inner tube storage

[simonineaston]

Recently, I reported that I was using a lightweight inner tube, which had popped.
viewtopic.php?p=1755633&hilit=continent ... e#p1755633
I replaced it with an unused tube from Continental, which have received the thumbs-up from several readers. I was sitting in the flat minding my own business y'day, when I heard a pop and a whoosh & that familar crumpling sound of a collapsing tyre carcass (I keep my bikes indoors these days). On examination the inner side of the inner tube has failed and exactly on the pronounced crease resulting from the tube's being folded and placed in its box by the maker. I can't remember exactly when I bought the tubes, except that it was certainly over a couple of years ago - should I be removing inner tubes from their boxes and storing them in a different way? I'm not aware of this happening before...

fold

hole

[Jdsk]

...
... should I be removing inner tubes from their boxes and storing them in a different way?
...

For new tubes I've never seen good arguments or evidence either way...

Jonathan

PS: Brucey on storing rubber products:
viewtopic.php?p=637074#p637074

[simonineaston]

Thanks. I'll read through that.
btw why does my camera's autofocus nearly always make the background pin-sharp and not the thing I want to show... ??

[axel_knutt]

Recently, I reported that I was using a lightweight inner tube, which had popped.

You didn't say it had popped, you said it was a

very very small hole in the tube, which results in a gradual collapse of the tyre pressure

I think I'd be looking for more than one failure before I started drawing conclusions about the cause, it may just be a manufacturing flaw, and nothing to do with age, or the fold.

[PH]

Mine are not stored that long, they're cycled from spares to in-use pretty regularly, I doubt any of them have been a year at a time outside the tyre. When they are, it's rolled, wrapped in clingfilm and in a dark pocket of a Carradice.
As already said, it's a very small sample to draw any conclusions from, maybe it was badly packed, or a manufacturers fault (I've had two of those) or is it possible you nicked it when fitting?

[UpWrong]

I've had a lot of inner tubes split along the seam whilst stored. Maybe I need to put them somewhere cooler.

[531colin]

............
btw why does my camera's autofocus nearly always make the background pin-sharp and not the thing I want to show... ??

I have an i phone just a couple of years old; if I tap the screen it focuses on the area I tap....how clever is that?

However, my camera is closer to 20 years old, and I find i often need to take several pictures to get one with the focus how I want it.

Some things to try;
Take your picture holding the "subject" a good distance away from any "background"
with my camera I get an icon on the screen which indicates "macro" status (the icon is a flower, I don't know why). It often works if I hold the subject close to the lens until I get the flower icon, then I can slowly move the subject further from the lens and it stays in focus, so that I can get enough of the subject in the frame and also in focus

[simonineaston]

Thanks for the suggestions, which prompted me to check - there's a tap to focus feature, which works great