flex and seal plumbing repair

MFL wrote:
Don...in the past I've used black abs cement to fix damaged sewer pipes. You need to clean pipe with abs cleaner first, then add a thin coat of ABS black cement. While still wet, add a proper sized piece of fiberglass screen (same as screen in RV door) into the wet cement. Let dry, then add another thin layer over the screen, let dry. Over night dry time may be needed for a large crack. Three thin coats, until you can no longer see any screen should do it. I've never had a failure, using this method.

Jerry

Yep, I was trying to remember what I used on a house. It was this. I slathered on a drain pipe in the basement and used some cotton. I just kept putting on layers until the leak stopped. 10 yrs later it is still good, but the house has not moved in those ten years also. This might be better than two-part epoxy/resin as it should remain more flexible.

Gdetrailer wrote:

It is amusing to see how creative one can get for no real good reason :h

The question is why?

Why bother cobbling materials and chemicals that are not 100% compatible?

Why? Because I had all the materials on hand, so no need to go out and buy a variety of misc pieces, parts, tools, etc... when I had it repaired in about 10min.

My worst case was the repair didn't hold and I did have to make a run to Home Depot.

Hi guys. Hope you can help me to understand how to do draining a hot tub. I read somewhere that I need to make sure that I clean my hot tub correctly. For that I need to drain the hot tub`s water, right? How to refill it with freshwater and prepare it for winterization? Any tips would be great.

valhalla360 wrote:

ajriding wrote:
No, but I have used cheapo Homedepot fiberglass "resin" and some loose fibers. Just soak the fiberglass sheet or fibers in the epoxy and smear/wrap/slather on the cleaned and sanded crack. Marine epoxy would be better if you think the pipe might move or wiggle as Marine is more flexible.

Did this years ago on a cracked gray water pipe. Had some marine epoxy from boat work:
- Cleaned the pipe.
- Scuffed the area with sandpaper.
- Wrapped with fiberglass all the way around the pipe and then wetted out with epoxy.

7yrs later when we sold the trailer it was still holding. Another 6yrs on, I know the current owner and have seen the trailer this past summer...the repair is still holding.

PS: I probably wouldn't bother with marine epoxy if I was buying material. It's very expensive. Cheaper vinyl ester resin should work just fine.

It is amusing to see how creative one can get for no real good reason :h

The question is why?

Why bother cobbling materials and chemicals that are not 100% compatible?

ABS pipe is very easily repaired using the correct solvent based glue and with it your repair will never fail. It is easily found everywhere and especially where ever you buy ABS/PVC/CPVC pipe.



For less than $10 you can buy a can of proper solvent which permanently fixes the issue and that can is enough to completely plumb an entire house several times over.

Home Depot, Lowes and pretty much any hardware store will have it.

Unless you are say in the middle of the ocean and need an emergency temporary fix to get you back to land, there is no excuse to use other means. I am sure there will be some store within one or two hrs from your campsite that has the proper glue.. It shouldn't be this much of a hardship to break camp for a couple of hrs while you get the correct materials.

ABS is extremely easy to fix, you can even use ABS pipe or fittings to create a outside patch.

You can take a coupler/splice, cut in half length wise (create a half moon), paint the cracked area and the inside of the half moon of the coupler you cut up. Then apply the half moon coupler piece directly over top of the cracked area. Hold in place for several minutes for solvent to melt patch to pipe.

DONE.

If affected area is larger than the length of a coupler, you can slice a piece of ABS pipe long enough to cover entire length needed in half. Then with a heat gun gently warm the cut piece just high enough to soften slightly enough to allow you to spread it open to fit over the broken pipe. Once patch fits, you paint the pipe and patch with correct solvent and slap it on. You can always go back over the edges of the patch with the solvent glue to ensure the edges have sealed.

Your pipe is now patched, that patch will not leak, break or give trouble in the future.

Can't do this with water tanks, as they are not ABS or PVC the plastic used for tanks require non solvent methods of repair.

ajriding wrote:
No, but I have used cheapo Homedepot fiberglass "resin" and some loose fibers. Just soak the fiberglass sheet or fibers in the epoxy and smear/wrap/slather on the cleaned and sanded crack. Marine epoxy would be better if you think the pipe might move or wiggle as Marine is more flexible.

