I have a leak in one of my solar panels for my pool. While I will need to replace the panels in a few years, I'd like to keep them for another year or two before replacing them. The problem is that water travels through the panels under pressure, so I'm thinking that a dab of caulking would get blown out pretty fast... The panels themselves are pretty old (I would estimate around 12+ years), so I'm not sure what will adhere to them. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.
Thanks
John
I repaired my auto radiators plastic top 5 years ago with epoxy its under 16lb, 190-200f or so pressure and heat. Fish tanks are under pressure and held together with silicone adhesive. Auto parts stores sell a varity of silicone sealants by maybe Dow. Expoxy may be best but a fitting may just be loose after 12 years. Key is a clean surface for a good bond for whatever you use.
Bear in mind that Epoxy won't hold up to UV exposure.
Which brings me to my next points of question -- how do you best prep a 12 year old rubbery solar panel so glue will stick to it, and can Shoe Goo or epoxy withstand Water and Chlorine? (I'm also considering a bicycle tire repair kit...)
Right now the plan is to use a small drill to make the hole bigger, insert the glue into the housing (I don't care if I clog that particular part of the panel), cover it with a black rubber patch, and glue that patch directly to the panel. That way, at least there's no UV to worry about. John
I think you might get better answers if you gave more specific information on what the panel you need to patch is made of, and maybe even the name of the manufacturer and a model number? For that matter, the manufacturer may have a repair kit, or information that would be VERY helpful to you.
Ours are vertical parallel tubes about 1/4" in diameter, fed from a manifold up to another. They are joined, but the tubing can be easily identified. To repair most leaks in a tube, just cut the tube where it enters the lower and upper manifold, then insert a Hex head screw into the small tube stub, coated liberally with silicone sealer. Some folk insert the screw first into a suitably sized "O" ring, but if the cut is square and you use enough silicone, your're OK. Give it a day to cure and the repair is permanent. Nonny
I don't have any clue of the manufacturer or specific material -- we inherited them... Which makes it hard. It is a rubber-like material, and it is flat (no tubes...). In any case I tried my patch yesterday. I used a bicycle repair kit patch (the largest in the set) with some glue I picked up at Canadian tire (the back said it was good for salt water, fresh water aquariums, and was good for any temperature... Don't remember the name though).
In any case, I washed the panels, and wiped them down as best I could. I forced some glue down into the hole, coated the panel around the hole, coated the bottom of the patch, applied the patch, put glue over the edges of the patch... So hopefully that will hold it. I also repaired a hole in a connector between two panels, but I don't think that will hold, as there are tons of cracks in the connector. I'll replace the connector itself once I get some time to pick a new one up. I might have made a mistake though by installing it last night, because while it was 18C (65F), when I was installing it, it happened to snow last night, and worse, the snow actually stayed... I'll let you know how it turns out... (it's supposed to be 17 and Sunny on Thursday again, so I'll be running the panels then...)
John
You didnt say its rubbery, epoxy needs a hard clean surface, tire repair kit is just contact cement, I would go the Dow auto sealant route and clean with laquer thinner.
Take a look at your pool. If it is spitting any black particles, it's time to junk it. It sounds like yours has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. I had a system like that. I had to purchase special 2" inside nipples to fix leaks. Then one spring, I fired it up, and it looked like a cloud of black smoke coming out of the outlets. I shut it down immediately, and called the solar guys who came and installed another system. One with a better guarantee and a better design. I learned a lot from the first fiasco, which cost me $3,000 for the first five years. The new ones have more sections which hold together with hose clamps, and the short sections can be fixed of changed. The other one was all glued togethter, and good luck with that.
Steve
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A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
My only solar panels are about 7 years old. It all cost me $3,500.
One leak in this entire time. I paid for parts (cheap) and the company fixed the leak.
(Mojave Desert)
Ours is Solar Something ......... last one was Larry, Moe, and Curly. I swear the people who installed it looked like gypsies. The guy who invented some solar heating stuff there in Vegas, then was murdered by the crazy neighbor. Well, the people who bought his collapsing company milked it for every dollar, then fled.
Steve
John -
How is your patch holding up? We encountered a similar situation Friday with our solar panels. When I turned on the solar to heat our pool, a foutain of water spurted from our roof. After climbing on the roof to examine the situation, we found 3 small slits in one of the panels. Like your solar system, we inhertied the system when we bought the house so we don't know the model or manufacturer either. Our panels are also 'flat', not tubes.
I look forward to your feedback. If your tire repair kit and glue worked, we are going to try. Thank you.
Valerie
replying to Valerie, Gino wrote: Anyway updates from these posts were in 2016?
replying to John, Lenora Sheila Faulkner wrote: did you ever find anything that worked?
I fixed mine with a regular brown tire plug on each end of the bad spot. Just be aware this just fixes that one but there are going to be more coming. Once they start blowing open the rest are not far behind.
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