Emergency water line repair

[lhfarm]

Had to replace my utility water booster pump. Took most of the day and when I started to crawl out of the underground pump house, I saw a drop of water fall from the main PVC pipe. It is behind the main shut-off valve and just inside the block wall. I think I may have cracked a joint with all the pushing and shoving I did to get the pump in.

Is there a solvent, glue or something like an epoxy I might put on there till I can get it repaired in the spring? It is just a drip, but assume it can/will increase.

Any advice, cautions, product suggestions welcome.

 

[mrmikey]

Get a coupling for whatever size pipe it is, cut in half lengthwise, clean both it and the leaking section of pipe and place the patch over it. Make sure to clean the ends so the solvent will work from the end of the patch to the end of the fitting. I'm going on the assumption the fitting has a square shoulder? For a bit more reinforcement add a couple of hose clamps over it.....Mike

 

[lhfarm]

I'm not sure where the leak is located. I'll need a mirror, I suspect. The coupling is square shouldered. I'm guessing the pipe isn't cracked, but the coupling edge might be.

I like the idea of the split coupling. If the leak is at the original coupling edge, do I need to do anything special?

Thanks,

 

[mrmikey]

If the origonal coupling itself is split from the edge you'll probably have to get something that'll go over that as well as carry on to the pipe. If you're going to go thru all that to it sounds as if it'll be just as easy to cut out the damaged section along with any couplings and replace the complete section. as much as you don't want to hear it there comes a time whe you're gonna have to bite the bullett...Mike

 

[CurlyDave]

When I had a PVC pipe fail on my well in winter, I found I could not repair it.

No matter what I did, the PVC cement would not set up in winter temperatures in Oregon.

Be prepared to find some way to keep the PVC joints you have to glue at 60 plus degrees F for around 24 hours.

If I had known ahead of time, I would have used a small tent with a propane heater in it to keep the fittings warm.

P.S. I was gluing 1.5" pipe. when it failed from the glue not holding, there was a small explosive sound and a piece of pipe came loose and hit me right in the rear end. This was actually not quite as unpleasant as the shower of cold water that followed, but it was a short piece of pipe. A longer one could have done some damage.

 

[Mudfarmer]

That is a job for Rescue Tape, also know as Tommy Tape, Miracle Wrap and so on. It is self fusing silicone rubber developed by the army for rapid temporary repair of just about anything circular or tubular. Will work great for your problem. Also a great insulator. This is beyond duct tape. No one with a tractor should be without. You will recognize it by the layer of cellophane in the loosely wrapped roll. They stock it at Harbor Freight.
Mf

 

[Marlowe]

Many years ago I put a new water heater in my house one evening. By the time I got it in and turned the water on it was pretty late and I was tired. Of course it dripped. I found a pot to put under the leak and went to bed. The next morning it had stopped dripping and never dripped again. Procrastination is good. Not so many years ago the supply line to my current water heater started to leak. I wrapped some tape around it and went to the hardware store to get more pipe. That was long enough ago that I've lost the new pipe I bought to fix it, and the tape is still holding. Procrastination is still good. I guess the moral of this story is that not all leaks get bigger, and sooner or later I'm going to have a mess to clean up.

 

[Egon]

Would a clamp like in the attached picture work?

 

[lhfarm]

When I had a PVC pipe fail on my well in winter, I found I could not repair it.

No matter what I did, the PVC cement would not set up in winter temperatures in Oregon.

Be prepared to find some way to keep the PVC joints you have to glue at 60 plus degrees F for around 24 hours.

If I had known ahead of time, I would have used a small tent with a propane heater in it to keep the fittings warm.

P.S. I was gluing 1.5" pipe. when it failed from the glue not holding, there was a small explosive sound and a piece of pipe came loose and hit me right in the rear end. This was actually not quite as unpleasant as the shower of cold water that followed, but it was a short piece of pipe. A longer one could have done some damage.

It is 20 this morning and won't get much warmer. I have some 100 watt lamps in there, but it isn't warm. I'm hoping I can do something that will hold till spring.

