I believe I have a leak in the lead bend of my toilet. Fortunately, its not leaking where it goes into the cast iron waste pipe stack, but I think it has a small hole or cracked somwhere past the toilet flange. I have to remove more of the ceiling in the basement to see. Are there any ways to seal a lead bend leak? Epoxy or J-weld?
Sometimes you can poke a hole in lead with a toilet auger. Sometimes lead cracks. You'll have to get an eyeball on where it's leaking. If it's a small hole I would sand it and goop some silicone rubber on it.
Lead is easy to solder. If it wasn't, there would be no stained glass windows. Best to use a 60/40 alloy to take advantage of the lower solder melting point. Clean area well and use a brush on flux. Buy some sheet lead at a plumbing supply house, or whatever is handy, and practice on that until you feel comfortable with your skills.
Joe
Epoxy works well. The best solution is to cut it out and replace with PVC, but if the pipe is in good condition, I would leave it and repair it. A piece of nylon mesh makes excellent reinforcement of epoxy and would allow going all the way around the pipe.
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