Auto Radiator stop leak plugs copper pinhole.

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HANDYHACKERinFL

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Yeah I'm crazy. After rerouting the whole house hot side through the attic with cpvc, the cold sprung a leak. Something wrong with the way the pipe was run through the slab, electrolosis, settling, defective copper...You could hear it at night when it was quiet, especially if you pressed your ear against the bathroom wall. And the carpet waas getting wet from the wet slab. I had allready charged the landlord $800 for that last leak, and didnt want to go through the ordeal of crawling through the attic and opening up the walls again. SO I had a light bulb go off (although it may be a dim one, or a flickerer) I cut the supply line after the pressure tank, and watched the water slowly drop, due to the leak. I began pouring the poison of choice into the pipe, it was a liquid version of radiator stop leak from the autoparts store. Put the whole bottle in. Glued the pipe back together with a slip connector, waited 30 min. and switched the pump back on. I went into the bathroom and ran the water for 5 seconds to move the goop closer to the leak. Then I waited about 4 hours, and the sound of leaking water had subsided! I removed all the screens, let the system flush for 20 minutes, and only drink/cook with reverse osmosis water. Its been 3 weeks, still no leak.:D

If it comes back though, I'm fixing it proper.
 

Cass

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If you used alumnaseal it won't last long as I believe it is powdered aluminum and that won't work for long on copper. Electrolysis will happen. Radiators are brass or plastic
 

Master Plumber Mark

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potable drinking water???

I hate to ask but isnt that sutff lethal????

I hope that you have flushed out the system thouroughly

or someone might end up real sick or go blind some day


I suppose if you are only showering and flushing the toilets
as long as it dont get drunk....I guess it will dilllute


look on the bright side...
It might make yo ill but
at least you did not have to pay a plumber


 
R

Rancher

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Cass said:
If you used alumnaseal it won't last long as I believe it is powdered aluminum and that won't work for long on copper. Electrolysis will happen. Radiators are brass or plastic
Brass is real close to copper being an alloy of copper and zinc, and most radiators now are aluminum with plastic end pieces, so they will fail sooner.

Rancher
 

HANDYHACKERinFL

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Yes its toxic

It is not manufactured for household plumbing. Its a temporary fix. The 1/2" copper pipes in the slab have a history of leaking. I think it will last a year, maybe more. I flushed it thouroughly, and I dont drink or cook with the water. I have reverse osmosis. Its a mechanical leak stop, the chemistry of the product is a mystery to me. The label said it contains an ORGANIC ALKALI. Which means its corrosive? It also has a lubricant which protects seals, which may be coating the insides of the pipes, slowly leaching into my water

There are automotive stop leaks that are copper based.

Someone should invent a household safe stop leak.

After not so careful consideration, I did it. It worked. I flushed the sytem, and I dont drink the water. It aint goin to kill me, unless its radioactive, and It saved me from rerouting the plumbing (cold only, I allready did the hot side) for 2 bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry, through the attic. Which by the way I will probably have to do eventually, and bill the landlord. (I allready charged him $50 for the stop leak fix) So how much should I charge for the inevitable reroute? I think $500 is really cheap, $800 is good for me, but a plumber would probably want $2000-3000 right?
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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HANDYHACKERinFL said:
It aint goin to kill me, unless its radioactive, ?


I'd charge around $1000 and go down if need be.


In regards to the quote above, here is another true story of what we subject ourselves to.


Customer of mine from 18 years ago, just bought a farmhouse with a huge ass addition on the back of it. Copper pipes were shot under the slab because the idiot plumber didn't wrap them to protect from the concrete. I also had to do some other plumbing to get it set up to his satisfaction including a washer/dryer hookup and out to the outside gray water system. Mind you this guy complained and brow beat me to the end....and I was only charging $35/hour at the time. (early 90's) It ended up being around $1500 work but believe me........I did a ton of work including $400 worth of materials to boot. (water pump/tank, copper pipe and PVC fittings)

The Orkin man happened to be called in the same day. From lower parts of Kentucky, pretty boy and talked with a strong accent. This dumb SOB started drilling holes around the perimeter of the home not thinking that he could possibly be drilling into a cistern.

I was working on the opposite side of the wall and noticed the sound of the drilling was starting to get closer to me knowing I was working really close to the cistern pump and tank.