That is a job for Rescue Tape, also know as Tommy Tape, Miracle Wrap and so on. It is self fusing silicone rubber developed by the army for rapid temporary repair of just about anything circular or tubular. Will work great for your problem. Also a great insulator. This is beyond duct tape. No one with a tractor should be without. You will recognize it by the layer of cellophane in the loosely wrapped roll. They stock it at Harbor Freight.
Mf

That tape sounds like what I need. Don't think I've ever seen it, but I'm going to town to see what I can find.

Many years ago I put a new water heater in my house one evening. By the time I got it in and turned the water on it was pretty late and I was tired. Of course it dripped. I found a pot to put under the leak and went to bed. The next morning it had stopped dripping and never dripped again. Procrastination is good. Not so many years ago the supply line to my current water heater started to leak. I wrapped some tape around it and went to the hardware store to get more pipe. That was long enough ago that I've lost the new pipe I bought to fix it, and the tape is still holding. Procrastination is still good. I guess the moral of this story is that not all leaks get bigger, and sooner or later I'm going to have a mess to clean up.

I'm still hoping for that to happen. The roof of the pump house must weigh 100#. I prop up one end with an old sway bar off an 8-N. Then I have to ease myself down in the small area between the pressure tank and the pump, plus the pipes. Very little room to work and I could barely move after spending hours in there yesterday. So my hope is that I can open it up today and it will be dry. Otherwise, I'll have with me something stop the drip.

Would a clamp like in the attached picture work?

The drip is on the bottom of the pipe, between two couplings. It may be two drips and I'm going to have to take a mirror with me. The pipe is barely off the floor, so I can't do there to see for a direct view. I may pick up a couple of clamps while I'm in town.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll let you know what I'm able to accomplish.

 

[Egon]

Surely hope you find an easy temporary fix till warm weather arrives.

A little electric heater with fan may help more than the heat bulbs???

 

[TRR]

Here's the tape mudfarmer is refering to and is also available at the big box stores (if you can find it):

Harbor Freight link:

10 FT. X-Treme Tape

 

[tommu56]

Product Listing PVC-Compression-Couples

I didn't see what pipe size you need but they are made fro 1/2" up.

These work but you have to restrain the pipe from expanding some times
the Orange box store has them some times.

tom

 

[LarryD]

We just made some repairs to fuel lines from UST's to a couple generators using a tape like the one in the link. I can't remember the exact name (info in on my work puter) but it was a resin impregnated fiberglass tape. The cut sheet indicated it was being used in the petroleum fields and the repairs were great.

 

[EddieWalker]

All good advice, but what I'd do before anything else is to find the leak, and make sure it really is a leak. Being that it's in a location that you can't see it, I'm curious if it's coming from the pipe, or something else in there. Ice, snow, condensation all get into places that you wouldn't expect.

In my experience, when you have a small leak, it leads to a bigger one in a short amount of time. If you broke or cracked the pipe or fitting, its just a matter of time for it to fail completely. Do it now, and not when it's broken wide open. Usually that happens when you are not home, sound asleep or in the middle of a misserable, freezing storm!!!!!

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[lhfarm]

All good advice, but what I'd do before anything else is to find the leak, and make sure it really is a leak. Being that it's in a location that you can't see it, I'm curious if it's coming from the pipe, or something else in there. Ice, snow, condensation all get into places that you wouldn't expect.

In my experience, when you have a small leak, it leads to a bigger one in a short amount of time. If you broke or cracked the pipe or fitting, its just a matter of time for it to fail completely. Do it now, and not when it's broken wide open. Usually that happens when you are not home, sound asleep or in the middle of a misserable, freezing storm!!!!!

Good luck,
Eddie

I used a mirror, but could only see two drips coming from the bottom of two couplers. I found some "repair" tape a a box store, but it didn't work. Tried some epoxy and that didn't work, so I'm left with doing the repair.

I couldn't see a crack, just the drips, but I believe I damaged that short section by moving the pipe side-to-side while trying to hook up the pump. I need to figure out how to prevent that from happening again.

