting the whole thing high on the house, unless you can get to it easily.

Offline hwcorder

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2013, 12:45:02 PM »
Anyone who had a Weather Monitor II back in the 90's may remember that Davis actually recommended a product called Elmers Slide-All to coat the tipping bucket mechanism. They claimed this increased the accuracy of the rain gauge by letting all water drain out of the bucket when it tips down thus not weighing down that side.  Davis also recommended spraying the inside of the funnel to increase accuracy at low rainfall rates.

Slide-All is a spray on teflon based coating that takes only about a minute to dry.  I tried it and found it to work very well for the first several rainfall events.  Any water coming into contact with the sprayed surface would completely bead up and slide right off the bucket when tipped.  However after awhile depending on rainfall frequency the teflon surface would break down and actually impede water trying to drain out of the bucket.  In the long run I found that recoating was too much hassle for the improvement (if any) in accuracy I was getting.

I have also heard of people coating the inside of the funnels with Rain-X but I believe the best thing you can do to keep the accuracy of your gauge is to keep it clean from dust, debris, and droppings.

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2013, 12:50:47 PM »
<snip>

I have also heard of people coating the inside of the funnels with Rain-X but I believe the best thing you can do to keep the accuracy of your gauge is to keep it clean from dust, debris, and droppings.

Well said about keeping the bucket clean...sure beats having to "wax the ol' bucket" every week! ;)

Beware of RainX...it's bad for plastics.

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Offline Jumpin Joe

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2013, 12:52:10 PM »
After reading all of the posts... i decided to leave well enough alone and just clean it regularly.
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Offline Skywatch

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2013, 12:52:25 PM »
Fortunately for me I'm well known in the professional car wash industry and wouldn't be hard for me to get my hands on the industrial strength wax & coat. I wonder if I applied this to the anemometer and wind vane if it would prevent Ice? I doubt it though.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

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Offline Intheswamp

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2013, 02:10:57 PM »
Jumpin Joe, I'd have to agree with you, just keep it clean.  I've been doing a walk-around each morning before I had to work and the gauge has been clean for the last week or so...I almost didn't go by the ISS this morning, but I did.  Blueberries are through with so it looks like maybe some poke sallet is riping up.  :roll:

Skywatch, do ya'll get a lot of ice where you're at?

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Offline Skywatch

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2013, 02:33:00 PM »
In winter we do. From December to March freezing rain and sleet are a menace. As a matter of fact back when I purchased my Vantage Pro2 about 3 years ago the day it was supposed to arrive it sleeted. The package was delayed a week. The day after I finally received the weather station we got hit again with ice and sleet. Thing is around here it's ice pellets mixed with rain then the temperature drops below freezing and everything solidifies. On some occasions the ice can get up to 5" thick and it coats everything. So believe it or not here in Texas we do get some pretty bad ice storms.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

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Offline Intheswamp

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2013, 02:38:07 PM »
Wow.  That would destroy the area around here.  When we get our blizzard every few years (4-16 inches) I can hear the sound of pine limbs snapping in the woods behind the house for days!  A 5" coating of ice?...please, keep over your way!  :shock:

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Offline schaffer970

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2013, 02:41:43 PM »
Kind of a goofy review, but it shows what the limitations are.  Not sure I would be using it just yet.

http://gizmodo.com/neverwet-review-the-magical-water-repelling-spray-is-812797429

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #14 on: July 17, 2013, 02:51:05 PM »
I experimented with Rain - X on CoCoRaHS gauge... can't tell it made any difference over a clean gauge...
 


Offline Skywatch

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #15 on: July 17, 2013, 03:08:57 PM »
Wow.  That would destroy the area around here.  When we get our blizzard every few years (4-16 inches) I can hear the sound of pine limbs snapping in the woods behind the house for days!  A 5" coating of ice?...please, keep over your way!  :shock:

Ed
Well 5" on the ground. On the trees and other structures about a cm. Enough to stop an anemometer in it's tracks and render a rain gauge useless unless one has a heater.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

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Offline SlowModem

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #16 on: July 17, 2013, 04:25:07 PM »
Fortunately for me I'm well known in the professional car wash industry and wouldn't be hard for me to get my hands on the industrial strength wax & coat.

I love that song!   get your car washed today..........la la la
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Offline Jumpin Joe

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #17 on: July 17, 2013, 04:37:45 PM »
Where can I get some of what you're smokin'?  :-)
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Offline Skywatch

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #18 on: July 17, 2013, 04:55:57 PM »
I can see if I can get a bottle of stuff from my friends at the wash I worked at. If it works I could probably give some away here to those who want it.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

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Offline W3DRM

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #19 on: October 03, 2013, 12:47:09 AM »
I just bought some Never Wet at my local Home Depot ($18.95). I'm going to try it on my DirecTV dish to see if it will help keep the snow off of it this winter. If that works, I may try it on my rain bucket.

The label says it's good for satellite dishes to keep rain, snow and ice off. We shall see... I'm more worried about how quickly it breaks down from the UV exposure with a constant (south-facing) satellite dish.

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Offline W3DRM

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #20 on: December 10, 2013, 01:00:40 PM »
We had 4" of very dry, fluffy snow a few days ago. None of it stuck to the face of my DirecTV satellite antenna. The snow just slid off. Will have to wait to see how it does when we get a wet snow as the dry stuff just blows around and doesn't stick to much of anything.
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Offline DaleReid

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #21 on: December 10, 2013, 03:49:36 PM »
Did it leave the dish feeling really slippery?
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Offline W3DRM

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Re: "NeverWet" by Rust-Olium for rain catcher?
« Reply #22 on: December 10, 2013, 04:40:06 PM »
No, I didn't notice any difference in the feel before and after applying it. A stream of water from my hose just beadsd-up and ran off.
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