favorite way to stop leak in hard plumbing

[Devaji]

so I have a leak right after a union in on my manifold going to the UV I had to plumb out side the tank as it's HUGE.

I used oaty's fusion for the solvent weld as Of right now this is the only one I see.
of course its in a very hard to get space I would need to remove all my other plumbing.

here are some pics

its behind the union above the main return..

any tips or trick to deal with a leak with out redoing the whole think?
anyone try try the vacuum trick?
silicone ?
supper glue?

 

[Devaji]

Here is another pic.


leaking at the joint to the union

 

[laverda]

Do not waste your time with silicone for this. I would disassemble it dry the inside throughly and use a smaller applicator to brush on pvc glue to the inside of the joint. Coat the whole inside area at the end of the pipe. That should do the job easily.

 

[Devaji]

what I am saying is I cant get to the inside of the joint. its the joint going to the union.

I can take it off to try to glue it. of course it would have to drain the overflow box and remove all the other plumbing just to get to it. grrrrr

 

[laverda]

That is the best way to fix it.

 

[Devaji]

I turn on the manifold pump to get an idea where the leak is, it's right on the bottom of the joint so I was able to get to with the solvent. i'll wait until the AM and see if that fixed it.

I could here air getting in when I turn off the pump and see the leak about a pin hole size. if this does not work I'll try the vacuum and glue trick to pull the glue in to the joint.

and if all this fails I'll get a new union and redo that part.

I also found a leak in the pentair 40W UV.
I have it vertical and I pretty sure itls leaking from the bottom union.
i tried to tighten we will see one leak at a time I guess...

 

[JoshH]

Worth a shot if you don't want to rip it apart.... Lame video but you'll get the idea. Just seal one end of the pipe off, hook a vacuum up to the other end and add solvent with the vacuum on and it should suck the solvent in wherever the leak is to seal it.

 

[Gungo]

Stop the water from running, get a syringe, and do not remove the needle. Insert liquid PVC in the syringe and apply it to the seals where the leak is. This always worked for me in the past.

Hope it works!

 

[Devaji]

Worth a shot if you don't want to rip it apart.... Lame video but you'll get the idea. Just seal one end of the pipe off, hook a vacuum up to the other end and add solvent with the vacuum on and it should suck the solvent in wherever the leak is to seal it.

yeah that is what I was thinking with the vac. trick same video too

 

[Devaji]

Stop the water from running, get a syringe, and do not remove the needle. Insert liquid PVC in the syringe and apply it to the seals where the leak is. This always worked for me in the past.

Hope it works!

oh man wish i had a needle when I tried to re glue it.
time will tell if I got it. but that is a great idea.

 

[ca1ore]

Just let the leak dry, slather on some PVC solvent. Nine times out of ten that does the trick.

 

[krash7172]

I wouldn't call this a permanent fix but in low pressure situations, you can wrap it with a water proof tape like electrical tape after adding glue. Cinch down a couple wire ties on either side of the leak to help secure it.

 

[Alexreefer]

This is all jokes but

 

[Devaji]

Just let the leak dry, slather on some PVC solvent. Nine times out of ten that does the trick.

yup that's what I did. letting it dry until the morning that will be 12+ hrs will test again.

 

[SuncrestReef]

(duplicate)

 

[SuncrestReef]

The vacuum trick worked for me. I had a leak where 1” PVC went into a union connecting my UV sterilizer. Luckily I have bypass valves so I could isolate the UV from the return line and attached the vacuum to the end of the UV with the bulb removed. The whole repair only took about 20 minutes.

Photos here:

Build Thread - SuncrestReef's Red Sea Reefer XL 425 build

I haven't started working on converting the ATO box into a refugium yet, but will work on it in the next week or so and I'll post photos at that time. Basically I am going to drill two holes in the side of the ATO tank, one near the bottom to pump water in from the sump using a Neptune PMUP...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Steph72]

yup that's what I did. letting it dry until the morning that will be 12+ hrs will test again.

Please be sure to post an update and let us know how you fixed it ...I have a small leak in one of my return lines right at one of the couplers. The coupler is glued in so I’d have to cut the line to remove that piece. I’d like to be able to patch it rather than taking the whole line apart.

 

[JumboShrimp]

This will only work on tiny (very slow) drips— but salt creep is amazing at plugging leaks. I used it to my advantage in several places on my 150 where I didn’t want to tighten any further and risk cracking a fitting. Try to wrap plumbing tape tightly into the joint like a temporary tourniquet. Let it drip (into a towel) for a day or two, and again, if the drip was slight enough to begin with, the salt creep will usually form a seal.

 

[zalick]

If you do end up taking it all apart, you might consider adding strategic unions so you can easily remove sections without taking it all apart again in the future. I do that with all my plumbing now and it's helped so many times with upgrades and/or leak fixes etc.

Hope it works for you!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

So if you're committed to rolling forward...I totally don't recommend following this. However I've done this many times over and yet to have it fail.

Post in thread 'Rob's Really Rad 180 Reef Rally' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/robs-really-rad-180-reef-rally.722791/post-7990912