Weeping tanks leads to weeping!

alisdair4

alisdair4

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Isle of Bute
midnightdrifter.net
I have just had an extremely frustrating weekend trying to stop my Plastimo flexible water tanks from weeping. There is no leak in the inner bladder (I have tested this) -but the filler and off-take elbows both weep slightly. Is there a sure fire way of stopping this (I have graunched the screw-caps as tight as I can, but the blasted things still lose a trickle). I had considered using silicon sealant to ensure that there was no miniscule gap between the threads of the tank and the cap -any thoughts as to whether this is worth trying?
 
Pretty sure they seal on an O ring which you can replace. Overtightening distorts the ring and they leak! If you are going to use a sealant then Fernox plumbers sealant is good for wet applications.
 
Mine had a small crack right on the collar where it is reinforced. Looked like the plastic had become a bit brittle in this area. I kept blaming it on the O ring.
 
smithy said:
Mine had a small crack right on the collar where it is reinforced. Looked like the plastic had become a bit brittle in this area. I kept blaming it on the O ring.
Click to expand...

Been there, got the teeshirt! Kept changing o-rings and sanding mating surfaces smooth but leak always reappeared.

Turned out to be hairline crack in plastic collar. The more you tighten, the worse it leaks!!!

Richard
 
Thanks for that. I will take the bl#### tank out again and try to find either a crack or a pinhole. Sounds like Fernox might do the trick, from the description on the website.
 
If it's fernox LX-S you're looking at, it is marvellous stuff in that application, also good for sealing round chain plates and deck furniture.
 
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