Help! My plumbing is leaking!

[katz]

Problem:
1. Water is leaking out of the bulkheads.
2. Water is leaking out of the threaded parts of the pump.
3. Water is leaking out of the clamped area of the spa flex pipe.
Everything is glued and I still have leaks. I have a dual corner overflow system. The blukheads are barbed. I attached spaflex to the barbed end of the bulkhead and attached pvc to the other end of the spaflex. I used hose clamps on both ends.
On the pump I have pvc and all areas were it is threaded is leaking water.
I am at a total loss and my help has given up and refuses to plumb anything else.
HD says that you can not glue spaflex.
Katz

 

[quads4_lif]

Yes you can use pvc cement on spa flex as long as it is the whit solid and not the ribed rubber kind. also on your threaded fitting did you use teflon tape?

 

[sign guy]

I put a large zip tie around the spa flex but still hate that stuff.
all threaded stuff needs to be wraped in pvc water tape, as for the fvc that is glued I would shut the system down and hot glue all the connections

 

[quads4_lif]

as far as your bulkheads make sure you do not have a crack in them and make sure the gasket is on the inside of the tank and you might tighten it a little more but be careful to not crack it.

 

[quads4_lif]

you can use metal cable clamps as long as they are not in your water if you need to connect something under water several places sell plastic hose clamps that you squeeze together

 

[katz]

That is part of the problem. My brother did not use teflon tape on the threaded joints and because I told him that he caused that leak he will not help any more. I can not un-thread anything because of the tight space.
The bulkhead do not have any cracks in them that I can see. The water is coming out around the joints underneath the tank. I am using the metal clamps to hold on the spaflex. I have all of the plumbing supported.
I am at a lost as what to due.
Katz

 

[joncat24]

sounds like you really have no choice but to re-do the plumbing . Take it apart and use the tape on the threaded parts and re-glue the slip joints

 

[acrylic51]

I agree the best is to take it apart.....I honestly don't know if I'd use clamps on spaflex hose.....Is it actually spaflex or vinyl tubing? SpaFlex should be glued and there is special glue just for spaflex and the use of the wrong glue could and will be disasterous....

 

[vicegrip]

Originally Posted by acrylic51
I agree the best is to take it apart.....I honestly don't know if I'd use clamps on spaflex hose.....Is it actually spaflex or vinyl tubing? SpaFlex should be glued and there is special glue just for spaflex and the use of the wrong glue could and will be disasterous....

Like Acrylic was saying if you use pvc tubing instead of spaflex clamping it will work a lot better and it's a very tight fit. I heat the pvc tubing up with a hair dryer to get it on the barbed ends some of my ends are not camped and have never leaked(I didn't clamp them because they are in the sump).

 

[katz]

It is SpaFlex and according to Lowes and Home Depot you can not glue it at all. This stuff is very expensive at 2.72 a foot.
I do not know why they call it flexable because that stuff is stiff as a broad and no matter how warm I got it would curl back into the shape it came in.
I am going to rip everything out but I can not remove the section attached to the sump. Everything is glue together. Is there anything on the market that would seal the threaded pipe without having to remove it?
Katz

 

[vicegrip]

Originally Posted by Katz
It is SpaFlex and according to Lowes and Home Depot you can not glue it at all. This stuff is very expensive at 2.72 a foot.
I do not know why they call it flexable because that stuff is stiff as a broad and no matter how warm I got it would curl back into the shape it came in.
I am going to rip everything out but I can not remove the section attached to the sump. Everything is glue together. Is there anything on the market that would seal the threaded pipe without having to remove it?
Katz
I would scrap the SpaFlex and use pvc tubing a lot cheaper and easy to work with. SpaFlex uses a special couplings to connect to pumps and water manafolds.
I hope you threads are not glued. You need to be able to take apart for maintenance. You do need to take the theaded pipes apart to seal and teflon tape is the cleanest cheapest way to seal them.

 

[acrylic51]

Originally Posted by Katz
It is SpaFlex and according to Lowes and Home Depot you can not glue it at all. This stuff is very expensive at 2.72 a foot.
I do not know why they call it flexable because that stuff is stiff as a broad and no matter how warm I got it would curl back into the shape it came in.
I am going to rip everything out but I can not remove the section attached to the sump. Everything is glue together. Is there anything on the market that would seal the threaded pipe without having to remove it?
Katz

That's exactly why they work at Lowes and HomeDepot.....they don't know anything about plumbing.....Not trying to be rude, but they are totally speaking out the side of their necks.....call Savko which is a specialty plumbing place for tanks, AquaticEco, or check your local plumbing supply, and they do have special glue for SpaFlex to standard or sched 80 PVC fittings......If you don't believe they don't check out my thread when I plumbed my OM8Way with some Spaflex and I even used it on my skimmer hookup as well.....Standard PVC glue will not work, the joints will blow apart......I'm going to run out to my fishroom and get you the solvent name and number to clarify.......

As far as any threaded joint, I would opt for liquid teflon over teflon tape....seals alot better.....

 

[acrylic51]

Again if using SpaFlex tubing it can be glued and has been glued successfully by hundreds of people so info from Lowes or HomeDepot is totally incorrect.......Again go to your local plumbing specialty store and as for Weld-ON 725 Wt 'R Dry it's blue in color or order it from Savko and their tubing is a heck of a lot cheaper if your bulking a good amount, and their brand they carry is Oakley Flexible PVC Cement.

 

[mandarin w]

One note, If you can get the pvc off the pump, and you redo your plumbing, It is a good idea to use ball valves and use a union in line before your pump. This is a good idea to have in case down the road your pump goes out, and you need to replace it. Then it is just a matter of unscrewing the union take off the pump, get what ever fittings you need for your new pump and screw the new one in place. If you permanently glue everything in place, you would be in big trouble down the road if you have a problem. You would have to tear everything out again.

 

[acrylic51]

Originally Posted by mandarin w
One note, If you can get the pvc off the pump, and you redo your plumbing, It is a good idea to use ball valves and use a union in line before your pump. This is a good idea to have in case down the road your pump goes out, and you need to replace it. Then it is just a matter of unscrewing the union take off the pump, get what ever fittings you need for your new pump and screw the new one in place. If you permanently glue everything in place, you would be in big trouble down the road if you have a problem. You would have to tear everything out again.

 

[katz]

Thanks for all of the info. However with only 12 inches between the sump and the pump I was not able to fit in a union along with the ball valve, threaded connections and fit it into my tank stand.
I can not even fit a saw in that section to cut the plumbing out in order to un-thread the pipe that needs the teflon paste.
That brings me back to the question of, is there anything that I can put around the joint to stop the drip.
The section leading out of the pump had a union so that was easy to remove and start over.
My only problem with ordering anything off the internet is that I have rock waiting in a bucket of saltwater to be put into the tank. I am having trouble maintaining a constant water temp because of the temp. here. We have a snow advisory in Salem today and a high winds of 50 mph.
Katz

 

[acrylic51]

What type of plumbing are you trying to cut? You can get those cutters kinda remind you of pruning shears that will cut up to 1" hard PVC......They will also cut soft tubing as well....The same cutters they use to cut soft tubing at Lowes or HomeDepot......
Honestly there isn't anything that you could apply to stop the leaks.......Is there anyway you can shut the system down and evac the lines? It's possible depending how bad the leak is to apply suction on the run of pipe and apply glue to the leaking area and the suction on the other or opposite end might pull it through the seeping joint......