fitting repair ideas

[bassbone52]

Daughter has a hot water heating system. This fitting has a pinhole leak. What is a good way to fix this. Obviously, a repair clamp won't work.
Thanks for the help

 

[larry4406]

Hard to tell from the picture but it looks like there is a union below that elbow.

Shut off system, drain as needed, undo union, then the riser, replace the elbow, etc.

 

[bassbone52]

Hard to tell from the picture but it looks like there is a union below that elbow.

Shut off system, drain as needed, undo union, then the riser, replace the elbow, etc.

Ideally yes, that would be the best way. But short of that, I was thinking more along the lines of JB Weld. This is a bad time of year to take down the heating system.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

A bottle of of rust inhibitor/sealer dumped into system might help depending on size of leak,but I prefer to flush the system 1st when using it though.

 

[Done That]

I might try something like LeakSeal self-fusing silicone tape first since it's easy.

 

[Bretny]

Thats a presurized system i would presume? No cob job is going to work real well. Anything worth doing is going to require a parshal or full system drain and thus you should just cut the pipe out and repair it correctly.

With 2 unions you can do this with out having to go all the way to the source.

 

[gungatim]

you could try and weld it if you have a MIG welder....but obviously you need to remove the leaking fitting and replace it at some point...

 

[shepherd]

If it's a temporary thing, some sort of epoxy or jbweld would work. There are sealant tapes too that seem reasonably sound until you can do a proper replacement. I would try taping it, and if you're really worried, give it a coat of epoxy resin. Will look like hell, but should hold til spring.

 

[metlmunchr]

HW heating systems normally have a 30 psi relief valve and 12-15 psi fill pressure. Shut off the makeup water valve then actuate the relief valve to drop the positive pressure off the system.

Hercules makes an epoxy for these types of repairs. Comes in a tube and looks sorta like a Tootsie Roll. Has about that same consistency as well. You just cut off a chunk and then knead it in your hand to mix the two components. Clean off the area with a wire brush and put it on about like you were applying modeling clay. It will set in 30 minutes or less. Available at most any plumbing or piping supply house for a few bucks, and handy stuff to have around for other uses as well.

Once the repair is made and the epoxy is set, you should be able to just open the makeup water valve and the inline pressure reducer will add a bit of water to bring the system back to the proper pressure.

Don't go near it with any sort of welder. It has rusted thru at the point of the leak, and you'd just blow a big hole thru it as soon as the arc is struck.

Most times, leaks like this one are on the male thread of the pipe rather than the fitting itself since the root of the male thread is the thinnest part of the joint. Just mentioning that so you can plan on a piece of pipe rather than just an ell when you make the permanent repair.

 

[bobbyjean]

spray it down heavy with wd or your fav. rust buster.... measure *******...make a list and hit supply house or box store ..they will thread pipe for you...think it's the best way....do they even sell "oatmeal" for boilers anymore? if so you could try it...but it has a bad history of clogging some things up.
is that a return line on a steam boiler? oh boy...be careful...it's gonna be seized and rotted...
i see amazon sells a few products....may be worth a look...they all mention will not clog..hmmmm
good luck with it

 

[metlmunchr]

is that a return line on a steam boiler? oh boy...be careful...it's gonna be seized and rotted.

Why would a hot water heating system have steam condensate piping?

 

[regreen61]

Daughter has a hot water heating system. This fitting has a pinhole leak. What is a good way to fix this. Obviously, a repair clamp won't work.
Thanks for the help

Be the hero and repair it properly and or hire it out for your daughter.


Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[b-boy]

I agree with getting it patched until Spring. It is tough to repair these systems during the winter - especially during a major freeze like we've seen the last few weeks. If you want a permanent fix, I'd hire it out.

You'll need to drain the entire system, fix the leak, then re-fill and flush out all the air (before all your water pipes freeze up).

I had a similar situation. It was a minor leak at a copper sweat joint, so I just used a strategically placed towel to catch the drips until I could fix it during a thaw.

My situation was made worse because whoever installed the system thought it was a good idea to run 10 feet of it through an un-insulated crawl space. If I don't keep the heat running continuously, that section of pipe will freeze in extremely cold weather. There are multiple patches on the pipe, so I can see that it's happened a few times over the years. It's on my list of things to fix someday.

 

[bobbyjean]

Why would a hot water heating system have steam condensate piping?

picture looks like a hartford loop....tough to tell