I was tightening the nut to the bottom flange of my old copper immersion tank when a tiny fountain of water appeared.
I'm draining it now.
Can it be mended tomorrow? How?
(There's a really good plumbers in Bromyard, they sell 3/4 inch olives, hemp string etc.)
Can I mend it or do I have to buy another?
The tank has 4 connections, cold in, rayburn in and out, hot out.
I can't light the rayburn without the water connected or its water tank may crack.
George
Accessible? Spot of solder?
Thomas Prufer
Depends where the leak is, how old the tank is too, as if there is one dodgy bit, there could be many. I would definitely plan for the worst myself. Brian
It will be accessible when i've drained it and unbolted the 4 pipes.
I have an electric solder iron and a little gas burner, but wouldnt the whole copper cylinder have to be heated up somehow?
[g]
I repeat my advice from the 10th of May
George Miles pretended :
It will need a decent blow lamp, at the very least - the mass of the copper will draw heat away from where you are trying to solder, quite rapidly.
No, just around the (scrupulously clean) pinhole.
First, See if there'a hole in the tank, or if it's leakign around something:
With a similar problem I ended up buying a new tank with 2" of foam cover. As a result of being in a hard water area there was much crud in the old tank. It was impossible to remove the immersion heater even after the tank had been removed. I was able to sell it for scrap.
That's the exact video I looked at 2 nights ago, dereton33 I bought hemp string from Bromyard, fixed the flange , but then the hole appeared on the other side!
I've removed the tank and am taking it into Bromyard tomorrow for advice, might get the hole brazed or soldered, might have to get another tank..
George
People have been soldering copper sheet with a heavy soldering irons for eons with no problems
If there's a pinhole in the copper, it's very likely there's more incipient ones. Make a temporary repair & replace the tank later.
Even a small leak can do a lot of damage if not noticed.
heavy, yes. If it's an iron for electronics forget it.
NT
Likely to be a tough thing to solder IMHO, but I have used the "plumbers" epoxy putty very successfully on this sort of thing in the past.
Yes, when you have got good access and are able to clean it with an acid flux. Don't really have enough info on the story to judge. I'm guessing that it might not be that easy to take out in order to work on it in good light, and in a favourable orientation.
+1
If the copper cylinder has white spots on it {?} these are potential leaks caused by electrolyses - brass to copper. Probably spelt wrong.
I was unscrewing my old immersion heater to replace it, and succeeded in ripping the surrounding copper of the tank. I had no idea the copper was so thin. I had some small printed circuit RF coils with copper housings, and I was able to cut these up to make small copper pieces which I soldered over the holes in the cylinder. I had to buy a more powerful blowlamp to get the cylinder hot enough.
<me too>
Our tank was ageing, uninsulated, and obviously scaled up from the way the boiler kept cycling when trying to heat water. With the new boiler and some new rads I had them replace it too.
It leaked when they moved it.
When I leaned it over (outside) to look inside the bottom fell off...
Replace it.
Andy
Uk.d-i-y Xmas panto no.3 ?
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