This guy was drilling and injecting some chemical to stop insect intrusion.

I stopped him after he had drilled every two feet down the cistern wall.......he did nearly two of three walls before I stopped him.

I immediately told the customer who was already at odds with me about the job to begin with and here's his reply verbatim, "I'm not going to worry about it until I start shi**ing yellow."

Fast forward 12 months later, my working relationship was over with him the day I laid the bill on him, his wife acquired a foot/leg problem 3 months after they moved in.

She kept going to the doctors, kept blowing it off as a softball injury from years prior. She finally after excruciating pain got a second opinion and went to another doctor, before she even got home from the doctor's office they called and told her to immediately return to the office.

Cancer, lots of it and it was an extremely aggressive one at that and they amputated that leg that very day. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Someone tell me if you think those poisons that were shot into that cistern possibly didn't play a part in the matter. The guy has a wife and three boys....and that statement he made to me was the most selfish statement I've ever heard anyone say with me knowing that pesticides are notorious for causing health problems.

I found this out about his wife indirectly from a buddy that still dealt with this fool and I mentioned again about the Orkin man pumping that cistern with poison through the drilled holes. The buddy didn't feel comfortable telling the guy that it could of been the problem/source. ??????

I don't talk to that buddy anymore either. Stupid ignorance all the way up the dummy chain.


Working with PVC glue and cleaner originated in the early 80's. You'll start seeing health problem originate from those who spent a lifetime working around these VOC's and the class action lawsuits won't provide any comfort to those with respiratory problems and other possible associated problems (cancer)
 

Cass

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Oh yes, and the main solvents used in it is terahydrofuran109-99-9, Methyl Ethyl Ketone 78-93-3. Cyclohexanone, and acetone. Same for the cleaner.

They used to use Methylene Chloride years back as the solvent.
 

Dubldare

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You Sir, are a dumb@ss.






Sorry to offend anyone else, but this type of crap must not be condoned, legitimized or empathised with. The potential for health hazard should outweigh someone's 'not wanting to hassle' to do something the right way.

Why didn't you just call your landlord to have him fix the problem, instead of thinking you're handy? Or maybe you just want to get your rent reduced.


Is this a single family or multiple dwelling? :mad:

Are you served by a public water system? :mad:

Don't tell me you have a family, or even a room-mate. :mad:





Take that $50 you charged him and buy a book on logic or deductive reasoning. You need it bad.
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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Cookie said:
Absolutely, without a doubt it attributed to, or if not infact, caused her illness. This, I do know, what I am talking about. Sad story but, to be honest with you, I heard so many of these kinds. Sometimes, just like you say--it seems they are in complete denial; but, then, their are those who just doesn't know the score.'


This PVC glue do they still make it today? I know my husband used it.



Yep, it pissed me off when he acted in such a way. He was at the time a big well-known framer for one of the biggest builders in the area, he acted invincible but now I think he deserved every ounce of worry of fear he had to what he holds dear and true to him (wife) Not to mention the poor kids. If they are drinking that water it's no telling what is in store for them.

My mom's sister is going for 5 treatments of radiation for the prior diagnosis of breast cancer. Last week I did for free two service calls; one for a stage 4 leukemia patient that used to be a hairdresser and she knows that the chemicals from perms and hair dye caused it.....she knew it was leukemia before the doctor even uddered the horrible words; she had an intuition/gut feeling.

The other lady is stage 4 lung cancer; she knew she had a spot on her lungs for years (former 30 year smoker) and she always would get checked....two years was the timeline the insurance afforded her to get the tests. She had an intuition that the "spot" was more than insignificant like the doctors were making it out to be.

Sure enough, a couple months after she even switched doctors and got the same response, the spot grew for nearly 18 months before it was discovered it had been growing, rapidly. So she knew in her heart that it was an issue.....and the damn doctors wouldn't let her test it more often.

I installed a 24" stainless steel grab bar in her shower @ no cost for parts or labor.....was only there 40 minutes tops. She had a hospital bed in the living room so she could look out the windows to the farm her and her husband raised a family/fields of tobacco and vegetables. He's in no better shape and she is most likely going to die before he does. It's a shame and she looked drastically different from the way I saw her last year.

I did work for a guy that got diagnosed one month after retirement with stage 3 colon cancer. Two years prior he went in for a test for suspicion that a test came back positive for colon cancer.

