Ebeneezer wrote: I have several holes in my metal eavestrough. I have tried some so called leak stoppers to no avail. I was wondering if I took a propane torch and burned all the crud off and then polished with a wire brush and then some acid flux and solder if it may work Any ideas? I am assuming the eavestroughs are galvanized so I am not sure if it would stick or not. Failing that - any ideas on a repair technique?
You need to etch off the zinc with some acid first. Then your solder will stick. Tom
I have several holes in my metal eavestrough. I have tried some so called leak stoppers to no avail.
I was wondering if I took a propane torch and burned all the crud off and then polished with a wire brush and then some acid flux and solder if it may work Any ideas? I am assuming the eavestroughs are galvanized so I am not sure if it would stick or not. Failing that - any ideas on a repair technique?
Aside from these 2 or 3 holes, they are fine everywhere else.
First I wrote:> You need to etch off the zinc with some acid first. Then your solder
Then Chris wrote: T'other way around. Zinc solders quite nicely. Steel does not (or at least not with plumbing solder). The issue is whether you can clean
the zinc coating well enough to solder to without scratching off so much zinc you can't get a full seal.
I wonder if something like JBWeld would work or whether I'd have the same non-sticking issue?
Seems a shame (no make that incomprehensible) that there is not some way to patch an eavestrough.... we need to bring the entire intellect of the known world to bear on this issue....(please..LOL)
T'other way around. Zinc solders quite nicely. Steel does not (or at least not with plumbing solder). The issue is whether you can clean the zinc coating well enough to solder to without scratching off so much zinc you can't get a full seal.
In the end, it probably won't work at all that well.
If I had some holes in galvanized eavestroughing I had to patch, I'd be more inclined to use epoxy or bondo over some sort of mesh.
Lowe's has some roof repair stuff. It has about 1/4 inch thick tar, with a mylar backer. I used some on my mobile home, and it worked nicely. Had a couple places on the roof which were dripping through. It also mentions that you can use it for gutters repair. It comes in two widths, I think. 3 inch and 6 inch. It's about $12 a roll for the wide stuff I bought.
Tar and mylar tape... Lowe's. Oh, I forgot to mention, it needs to be warm for the tar to stick. But, at least where I am, it's plenty warm these days.
That sounds worth a try - only problem is, I am in the great white north and I do not believe we have Lowe's here. Would there be something else on the product (like a more specific name) that maybe I could look for at Home Depot or similar places that we do have here in Canuckville?
Which "non-sticking" issue? My comment was regarding trying to solder galvanized (or otherwise soft solderable) sheet metal to galvanized gutter. In order to do that, you have to remove the paint from the gutter and clean the galvanized sufficiently to be able to solder to it. It's my belief that by the time you've cleaned it that well, you've scratched off enough zinc that you'll have bare steel spots. The solder will still stick (to the remnants of the zinc), but there will be so much bare steel (where the solder won't stick) that you won't get a waterproof patch. Besides, the steel will now rust.
You could silver solder/braze a patch, but, frankly, I doubt that many people could accomplish a satisfactory patch that way ...
I'm certain that epoxy, bondo or JBWeld can do it. Clean it thoroughly, avoid coarse abrasives (so you don't expose bare steel if you can help it), and make sure that all bare metal is covered by the glue. To "span" the hole (support the epoxy over the hole), you could use some aluminum sheet or even window screen scraps.
It's better if the glue is moderately thick, or it'll just run off (ie: straight West Systems epoxy is almost water-thin). So you may need to use a thickener if the glue is thin. Fine sawdust will "do" if you have nothing better.
Commercially, gutter installers use some sort of asphalt-like caulk (to seal joints). Even ordinary (preferably silicone) caulk would work if the holes were small and it had time to cure properly.
: > For my application, it was worth every penny. : >
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: > I was wondering if I took a propane torch and burned all the crud off and : > then polished with a wire brush and then some acid flux and solder if it : > may : > work Any ideas? I am assuming the eavestroughs are galvanized so I am not : > sure if it would stick or not. Failing that - any ideas on a repair : > technique? : >
: > Aside from these 2 or 3 holes, they are fine everywhere else. : >
: > thanks : >
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: : If you're around the 416, there's both a Lowes and a Home Depot abt 50 miles south of the border in Watertown NY.
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