Need a surface mount seal for chemical cabinet door

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the construction of a mini chemical cabinet intended to minimize odors in a garage. Participants explore various sealing materials, ventilation strategies, and safety considerations related to storing chemicals and fuels.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions the necessity of using expensive chemical-resistant seals, suggesting that standard materials might suffice if only fumes are present, but raises concerns about the longevity of such materials.
  • Another participant recommends venting the cabinet to the outside to prevent vapor saturation and suggests keeping the cabinet cool to reduce evaporation rates.
  • A suggestion is made to use silicone seals due to their low chemical reactivity, along with a method to manage pressure inside the cabinet using a P-trap.
  • Alternative ideas include placing the cabinet outside to dissipate odors more effectively and using fridge-door type magnetic seals combined with a venting system.
  • Concerns are raised about the safety of enclosing volatile substances, with a participant emphasizing the risks of creating a combustible gas mixture in a sealed environment and advocating for proper ventilation as a best practice.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express multiple competing views regarding the best approach to manage odors and safety in the cabinet, with no consensus reached on the optimal sealing material or cabinet design.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention potential regulatory requirements for ventilation in cabinets holding hazardous materials, indicating that local laws may influence design choices.

croooowe
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TL;DR
Trying to build a mini cabinet to hold chemicals and small engine fuel containers to minimize odor. What type of seal for the door will work?
I want to build a mini chemical cabinet to try to eliminate odors in my garage as my wife thinks the car interior now smells. The chemical resistant rubber strip sealant is crazy expensive, but as the intended use will just be fumes with no actual chemical or fuel contact to the seals, can I use standard, or at least a cheaper material for a surface mounted strip sealer around the door? Will the fumes be enough to breakdown the material of non-chemical resistant seals over time? If so how long might a standard rubber seal last?
 
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Welcome to PF.

Maybe vent the cabinet to the outside of the building. Without a vent, the air in the cabinet will become saturated, and so diffuse more quickly, into and through the door seals.

Keep the cabinet as cool as possible, by placing it low down, on or near the floor, on the coolest side of the building. That will reduce the evaporation rate of the contents. Fuel vapour is a hazard in a closed garage because it settles low down in the space.

Consider a minimum power extractor fan. The concentration of vapour in the cabinet could be reduced by a continuous flow from the garage, through the cabinet, to the outside of the building. Vapour in the garage space would also be removed by that extractor fan, through the cabinet door gap, or through a vent in the cabinet. Better cabinet door seals would reduce that advantageous through flow.
 
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croooowe said:
I want to build a mini chemical cabinet to try to eliminate odors in my garage
Can you instead just place a small storage shed/cabinet outside in the shade next to your house? That will keep the odors out of your garage, and any odors will quickly dissipate outside once released from the shed.

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Fridge-door type magnetic seals ? Plus cabinet vent to outside with riser chimney and 'cap'...
 
croooowe said:
Trying to build a mini cabinet to hold chemicals and small engine fuel containers to minimize odor.
It may depend on the country and the local regulations, but as I recall, proper ventilation might be required for cabinets holding hazardous chemicals.

As it was hinted before, what an airtight cabinet do is to retain all the 'stuff' inside and blow it all in your face when you open it.

I too recommend an outdor unit, or at least outdoor ventilation.
 
An anecdote---my wife tends to get bothered by minutiae when I make a purchase she doesn't agree with or didn't know about. "Your new mower smells like gasoline and makes the garage stink" is something I've heard before, and you can insert "pesticide sprayer", "weedeater", "diesel generator', or "new gas can" with the same complaint. I only mention this a little tongue in cheek as maybe the issue isn't the odor...

As far as the technical, trying to enclose volatiles in a cabinet is probably not a great idea, especially if flammability is a concern. Eventually in a 'sealed' cabinet..... the vapor pressures from all the leakages will--eventually--equilibrate. This can give you a combustible gas mixture in the cabinet, depending on what is stored, the temperature, and if not climate-controlled is fairly unpredictable, especially with mixed storage.

Generally, ventilation is the easiest cure for volatiles to prevent the accumulation of vapors to hazardous, or ignitable levels..

Ventilation may not just be the fix, it could be be regulatory or best practice/insurance required, depending on the location--all the flammable cabinets I've purchased in the last 15 years were ventilated and the vents had flame arrestors in them to prevent internal and external fires propagating.

I'd suggest outdoors with no sealing using commercially available cabinets, if possible.
 
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