how to repair hole in attic tank

loobylou

There's a tiny (pin size) hole in my attic tank which nevertheless leaks a lot of water. Can anybody advise on how to repair it?

Wishbone Ash

Metal or plastic tank?

japbyrne

where on tank is the hole. bottom,middle,top.

Hagar

Drill a bigger hole (diameter to match small bolt in next bit) through the hole. From the inside use a small anodised sp (non-rusting) metal bolt with a metal washer and a rubber washer. Coat the washer with a blob of white mastic , so you can see any gaps in seal, put bolt through hole from inside. Repeat mastic, rubber washer, metal washer then nut on outside. Tighten, allow some time for mastic to set. Hope for the best.

loobylou

Thanks for such quick replies. To answer, plastic tank, hole in corner about a third of the way down. Hagar, had thought to try a patch of Rapid Repair on the outside, do you think it would be any good?

Hagar

If it's on a corner and very small you might try a small soldering iron and weld/melt the plastic a bit. If you need a little extra plastic to melt just pare a bit from top of the tank with a Stanley knife. A different plastic won't melt together properly.

I don't know much about Rapid Repair so I can't advise there sorry.

garyh3

my 2p worth

If its a pin hole than I recon just about anything is gonna stop that leak.

Mastic is probaly what I would use.

im sure a local DIY shop could also advise on what to use thats none toxic and waterproof.


Just drain the water below the hole. Make sure its dry and then fill the hole.

Garyh3

japbyrne

are you able to drop the ball cock, to get below pin hole. might do for now.

loobylou

Many thanks, I'll give that a go!

JamesM

What caused the hole ? A hole doesn't just appear in a plastic tank. If a nail (or similar) caused it, then a repair would be OK. But if there is a weakness in the tank, it may just split wide open - replace it as soon as possible. That's a lot of water to burst down through your ceiling :eek:
Jim.

youtheman

Here's my 2p worth.

How can you sleep soundly at night wondering if a DIY repair will stop water from doing substantial damage to your house. If you do a simple risk assessment and consider the 'probability' and 'consequences' then you'll find that it is 'highly probable' and 'expensive'. This means 'very high risk' of water damage to your house.

I'm sure your insurance might also have an opinion on this.

If it was a hole on a flate section then I'd drill a larger hole and install a bulkhead fitting, blanked. But a hole in the corner is very hard to repair.

My advise would be to replace the complete tank.

ttm

loobylou wrote: »

Thanks for such quick replies. To answer, plastic tank, hole in corner about a third of the way down. Hagar, had thought to try a patch of Rapid Repair on the outside, do you think it would be any good?

Rapid Repair doesn't stick very well to black plastic water tanks and any sort of repair of that type would always be better done on the inside of the tank so the water pressure tends to hold it in place rather than push it off.

Could it be this hole has always been there and that the ball valve is getting a bit leaky and allowing the water level to come up higher than it did previously. If a plumber noticed this or even caused the hole in the first place he might have just covered up the damage by lowering the water level?

AckwelFoley

Do as hagar says or buy a new tank.

end of story.

Wishbone Ash

If it's only a 'pin hole' I'd put superglue in it.

JamesM

Unless you know what caused the hole - replace the tank !
Jim.

ttm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

If it's only a 'pin hole' I'd put superglue in it.

Have I missed something about the hole filling qualities of superglue? Might work if you sick your hand over the hole with superglue.:eek:

If the tank has no other signs of damage I think I'd have a go at "welding" it with a soldering iron.

I'd also be interested to know if its a fibreglass tank (won't weld but any epoxy resin would stick to it and fill the hole) or a plastic tank. Not sure why but I'd be more worried about a hole in a fibreglass tank.

Also how big is this tank? A couple of gallons of water in a central heating header tank might be less worrying than 40 or 50 gallons in a badly supported cold water tank.

Still good advice to replace it.

loobylou

Just to bring things up to date. Although only pinprick leak on outside the inside of tank seems to have about a half inch split on the surface at least. I've "welded" it with a soldering iron and it seems to be holding but I can't rest easy knowing that it might give at any time.
Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions!

ttm

I guess that means you are going to replace it? Just a thought in the mean time....you could put a couple of rachet straps (don't over tighten or you could make things worse) around the tank above and below the problem area to reduce the chance that the tank will suddenly burst. That may not stop the split developing but might give you some piece of mind.

Any chance the problem was caused by allowing the tank to take all the weight of the connected pipes or that it wasn't correctly supported over the whole of the base. Both can lead to the tank to distort and eventually fail.

niceirishfella

youtheman wrote: »

Here's my 2p worth.

How can you sleep soundly at night wondering if a DIY repair will stop water from doing substantial damage to your house. If you do a simple risk assessment and consider the 'probability' and 'consequences' then you'll find that it is 'highly probable' and 'expensive'. This means 'very high risk' of water damage to your house.

I'm sure your insurance might also have an opinion on this.

If it was a hole on a flate section then I'd drill a larger hole and install a bulkhead fitting, blanked. But a hole in the corner is very hard to repair.

My advise would be to replace the complete tank.

i'm with youtheman on this. Replace it - and have done with it. keep all the reciepts and make an insurance claim on it if its way over your excess. I had to do this once, and it was worth it in the long run.

loobylou

Thanks everyone, tank replaced, sleeping well.