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Annoying leak from the skin tank


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Just now, Felshampo said:

It is still an annoying leak. I have decided to put up with it until I have to inevitably drain the system and then deal with it. 

I sympathise. I’ve got a very similar leak from a connection to the calorifier circuit. Just a few drips a week but irritating nonetheless. Same scenario, a connection between brass and steel. I’ve smeared some Fernox FSX on it and it’s just about stopped, but I’m not holding my breath it’ll last. Like you however I’ve decided it’s not worth draining the lot down. C’est la vie I guess. 

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11 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

LSX paste.  It's a fiver from Screwfix ...

I agree but the problem I’ve found with both FSX and probably LSX is that they need a short while to cure. If the joint weeps in the meantime it doesn’t stick properly as I found out, and had to have two attempts, other than that Fernox stuff is great.  If my current temporary repair with FSX fails I’m going the give Silweld Tape a go. I bought a roll ready for that. It’s brilliant stuff for binding the frayed ends of mooring ropes too. 

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I've never heard of FSX but Fernox LSX is a very useful sealant for use when plumbing. It is broadly the same stuff in the tube as transparent Dow Corning silicone bath and shower sealant (if ten times the price). If pressed I suspect Fernox might be able to show there is some minor difference in the chemical make-up of it but I think the differences would be mainly in the packaging. 

 

It is however intended for use as a jointing compound in threaded joints and face-to-face joints during assembly of the joint, not for slathering all over the outside of an existing, leaking joint. If slathering it on the outside of a leaking joint works at all, it will be by pure luck. As withy points out, the water pressure from a slowly leaking joint is still highly likely to just push through the LSX jointing compound as it has no structural strength before setting and still very little after. 

 

The correct and successful way to fix a leaking joint is to dismantle it and reassemble it correctly, not plaster stuff around the outside of it. 

 

And...  ~breathe~

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In the OP's case if he was happy with a bodge then I think a strip of fine glass fiber mat smothered with silicon, wrapped around the leaking joint and the wrapped in copper wire would probably work. However it s still a bodge, as Mike says, the joint needs to come apart for proper sealing.

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2 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

In the OP's case if he was happy with a bodge then I think a strip of fine glass fiber mat smothered with silicon, wrapped around the leaking joint and the wrapped in copper wire would probably work. However it s still a bodge, as Mike says, the joint needs to come apart for proper sealing.

 

In the time it takes to obtain some glass fibre matting, some copper wire, some LSX and to actually carry out the wrapping of the joint as Tony describes, the joint could probably be dismantled and re-made properly, with 100% certainty instead of the 50/50 chance of success with bodgery.

 

The biggest uncertainty associated with doing it properly that drives people to bodgery is how drain of the water out of the pipe prior to dismantling it and fixing it. Working out how to do this is usually the first and only difficult step in fixing a leaking joint properly.

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2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

The biggest uncertainty associated with doing it properly that drives people to bodgery is how drain of the water out of the pipe prior to dismantling it and fixing it. Working out how to do this is usually the first and only difficult step in fixing a leaking joint properly.

Memories of fitting my own central heating years ago, and finding after I had filled the system that I had a couple of soldered joints leaking. So not only did I have to drain the system down, but I then had to spend ages with a heat gun on the pipework to dry the inside out before I could resolder the affected joints!

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Mother’s Pride bread stuffed up the pipe if possible dries it and then hopefully holds any water back long enough for reheating and soldering. I’ve done it and it worked. In my case the bread came out of the tap. Other brands of bread are available but I was told to use Mothers Pride. Obviously this for soldered connections in 15mm copper pipe

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2 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:

Mother’s Pride bread stuffed up the pipe if possible dries it and then hopefully holds any water back long enough for reheating and soldering. I’ve done it and it worked. In my case the bread came out of the tap. Other brands of bread are available but I was told to use Mothers Pride. Obviously this for soldered connections in 15mm copper pipe

Tampons, brilliant but use wire not the string to pull them out.

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1 minute ago, Peugeot 106 said:

Bread is more palatable and you can’t make toast out of dried tampons but I can see tampons being better. I always have cheap sanitary towels on the boat they are brilliant for mopping up water, oil, diesel. 

 

The point of using bread is when you turn the water back on it goes all soft by itself and gets flushed out of the pipe after you re-soldered the joint. 

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30 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

The point of using bread is when you turn the water back on it goes all soft by itself and gets flushed out of the pipe after you re-soldered the joint. 

But wouldn't have been so good circulating round my central heating!

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