Did this years ago on a cracked gray water pipe. Had some marine epoxy from boat work:
- Cleaned the pipe.
- Scuffed the area with sandpaper.
- Wrapped with fiberglass all the way around the pipe and then wetted out with epoxy.

7yrs later when we sold the trailer it was still holding. Another 6yrs on, I know the current owner and have seen the trailer this past summer...the repair is still holding.

PS: I probably wouldn't bother with marine epoxy if I was buying material. It's very expensive. Cheaper vinyl ester resin should work just fine.

Since the sewer line is not under pressure you may want to Google for "Insta-Clamp Plumbing Repair Clamp"

pianotuna wrote:
Hi all,

Has any one used flex and seal wrap (tape) on waste water plumbing on their RV? Asking for a friend who has a plumbing problem.

Would eterna bond work?

Hi piano,

See this thread where a similar question was asked. I have much more to add if needed, http://forums.trailerlife.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/30301229/gotomsg/30301329.cfm#30301329

In these plumbing leaks situations, it really helps to know more about the leak, and ideally, see some pics of the leak area. I know you are getting this 3rd hand, but get some info from your buddy and we can help better.

If there is a cracked tank, cracked pipe, cracked tank fittings, this all comes back to, where is the crack and what caused the crack? Knowing some about the first topic helps greatly on backing into what caused the crack. Then comes how to make a band aide to get by if needed to get you home, followed by a permanent repair that removed the temporary patch and does a permanent fix.

This much I can say, Eternabond is not a long term repair on a RV tank/plumbing system in "most" cases. I have used a lot of Eternabond, and it is really good stuff when applied right, just this is not the right application. Ebond has no mechanical strength to reinforce the leaking joint to not continue ripping or leaking long term.

We really need to see and know more about the leak to help guide you better. Putting flex seal etc. on as a band aide may contaminate the area making a permanent fix harder to grind out, scrape off the goop put on wrong.

ABS plastic that most RV waste systems uses is very repairable, permanently. From small cracks, to mega missing parts ripped out of the tank, using an ABS solvent weld method, ABS plastic sheet filler, ABS pipe, fiberglass reinforcing mesh and, addressing the original reason why the crack/leak happened in the first place.

Hope this helps

John

I have given up trying to get folks here to ignore junk huckstered on TV like the flex products and fix it correctly the first time..

They have nothing to loose other than the resulting mess when it eventually fails.

Tell them to try it and see if it works.

The BEST way though is to cut out and splice in new material.

Takes more time and effort to fix it correctly the first time but often you will be rewarded with never having to revisit the problem ever again.

They have ABS, ABS is by far one of the easiest things to fix and the fix is permanent. ABS like PVC is solvent welded and in most cases the same solvent is used on both provided the label states it is rated for both.

ABS unlike PVC can be solvent welded without use of a primer.

The most difficult part will be gaining enough access to the broken spot to cut the pipe off. But heck if you can get into it with a tape product like flex tape or enternabond you should be able to cut the offending spot out.

Small grinder with abrasive cut off blade will easily cut ABS as well as a hacksaw. Hint, small air powered "die grinders" equipped with a cutoff wheel are very small and compact and work very well in tight spaces.

All is needed is a piece of ABS pipe long enough to replace the section cut out and two ABS couplers. ABS can be flexed some to aid getting the ABS couplers on.

Alternate method to solvent welding is using two rubber couplers (often referred to brand name of Fernco)and a piece of ABS pipe. The rubber couplers simply slide over the pipe and are tightened via stainless band clamps (can use screw driver or a socket wrench). Both fixes in this case will be permanent and should never be an issue again. Rubber couplers may have a slight advantage if the original issue comes from pipe being too stiff by adding a flexible joint.

Anything else than cutting out and replacing is nothing more than a temporary patch or bandaid.

Don...in the past I've used black abs cement to fix damaged sewer pipes. You need to clean pipe with abs cleaner first, then add a thin coat of ABS black cement. While still wet, add a proper sized piece of fiberglass screen (same as screen in RV door) into the wet cement. Let dry, then add another thin layer over the screen, let dry. Over night dry time may be needed for a large crack. Three thin coats, until you can no longer see any screen should do it. I've never had a failure, using this method.

Jerry

jdc1 wrote:
Eternabond won't hold on waste tanks.

It is not the tank--it is the pvc pipe{s}. (I hope that is correct--dealing with third hand information.)

Thanks for the replies so far.