The guy who read the results, misread them. The cancer grew those two years until a horrible symptom became apparent......the tests were reread and colon cancer was present initially.

His wife and I talked in length at the time due to my current situation with a loved one I lost right at that time. She cut off all contact with me I'm sure because the truth in numbers regarding statistics and drugs currently taking at the time were signs that the end is/was near.

Sometimes hope is an overused word when the statistics show otherwise. No point getting angry over it. I couldn't. We all end up in the ground just like sewer pipes. lol

Yes. Same glue...............same stuff that will let everyone in the house know you are using it. The same stuff that makes you light headed and accelerated heart rate when you start using it.

If it can bond two plastics together to become one......imagine what it can do to your brain and skin. I am so thankful that I have limited exposure to this stuff today. Another serious CON to using plastic materials....even though it is easier to work with. I always have a fan running when I use it but it doesn't seem to make a difference with screwing with my heart.

The good thing is I could make a small can of glue and cleaner last an entire year but the glue gums up before that time. New sump pump discharges and under vanity/kitchen sinks is the only time I deal with it....short of minor stack replacements.
 
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Dunbar Plumbing

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True true. It's the repeated exposure to chemicals I think is what ties into the long term effects of such situation.

That hairdresser she said was doing 7 hair colorings a week. Not to mention perms.

Limited exposures to all of the above is the best situation.


I can tell you a good way to describe the PVC glue/cleaner situation:

Imagine being in a closed room and there's a can of glue and cleaner. Somebody comes in the room, kicks over the cans,,,some might get on you. You are now breathing Volatile Organic Compounds.


http://www.oatey.com/usenglish_msds/CLN010E5.pdf < Read Section 11


http://www.oatey.com/usenglish_msds/CEM040E5.pdf < Read Section 11

Verbatim >>> Prolonged or repeated overexposure cause dermatitis and damage to the kidney, liver, lungs and the central nervous system.

What is nuts is you won't find too many plumbers wanting to wear a breathing apparatus to protect themselves. Some of those filters are very hard to breathe through.

Now take the life of a plumber that works with this stuff and you have a scenario of that room, that person, those chemicals and we are talking years of exposure. Somehow somewhere it all adds up. Just look at the asbestos workers that used to use that stuff in large buildings. They used to ridicule the fact that it looked like it was snowing inside the building when they installed it.

Asbestosis of the lungs doesn't hit you till you are older....starts growing and nothing to stop it.

And before anyone decides to chime in on this thread with their battle scars that they've drank lead, sipped acetone and washed their hands with gasoline for years....

Don't paint your personal situation that "it didn't hurt me and I'm proof" bullshit to the general viewing public. That nonsense leads to the unknowing taking hazards lightly which in turn can cause harm/danger to those who try it, let alone affecting the loved ones that surround them as well.
 
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Verdeboy

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Not to be a wise-ass or anything, but when I worked as a research chemist back in the late 1980's, the senior researcher, and most respected chemist in the whole company, was this old Latvian guy who used to taste every chemical concoction he brewed up. And then he would spit it out in the sink. He didn't trust any analytical procedure--only his tongue. And, most of the stuff he tasted was extremely toxic. Although he lived to be well into his eighties, that practice has fortunately died out.
 

HANDYHACKERinFL

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Many Molecules

Sorry to interupt, but since I am the dumbass who started this thread....:eek:
Maybe you could install an attic fan to exaust any vapors from this stuff into the environment...ug
and consider sealing your sons room with a toxic primer/sealer...ug
or sell the house and find/build an "organic" one free of toxic nasties and having all the modern energy saving and environmentally friendly innovations?

so about my stop leak in the pipe trick...
yes I was stupid. yes I need to practice deductive reasoning and logic before embarking on experiments that may endanger my health, and especially the health of others. that said, in my defense~
1) there are no hazardous chemical warnings on the radiator sealant like those found on the backs of pesticides, cleaners, solvents, etc. only something that says to keep it off you and out of you because it contains an "Organic Alkali". This doesnt mean its safe, just part of my careless deduction of potential hazard.
2) The system was flushed for 20 minutes, removing 99.9% (my guess) of whatever I put in it.
3)I only use 5 stage reverse osmosis filtered water for cooking and drinking, and I shut the system off during this process of contamination.
4)so the remaining hazard is sooo minimal (I hope) and is reduced to what may be absorbed through the skin when washing, or some one unaware of the potential hazard who drinks from the tap, even though 6000 gallons have passed through these pipes since then.
5)living in certain areas and drinking water from the well or municipal supply unfiltered will no doubt expose you to worse chemicals, pesticide and chemical plant runoff, than that which I have dabbled with.

