If products are used in wet areas like kitchens, bathrooms, swimming pools, slaughterhouses, cooling rooms, storage- and production rooms for food fungal growth on these products can occur. As a result of temperature, humidity, remains of soap and traces of fungi in the air fungi can start growing on wet surfaces and will be difficult to remove after some time. This can happen for instance on sealant joints. Fungi can develop at a humidity of 60% and even grow faster at higher humidity’s.

Prevention of fungal growth
A good ventilation / climate control and prevention of soap-residues can minimise the fungal growth. This will however not be possible in every situation and make the use of fungi static sealants in certain areas necessary.

The working of fungestatic sealants
Fungestatic sealants do contain an addition of a fungicide. This fungicide does very slightly dissolve in water by which it is spread over the sealant surface.
Traces of fungi that will settle on the surface of the sealant will be restricted in their growth and not be able to develop any further. Because of the slight solubility in water the fungicide will leach from the sealant in time by which the fungestatic properties will be lost. This will even be accelerated if the areas are cleaned with warm water or water under high pressure. By using chemical cleaning agents or dissolving agents for grease the fungicide can be leached out of the sealant in a faster way as well. If aggressive detergents are used (specially chlorinated detergents like bleach or sodium-hypo chloride) the fungicide can be attacked and become useless.

Specifications
The fungestatic properties of sealants are tested according to ISO 846 A+B. In this test a number of the most common fungi are used. In practise however it is possible that fungi that are not used in the test will still lead to fungal growth on the sealant.

Summary
The use of fungestatic sealants in practise does normally mean that fungal growth on the sealant surface is prevented or minimised. However, depending on the circumstances in respect to cleaning or traces of different fungi present in the area, it is not excluded that after some time fungal growth could occur on the sealant surface. For this reason it is not possible to guarantee or give a time estimation on the performance of the fungal properties of the sealant.

Warranty
Siroflex warrants that the product complies, within its shelf life, to its specification
The liability shall in no case exceed the amount fixed in our Condition of Sale.
In no event Siroflex is liable for any kind of incidental or consequential damages.

Liability
All supplied information is the result of our tests and experience and is of general nature. However they do not imply any liability. It is the responsibility of the user to verify by his own tests if the product is suitable for the application.