Tips for testing pva in water

[B B]

Tip 1  You must use only cold water as to replicate the water temperature of the lake at this time of year, so you must, and I can’t emphasise this to much BE very quick in testing pva solid bags in the bath as you will freeze your  🥶 🌰 🌰

Tip 2  When testing pva bags in the bath I recommend the use of barbless hooks … just in case for the obvious reasons 😏

Tip 3 The use of oils when testing  pva bags in the bath is also strongly NOT recommended as in a blink of an eye you could be impaled on one of the taps … or if unlucky both taps  🤔

Heres a pic of a bag in a kitchen bowl with 2 and 4mm pellets and a bit of ground bait with a small wafter with half a syringe of sticky baits cloudy krill liquid 

 

 

[elmoputney]

That's a bite, nice bag 😎

 

[salokcinnodrog]

10 hours ago, B B said:

Tip 1  You must use only cold water as to replicate the water temperature of the lake at this time of year, so you must, and I can’t emphasise this to much BE very quick in testing pva solid bags in the bath as you will freeze your  🥶 🌰 🌰

Tip 2  When testing pva bags in the bath I recommend the use of barbless hooks … just in case for the obvious reasons 😏

Tip 3 The use of oils when testing  pva bags in the bath is also strongly NOT recommended as in a blink of an eye you could be impaled on one of the taps … or if unlucky both taps  🤔

Heres a pic of a bag in a kitchen bowl with 2 and 4mm pellets and a bit of ground bait with a small wafter with half a syringe of sticky baits cloudy krill liquid 

 

 

I used to do that to test my PVA as well, mesh, bags and string.

I also test them in the margins in both summer and winter.

 

Not all PVA is the same, there are some good brands, some 'ok' brands and some that just stick them in a hot wash in the machine and they still won't dissolve...

I stick to particular brands of PVA wherever possible because I have tested them.

Kryston bags and string, definitely good, along with mesh by Gardner and ESP. 

However after an incident with Nash PVA bags 10+ years ago that did go through a 40⁰ wash without dissolving, I won't touch that brand.

We also have the joys of direct Internet sales, so if you use a supplier on ebay, check and test it, and I would recommend, even if you use the same seller, test every purchase. I know some batches will come from different manufacturers, look and feel the same, but taste different and have different dissolve times.

 

[B B]

1 hour ago, salokcinnodrog said:

Not all PVA is the same

I agree with that, a mate of a mate purchased 100 bags off the Bay, when he was in my swim we compared our bags in the shallow water and his literary exploded on contact with the water, he was gob smacked,  I suggested bin them or double bag and dip them in a bit of oil…but Iv been using them all year he says   🙄

[snowmanstevo]

Buy cheap buy twice Id of had to of binned them would of done my confidence no end of damage sitting behind static indicators 🤣🤣🤣

[Golden Paws]

I've got some PVA string that withers within a second on contact with water and pulls the baits together tightly and they take an age to come free. Instead of using it with baits an inch apart, I've had to give them at least 3 inches apart which makes it more expensive.

[B B]

2 hours ago, Golden Paws said:

I've got some PVA string that withers within a second on contact with water and pulls the baits together tightly and they take an age to come free. Instead of using it with baits an inch apart, I've had to give them at least 3 inches apart which makes it more expensive.

I like to use the 5mm tape 

 

 

 

[newmarket]

On 02/05/2022 at 13:52, B B said:

I like to use the 5mm tape 

 

 

 

Hurts me to say it cos old habits die hard but this is good stuff.

Reading this thread the other day reminded me that I have a cotteril of PVA stuff that hasn’t seen the light of day since 2016 and that I need to test it .

Nothing too elaborate, I was only concerned if the PVA actually melted or not .

My son is a wannabe junior Geologist and has a lovely collection of stones and Geodes that I used  , purely to get the Bags & mesh to the bottom of the sink asap .

The Korda string and especially the tape as above is still perfect .

Most of the Solid bags and Tubes melted ok apart from the knots that did come away from the main body of the bags but I noticed the Gardner tubes in particular and some others ( I had many different brands) left a almost silver shiny coating on the bottom of the sink in and around the stones . It was a couple of millimetres deep at a guess and really stood out .

Most of the bags also left a sticky residue on their contents , still sticky even after drying thoroughly with a tea towel .

Nearly all of my mesh old AND new is fine though the knots on the old stuff took considerably longer to disappear.

Ive thrown all my old solid bags in the bin and this year I’ll only be using small mesh bags & sticks . The PVAProducts mesh , narrow & wide , is still excellent quality I’m glad to say so another recent purchase I’m delighted with.

As a side note , I had quite a few different branded tubes of mesh pva , all varying in size age but funnily enough only one or two plungers .

The ONLY tube that fitted the Korda plunger was the Korda tube .

Most of the others are virtually universal , all doing the job to varying degrees within a few mm on each different tube/plunger.

The Korda plunger only fitted the Korda tube and there is no size on the packaging , just “narrow”.

Thought it worth mentioning.

[Carpbell_ll]

i just use the netting and nuggets i got a bin liner full of PVA nuggets, the mrs chuckles when she sees them for sale i get them in e liquid packing big fat ones, reminds me better top the tub up for tomorrow. 

[salokcinnodrog]

On 02/05/2022 at 08:53, salokcinnodrog said:

..

I stick to particular brands of PVA wherever possible because I have tested them.

I had to buy some Kodex bags as I was running low, and first thing on test, they taste awful.

 

Lick and stick is my preferred way of sealing them, but it will be lick finger and twist.

Just hope they dissolve and don't leave taste residue...

 

Dissolve wise they are ok in water at 10⁰, taking around a minute max, although the lick and stick took a bit longer.

[Golden Paws]

There are 2 different compounds that have been used to make PVA bag. Originally there were made from Poly Vinyl Acetate and they have a vinegary smell and taste (acetic acid). Most manufacturers switched to using Poly Vinyl Alcohol (sometimes referred to as PV-OH) as it doesn't leave that horrible lingering taste. Technically if you are a Muslim, you aren't allowed to use it and I don't suppose recovering alcoholics would be tempted back on again with a quick lick and stick!