Fixing Plastic Freshwater Tank

[allanpeda]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Updated news.

I have done the repair. But don't know till I fill the tank if the repair is effective (or for how long)

I used the technique in post #6 from Allanpeda in the video posted. It uses heat treating the polyethelene.

Also I blobbed on a few test dollops. They have stuck pretty well but they can be sctratched off. Maybe a few more days hardening, maybe it will be fine in the larger repair.

Mark

Not good. Well you tried. Perhaps it would be better if the adhesive were inside the tank, so the hydrostatic pressure is pushing it into the crack, but then you wouldn't be able to get that torch in to prep the surface.

Maybe this will buy enough time to save up for a new tank.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Of course it does. Thats where you sit.




yes, you're on for the beer

lol--that is the big hle in topsides middle-- thelil hole in bottom is where the water came in for a bit--i used a champagne cork, bed sheet material(hay--cloth is cloth..LOL) and epoxy-- so far, so good-- but i wanna do a better job..>LOL....

[memiller279]

I used to work for a company that sold polyethlene tanks that came blank. We would cut a hole and the would use a little handheld machine that we would put the fitting in - I believe it was a Makita -and it would spin in a fitting (or a patch) at high speed and melt the two pieces together.

Depending on where you are I would check with marine sanitation companies, or tank companies and see if they have something like that. It would take about 10 minutes (once you got the tank to the shop). Other than that it's really hard to stick stuff to that material.

[capn_billl]

Using a controlled heat source and melting a filler material into the gap is the only long term solution for Polyethylene. You can try it yourself or contact someone with plastic welding equipment, (like me).