I had a burst pipe in a crawl space, and when I managed to get back there I discovered it was 3/8" soft copper. Unfortunately I had no 3/8" fittings. (do they even make 3/8" fittings, other than compression?)
So I "fixed" it by getting the hole as small as I could with pliers, and then by wrapping two layers of silicon tape around it. Then I put some cable ties around the tape for good measure.
Seems to be holding so far. Assuming it does not blow immediately, should it be good indefinitely or will it deteriorate? Anyone use it for this purpose before?
It doesn't "deteriorate", but it's not going to last for long. Simple expansion and contraction will cause a leak and as long as the leak stays ahead of sediment plugging the leak, it will continue to grow larger. It'll get damp, drip, squirt, and then let loose, probably sooner than later. Best to get a better fix while the weather's decent for working.
Replacing the pipe is obviously the right thing to do but I have a little storry that might help some of you in a real emergency.
Years ago I saw ad on late night TV for a product called Magic Tape and I just laughed to think anyone would believe those rediculous claims.. One day I was in a trade supply shop and they had a similar product on the shelf and I decided to buy a roll. The stuff sat in my tool box for over a year until one very cold night I walk down to my basement a noticed a leak in one of my boiler pipes. My 125 year old house doesn't have much insulation and the idea of shutting down and draining my system was out of the question.
I grabbed that roll of tape and damb if it didn't work just great. It stopped the leak completely and I proceeded to completely forget the pipe needed repair until the follow spring. When I started to cut off the tape ( it bonds to itself and becomes a solid blob) to do a permanent repair I was shocked to see the pipe had actually seperated from the fitting and there was a gap of almost 1/8", but still no leak. The vulcanised blob had stetched but held the pipes together and I was really impressed. Since then I haven't been able to find the same product but I have used the product from the TV ad ( Magic Tape) and it's not as easy to work but has saved my butt more than once.
I don't work for the company I'm just a statified consumer.
Bonded wet to copper pipe. The stuff I used back then wasn't Magic Tape and for the life of me I can't remember it's name on the package and the supplier can't either. I have used Magic Tape many times since then and yes if stretched properly before application it works real well. If I' not mistaken the tape is even rated for high voltage but don't quote me on that.
The way you got it now, you will be leaking soon. You'd be better off with one of those clamps with a rubber insert, but why bother. A compression fitting is more permanent and probably cheaper too.
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