My well tank sprung a leak

[jimsullivan]

Last night I turned on my water and found there was none. At first I thought that a pipe froze. Then I go to the pit where my tank is. It took hours to even get in there since the entry was buried in ice and snow. In that underground pit is my tank with the pressure switch. The instant I looked in there I knew there was a big problem. The pit had over 4 feet of water in it, my bladder tank was sideways more or less floating as the plastic pipes were still attached. The pressure switch electrical part was under water (yet the breaker never blew).

I shut off the power and put a sump pump in there and pumped it out. After it was empty, I put the tank back on it's base, checked all the piping for breaks (none existed), and thoroughly dried out the pressure switch. I turned it back on and it worked again. That's when I noticed a small pinhole leak in the tank blasting against the wall of the pit.

OK, I need a new tank, but it's going to be a few weeks until I can afford one. I took some JB Weld and glued a sheetmetal screw into the hole. I am going to let it dry all day before I turn it back on, and got some bottled water from a neighbor for the day. My question is whether this will hold? I know JB Weld is pretty strong. I scraped all the paint to the bare metal before I applied the JB Weld. I found a thick screw that threaded in tightly, put the JB under the head and tightened it. Then I spread the JB all over the area next to the tank, covering about one inch all the way around the screw.

Has anyone done this?

PS. The bladder is still fine. I drained all the water before I did this patch and used a torch to get it totally dry. I released all the air from the bladder too, not that it was necessary, since the bladder is in the top of the tank, the leak is in the bottom. I have since refilled the tank air in the bladder without any air coming out of the water drain valve, which is still open while the JB dries.

Jim

[Nate Nagel]

It'll probably work, but I won't consider it permanent. I did the same repair on an oil pan, and it held but weeped a little. I suspect you will find the same.

If you could braze it that might work better, but I understand that that might be problematic given the weather and location.

nate

[dpb]

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I'd have cut a rubber washer from a piece of old inner tube or similar and put it on the screw w/ a flat washer. It would hold leak-free as long as there's enough metal around the screw hole for the threads to hold the pressure.

I've not used JB Weld, but I have epoxied things like automobile radiators and had them hold for years--of course, they're lower pressure but much higher temperatures.

[Pete C.]

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable temporary fix. With the threads from the screw taking most of the load, the JB Weld should work fine. Leave the sump pump in place so if it does start leaking again at least the tank won't end up floating again. Replace the tank as soon as you can.

[Bob F]

If the bladder hits the screw inside the tank, I would ecpect the screw to puncture the bladder quickly.

[willshak]

on 12/18/2007 4:27 PM [e-mail] said the following:

Many pressure tanks have the bladder in the bottom and it is that which fills with water, while above the bladder, the tank is filled with the pressurized air. You may have put the screw through the rubber bladder. The water may leak out of the bladder under pressure and fill the area around the bladder, and possibly into the air chamber.

[terry]

Not familiar with bladder tanks; but based on our experieeince with non-bladder tanks if there is enough air retained in the tank to provide pressure it may work ok for while?

[The Reverend Natural Light]

I have heard of similar repairs holding temporarily. It would be wise to shut off the pump and drain the pressure when you're not using it. Should it fail, that pool of water will wash dirt into the well.