Easy minor water leak repair?

[KenK]

Sometimes you have a small connection leak in a water system that you do not have to time to properly repair right now - teflon tape on threads, replace connector, whatever.

For example, I've been pestered with these problems in the water feed to my evaporative cooler the past few days but have other urgent more important problems to take care of. Fix one of those 'little' problems and a related one soon arises. You know how often the 'simple' little problems one starts on multiply and end up taking many hours you really don't have to spare. Trip to store, searching for that special tool, added related problems, accidents during repair that cause new problems, etc.

To get to my question - is there a spray or tape product that one can use to quickly temporarily fix such problems until you have the time to deal with them properly?

TIA

[bob haller]

a buddy of mine cleanded and dried the area very well, he heated the connection with a torch to dry it out, then cleaned and applied epoxy.

the problem a temporary fix can have? it might begin leaking later when no one is home

the moisture trapped in the joint can prevent a leak free fix.

if it was mine i would call a plumber or fix it right

[Don Y]

"Plumbing takes three trips"

Depends on where the leak is located. E.g., pinhole leaks in a copper pipe would be handled differently than a failed compression fitting.

Note that you also need to be concerned with how easily you can "undo" any damage your PTF (permanent temporary fix) causes. You probably don't want to turn a 2 hour repair into a weekend job!

Where are your leaks?

[hrhofmann]

I prefer to put a clamp around a rubber tape or plug as a temporary fix, easily undone and doesn't damage anything that would preclude a "real" fix.

[My 2 Cents]

If you don't have time to fix it correctly, when will you have time to do it over? That said... yeah, hose clamps with rubber from an old innertube... slip couplings ... hacksaw or sawsall with a metal cutting blade and various plugs, caps, tees, ells, pieces and sizes of pipe... think rent house standards.

[DerbyDad03]

I've never tried it, and probably never will, but it seems to answer your "quickly temporarily fix" question. This is just one example of this type of product:

[Vic Smith]

Nope.

[Micky]

If not, might try to drain the leak water to some place safe. A trough to the eave? A piece of scrap gutter?

Ultimate example, medium-small ieak under sink, filled bucket. I emptied bucket but didn't want to do that every hour, all night, so put the bucket on a box ,ran a siphon tube from the bucket to under the toilet seat (had to uise a big plastic soda straw to make it long enough) and amazingly, once the siphon started going, it was self-regulating, and drained faster when the bucket level was high, and slower when it was low. Took no tending in the two weeks it took for the landlord to send a plumber. I don't know how to predict what kind of siphon will do this. Some relationship between the maximum and minimum heights of the water, and the length and diameter of the hose.

[bob haller]

i had a drain leak under my sink the trap had rusted. so i wrapped the trap with electric tape, that fixed the leak, and i honestly forgot about it......

till perhaps 5 years later, i discovered it again.......

all hat reaimed was the tape the trap was totally rusted away. I was redoing the kitchen so it didnt matter

[bob haller]

i had a drain leak under my sink the trap had rusted. so i wrapped the trap with electric tape, that fixed the leak, and i honestly forgot about it......

till perhaps 5 years later, i discovered it again.......

all hat remaimed was the tape the trap was totally rusted away. I was redoing the kitchen so it didnt matter

[Stormin Mormon]

HF used to have some plumbers leak tape. I've used it, but on a drain I have not checked since then. Might have worked, might not.

[KenK]

Don Y wrote in news:njhm12$jjo$ [e-mail]:

Currently water feed to swamp cooler. At garden hose connection to the reducer that feeds the small connector and line the cooler uses. Then another at the cooler itself. I 'fixed' both of these a week ago with some teflon tape on the threads but evidently that wasn't enough as the leaks returned after a few days.

[Stormin Mormon]

My old boss used teflon tape, and then some Rectorseal #5 on top of the teflon tape. Worked well, for him.

[Mo Taxes]

Garden hose is prolly not the best choice for plumbing in a swamp cooler. Pex maybe?

[KenK]

Stormin Mormon wrote in news:RvR7z.57475$i% [e-mail]:

This morning I dumped the 1/4" black plastic hose from the garden hose adapter I had tried on the cooler and used 1/4" copper line with new connectors as I had always done in the past. So far, so good. Hope it continues to work. 118 predicted for this Monday, very hot weekend to come too. Probably more next week. Hot for this early in the year,

[KenK]

Mo Taxes wrote in news:V_ydnSb9mO6mAP3KnZ2dnUU7-e [e-mail]:

I dunno. Need about 80' of line from the water spigot to the cooler. Garden hose is cheap and lasts for years.