EagerLearner
Member
Hi! I'm the one who roiled the forum in early September by asking how I might stop a tiny water leak near the boiler in my gravity (no pump) hot water heating system. I'd already done some preliminary research and made several phone calls to manufacturers, and I was inclined to use J-B Weld Water Weld Epoxy.
There were two factions that formed in response to my question: a) Those who regarded stopping the leak as a reasonable desire and a feasible plumbing task and offered their advice on how to best do it b) Those who ridiculed and upbraided me for even thinking of attempting to stop the leak instead of replacing the guilty joint and who denounced those who abetted my offensive intentions with their helpful suggestions.
First, before going further, let me offer my profuse (though shamefully belated) thanks to Jeff Handy for his Sept. 14th response to my Sept. 12th post "Some Follow-up Questions from the unexpectedly controversial 'tiny leak' guy". He offered an incredibly useful set of instructions leading me step-by-step through the task. His guide--wisely-- recognized what an utter novice I am at this sort of thing and so he took nothing for granted. Jeff, I'm really and truly grateful that you took the time and made the effort! It made a big difference!
Of course, Jeff couldn't predict everything I would encounter-- for example, the plumber who installed this used some sort of stringy material to seal the threads, and as I tried to clean the area for the epoxy I immediately saw that I was disrupting the existing seal and making the leak worse. So I had to abandon the idea of cleaning the area at or near the point of intersection (where the leak was, of course) and instead cleaned (and roughened) the surfaces above and below.
Although the cleaning went well, I was dissatisfied with the roughening of the metal surfaces that I achieved. Though I used an emery cloth and a file-- both intended for metal-- and a wire-brush, I didn't really feel I had made a significant difference by the time I'd finished. I even used a magnifying glass-- before and after-- and I wasn't impressed by the (barely visible) impression I'd made in the metal.
Nonetheless, feeling I had done everything within my power to do, I applied the epoxy all around the circumference of the joint, above and below the leak, hoping it would tightly adhere to the surfaces I'd prepared and would greatly alleviate-- if not entirely stop-- the leak.
And it did. For purposes of comparison, in April, when the system was filled with water, the leak was one drop about every 16 seconds. Now, after having applied the epoxy, when I filled the system to the customary level (the same as April), the leak is one drop in every 68 seconds-- when the system is cold-- and no leak at all when the system is hot (apparently the epoxy expands sufficiently when heated to provide an impenetrable barrier). So I'm pleased that the leak is now trivial enough to not affect the functioning of the system, yet I'm a little disappointed that there's any leak at all.
One further question: If I'm struck by a sudden perfectionistic urge and want to add more epoxy to the adjacent bare metal and perhaps completely stop the leak, what tool might I use to really roughen the surface of the metal?
There were two factions that formed in response to my question: a) Those who regarded stopping the leak as a reasonable desire and a feasible plumbing task and offered their advice on how to best do it b) Those who ridiculed and upbraided me for even thinking of attempting to stop the leak instead of replacing the guilty joint and who denounced those who abetted my offensive intentions with their helpful suggestions.
First, before going further, let me offer my profuse (though shamefully belated) thanks to Jeff Handy for his Sept. 14th response to my Sept. 12th post "Some Follow-up Questions from the unexpectedly controversial 'tiny leak' guy". He offered an incredibly useful set of instructions leading me step-by-step through the task. His guide--wisely-- recognized what an utter novice I am at this sort of thing and so he took nothing for granted. Jeff, I'm really and truly grateful that you took the time and made the effort! It made a big difference!
Of course, Jeff couldn't predict everything I would encounter-- for example, the plumber who installed this used some sort of stringy material to seal the threads, and as I tried to clean the area for the epoxy I immediately saw that I was disrupting the existing seal and making the leak worse. So I had to abandon the idea of cleaning the area at or near the point of intersection (where the leak was, of course) and instead cleaned (and roughened) the surfaces above and below.
Although the cleaning went well, I was dissatisfied with the roughening of the metal surfaces that I achieved. Though I used an emery cloth and a file-- both intended for metal-- and a wire-brush, I didn't really feel I had made a significant difference by the time I'd finished. I even used a magnifying glass-- before and after-- and I wasn't impressed by the (barely visible) impression I'd made in the metal.
Nonetheless, feeling I had done everything within my power to do, I applied the epoxy all around the circumference of the joint, above and below the leak, hoping it would tightly adhere to the surfaces I'd prepared and would greatly alleviate-- if not entirely stop-- the leak.
And it did. For purposes of comparison, in April, when the system was filled with water, the leak was one drop about every 16 seconds. Now, after having applied the epoxy, when I filled the system to the customary level (the same as April), the leak is one drop in every 68 seconds-- when the system is cold-- and no leak at all when the system is hot (apparently the epoxy expands sufficiently when heated to provide an impenetrable barrier). So I'm pleased that the leak is now trivial enough to not affect the functioning of the system, yet I'm a little disappointed that there's any leak at all.
One further question: If I'm struck by a sudden perfectionistic urge and want to add more epoxy to the adjacent bare metal and perhaps completely stop the leak, what tool might I use to really roughen the surface of the metal?