How Do You Shrink a Rubber Gasket

Fill a pot up with hot water. Place the pot of water on the stove top. … Drop the rubber seal into the pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Remove the seal with tongs. … Install the rubber seal to check the fit. … Use a heat gun to shrink rubber seals that need to shrink in place.

Is there any way to shrink a rubber gasket?

Rubber is a common elastic substance, used everywhere from gloves to gaskets. Like an old T-shirt that has seen many runs through the dryer, rubber shrinks when exposed to heat. You can easily shrink rubber using hot water or by blowing hot air onto it.

Does heating rubber make it shrink?

When you heat a rubber or any polymer, the chain of atoms expands and straightens out. This straightening out allows the polymer chains in the material to take up less space as they can now lay flat and organized on top and on side of each other. Since the polymer chains are more compact now, it effectively shrinks.