I will have my water tested, hot side, cold side, and filtered side, and post the results here.

That said, I am still a lazy idiot. I should have got my tools out and ran new pipes and made $600 in two days. (I know its worth $1000, but I only charged him $500 last time, and he only raised the rent to $600 when its worth $750).

Even though my experiment worked, in essence it failed because I violated a laxly enforced rule of plumbing: Do not contaminate the water! LOL

Pvc glue, Lead solder, Toxic Flux, plastic pipes leaching pcb's, Lead pipes :eek: !!

Its like the doctors and hospitals that inadvertantly kill people with toxic or misprescribed medications or iatrogenesis. We all mean well, but shit happens.
So be careful :cool:
 

GRP

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Oh my gosh your going to die some day!

HANDYHACKERinFL, Nice temp. fix, hope it lasts you until you get cold water rerouted or move out!


Hee Hee,,,, I liked your last post!



GRP
 

Cass

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HANDYHACKERinFL,
If you go to the web site of the company that Mfgs. the stuff there may be a contact E mail addy that you could use and ask what the chemicals are that are in it. MSDS sheet should list them. At least you would know what they were. My guess is that all / everything is flushed out. Garys idea of Changing the filters in the RO is good.

Putting foreign substances into potable water systems is just not a good idea. Weird quirky things can happen when you least expect them to, like a water main break happening when you added the goop and sucking the stuff back into the street main only to go to other peoples homes. The odds are maybe 10,000,000 / 1 that that would ever happen but so was this...

I have been driving for 38 years and never heard of this happening but it did to me Tues. at dusk. I was driving down a road at 45 MPH.. A lady was weed whacking along her driveway edge 60' from the road. As I passed her, her weed wacker picked up a stone / pebble and threw it at my truck and hit the window on my sliding side door. The window exploded, sounded like a .22 going off in the truck and sent glass every where in the truck and all over the street. The odds of this happening are probably 10,000,000 / 1.

Stuff happens when you least expect it.
 

HANDYHACKERinFL

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water flows reverse

I wondered how that could happen, now I see. Anyway, Im on a well here, with two anti siphon/ one way valves.
 

Verdeboy

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Cass said:
HANDYHACKERinFL,

I have been driving for 38 years and never heard of this happening but it did to me Tues. at dusk. I was driving down a road at 45 MPH.. A lady was weed whacking along her driveway edge 60' from the road. As I passed her, her weed wacker picked up a stone / pebble and threw it at my truck and hit the window on my sliding side door. The window exploded, sounded like a .22 going off in the truck and sent glass every where in the truck and all over the street. The odds of this happening are probably 10,000,000 / 1.
Stuff happens when you least expect it.

Weed whackers are notorious for shooting out rocks. I think the odds of that happening are a lot lower than that. As far as the water goes, I'd just do a chemical assay, and if it comes out okay, I'd move on. I'd worry more about all the fluorine and chlorine, etc., that has been dumped into our municipal water "for our own good", and which has been poisoning us for decades.

My guess is that there may be traces of various undesirable chemicals left over from the stop-leak in the water at the ppb level. My guess is that the assay will also reveal a thousand other toxic chemicals, heavy metals, etc., at that same level.

BTW, I was listening to Car Talk on NPR last week, and someone called in saying that you can use oatmeal to stop a radiator leak. That would be a good natural alternative. Of course, then you would have to worry about bacteria.:rolleyes:
 
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HANDYHACKERinFL

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Oatmeal would definitely get slimy. So would black pepper and sawdust, to a lesser extent. Cellulose, pharmecuetical grade, may be a good biological leak stopper. whatever grows on it is in the water allready. Ever see the clear nonpathogenic slime that grows/ collect in water filters and storage tanks? Its creepy.
 

Cookie

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GPR,

I saw your subtitle there, so what are you going to die from?? Did you get my message??

By the way, Rugged, I like your last post. :D
 
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