Since the cut will have to be against the wall, where the line comes into the pump house, I'll have one shot to get it right. Otherwise, I'm digging down outside the block wall to make another cut. I'm still debating calling a plumber. We have rain and freezing rain coming in this afternoon and single digit temperatures later in the week. I want to get it done now.

I don't have a plumber and it is a holiday. Gone tomorrow, but may make some calls to see if anyone is willing to tackle this.

On a side note, I couldn't get the main shut-off to work. It was hard to turn and there is no indicator of "Off" so I assumed just a quarter-turn. It may have been user error, but I need to let the water company know. Or I may just let a plumber take care of it.

Not a fun weekend.

 

[Egon]

Sounds like a good time for one of the Vibratory Tools to use for the cutting.:thumbsup:

Be patient and take your time. You'll get it done properly that way.

If room is really tight can you use two elbows on the existing pipe and put in a flexible piece with threaded fittings on one side to connect the two. Might save future problems. Thinking of copper tubing wrapped into a pig tail.

 

[SandburRanch]

I've made temporary repairs by going to the farmers co-op and buying a stick of radiator hose the appropriate diameter and worm screw clamps.

The one I repaired 10 years ago for a neighbor when the PVC froze and cracked probably wasn't so temporary because I'd bet it's still there.

 

[JB4310]

I'm still hoping for that to happen. The roof of the pump house must weigh 100#. I prop up one end with an old sway bar off an 8-N. Then I have to ease myself down in the small area between the pressure tank and the pump, plus the pipes. Very little room to work and I could barely move after spending hours in there yesterday. So my hope is that I can open it up today and it will be dry. Otherwise, I'll have with me something stop the drip.



The drip is on the bottom of the pipe, between two couplings. It may be two drips and I'm going to have to take a mirror with me. The pipe is barely off the floor, so I can't do there to see for a direct view. I may pick up a couple of clamps while I'm in town.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll let you know what I'm able to accomplish.

Couple of things, first, sounds like a mouse trap the way that heavy roof is propped up. Be careful and make sure someone knows you're in there, that thing comes down on your legs and it's gonna be alot worse than the pipe dripping.

Second because of how you described the location being close to the wall it could be broken in the wall or just outside or just inside due to movement caused by frost in the ground. This would be worst case and not a simple fix.

If the leak is in the straight pipe, if your that lucky then a split clamped coupling would work.
If it's in the coupling I don't think the clamp would work, and you would have to try that super tape. I bought a roll of it awhile ago and was not that impressed with it just fooling around with it in the shop, but I never put it to a real test like a pipe leak.

How much pressure in that part of the system? As far as preventing it from happening again if you did break it inside then one of those slip couplings in Tom's reply would be ideal to allow for some movement. Or a flex line like we all use for sink and toilet supply.

I also like the simple repair idea from sandburranch using hose and hose clamps, if it's accessable. With this way even if it was broken halfway through a coupling you could just cut out the broken part and find a HD hose that would slip over the coupling and clamp a splice in there.

Good Luck, JB.

 

[mjfox6]

Product Listing PVC-Compression-Couples

I didn't see what pipe size you need but they are made fro 1/2" up.

These work but you have to restrain the pipe from expanding some times
the Orange box store has them some times.

tom

I spent my Saturday (two weeks ago) digging up my main water line, which runs under my driveway. This fitting is what I found, apparently the previous owners used it to fix a leak they had. I tried tightening it, which stopped one side from leaking, but did not cure the other side. I cut it out and glued in two straight couplings and a short piece of pipe.

I'm just saying, I won't be using one of these to fix any future leaks that I have.

 

[tommu56]

I spent my Saturday (two weeks ago) digging up my main water line, which runs under my driveway. This fitting is what I found, apparently the previous owners used it to fix a leak they had. I tried tightening it, which stopped one side from leaking, but did not cure the other side. I cut it out and glued in two straight couplings and a short piece of pipe.

I'm just saying, I won't be using one of these to fix any future leaks that I have.

There isn't any way I would be burying one but in the basement or crawl space.
I don't see a problem as long as it is rated for the pressure.
The other thing most people don't lube them up to screw them together and the threads stick and don't tighten up