scooters reef
New member
I just jumped in to the group order Jon is placing, and now it looks like I may need to beg for anyone with space for what I have already (not much, has just been running because it was irritating seeing it in the garage).
My closed loop plumbing sprung a leak a month ago. I cut the valve to that line, but it was just behind the bulkhead. Had to screw a plug into the bulkhead fitting from inside the tank, then opened the union to drain that section so I could repair it. The repair itself it doing fine, but I just today pulled the plug back out of the bulkhead fitting.
Ummmm, now the bulkhead is leaking. I made a BIG mistake getting Schedule 40 fittings from online marine dealers, and have had other problems in the past. I SHOULD have stopped right there, drained, and put in Schedule 80, but I managed to get enough of them to work. Once this started leaking today, I tried to tighten it some, and it skipped a thread making a bigger leak. I retightened it as far as I felt safe, so it's back to just a slow drip (probably slower than original, but obviously not good).
Now the biggest problem: The fitting is only a few inches from the bottom of the tank. I have NO clue how I'm going to replace this fitting, without having to drain the whole tank!
I'm not hopefull, but trying one thing in the meantime since it has worked before, although with a slower leak and not at the bottom of a tank this big. I don't want ANYTHING besides silicone on my tank itself. So, I put a bead of silicone around the outside of the fitting. I HOPE the water will not break the bead and come out around the threads instead. Once the silicone is cured enough, then use plumber's putty or something else around the threads (if the fitting needs changed can always cut it out at the point, just dont want anything on the tank acrylic itself).
Any ideas? It is only a drip (so far) so no emergency, but I can't think of any way to replace those fittings without draining the tank!
My closed loop plumbing sprung a leak a month ago. I cut the valve to that line, but it was just behind the bulkhead. Had to screw a plug into the bulkhead fitting from inside the tank, then opened the union to drain that section so I could repair it. The repair itself it doing fine, but I just today pulled the plug back out of the bulkhead fitting.
Ummmm, now the bulkhead is leaking. I made a BIG mistake getting Schedule 40 fittings from online marine dealers, and have had other problems in the past. I SHOULD have stopped right there, drained, and put in Schedule 80, but I managed to get enough of them to work. Once this started leaking today, I tried to tighten it some, and it skipped a thread making a bigger leak. I retightened it as far as I felt safe, so it's back to just a slow drip (probably slower than original, but obviously not good).
Now the biggest problem: The fitting is only a few inches from the bottom of the tank. I have NO clue how I'm going to replace this fitting, without having to drain the whole tank!
I'm not hopefull, but trying one thing in the meantime since it has worked before, although with a slower leak and not at the bottom of a tank this big. I don't want ANYTHING besides silicone on my tank itself. So, I put a bead of silicone around the outside of the fitting. I HOPE the water will not break the bead and come out around the threads instead. Once the silicone is cured enough, then use plumber's putty or something else around the threads (if the fitting needs changed can always cut it out at the point, just dont want anything on the tank acrylic itself).
Any ideas? It is only a drip (so far) so no emergency, but I can't think of any way to replace those fittings without draining the tank!
