What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill
the water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it
no longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to
locate the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I
can mark the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of
sealing it?

Broadback wrote:
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill
the water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it
no longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to
locate the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I
can mark the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of
sealing it?
Drill a hole and then fit a nut and bolt with washers to seal
From the outside:-
Bolt head
metal washer
rubber washer
wall of water butt
rubber washer
metal washer
Nut

Well some years ago I did it with some pvc glue and a small sheet of thin
pvc. It lasted a couple of years. The plastic they are made of now looks to
be different and mor kind of rubbery though, so it might not work.
Eventually the plastic starts to crack up it seems so often its only putting
off the inevitable crack!

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Broadback" wrote in message
...
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill the
water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it no
longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to locate
the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I can mark
the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of sealing it?

In article , Bob Minchin
writes
Broadback wrote:
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill
the water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it
no longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to
locate the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I
can mark the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of
sealing it?
Drill a hole and then fit a nut and bolt with washers to seal
From the outside:-
Bolt head
metal washer
rubber washer
wall of water butt
rubber washer
metal washer
Nut

Lose the outer metal washer it will actually provide a leak path, I'd
say the inner rubber washer was redundant too.

The sealing face should be between the solid bolt head and outer butt
face, using the rubber washer. A roofing bolt or other plain faced round
headed bolt/setscrew would be best.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

"Broadback" wrote in message
...
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill the
water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it no
longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to locate
the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I can mark
the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of sealing it?

If it were an actual pin hole, no problem, all it needsis a flate headed
self tapping screw & some gunge.

But you will likely find the whole area is thin (and it is actually a split)
and any repair soon fails if you start drilling etc.
Best bet is to bring indoors dry out and warm and apply a bit of flashband
on the inside. Warm with blowlamp to get good ahesion.

But you have a duff butt. They are usually vacuum formed on to mould and the
process has gone wrong.

The best butts to buy are the second hand fruit juice ones (@ a tenner a
time), the ones from garden centres are expensive ****e.

"harryagain" wrote

But you will likely find the whole area is thin (and it is actually a
split) and any repair soon fails if you start drilling etc.
Best bet is to bring indoors dry out and warm and apply a bit of flashband
on the inside. Warm with blowlamp to get good ahesion.

Waits for OP's post asking how to repair a melted water butt

On 23/01/2014 22:32, fred wrote:
In article , Bob Minchin
writes
Broadback wrote:
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill
the water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it
no longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to
locate the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I
can mark the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of
sealing it?

Drill a hole and then fit a nut and bolt with washers to seal
From the outside:-
Bolt head
metal washer
rubber washer
wall of water butt
rubber washer
metal washer
Nut

Lose the outer metal washer it will actually provide a leak path, I'd
say the inner rubber washer was redundant too.

It seems altogether over engineered for a pinhole leak.

The sealing face should be between the solid bolt head and outer butt
face, using the rubber washer. A roofing bolt or other plain faced round
headed bolt/setscrew would be best.

If it is only a pinhole then a dab of almost any waterproof silicone or
mastick compound on the inside after roughening it up a bit will do.
Larger splits can be repaired with pond liner and suitable glues.

Some of my reclaimed waterbutts are bins some builders abandoned at a
neighbouring property because they leaked. A strip of butyl rubber pond
liner makes a pretty good repair for four or five years. YMMV

The irrepairable ones are used to make leaf mould.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Thursday, January 23, 2014 6:38:26 PM UTC, Broadback wrote:

I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I can mark the hole.
If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of sealing it?

If it really is pin hole size just melt it closed e.g. with an old soldering iron or a knife over a flame. Inside and out would ensure a strong repair.

Mathew

In article , Martin Brown
writes
On 23/01/2014 22:32, fred wrote:
In article , Bob Minchin

Drill a hole and then fit a nut and bolt with washers to seal
From the outside:-
Bolt head
metal washer
rubber washer
wall of water butt
rubber washer
metal washer
Nut

Lose the outer metal washer it will actually provide a leak path, I'd
say the inner rubber washer was redundant too.

It seems altogether over engineered for a pinhole leak.

Hey, I'm a fix once kinda guy :-)
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

On 23/01/2014 18:38, Broadback wrote:
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill
the water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it
no longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to
locate the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I
can mark the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of
sealing it?

You don't say what the butt is made of - is it metal or plastic?

When I was a kid, our galvanised metal butt developed a number of
pinhole leaks when my brother and I missed with darts!

Each time that happened, we would simply cut a point on a matchstick,
and push it into the hole, and cut off the surplus - leaving a couple of
mm outside.

When we eventually emptied the butt to get rid of it many years later,
we could still see all the pointy matchsticks inside it!
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:13:07 -0800 (PST), Mathew Newton wrote:

I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I can mark
the
hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of sealing
it?

If it really is pin hole size just melt it closed e.g. with an old
soldering iron or a knife over a flame. Inside and out would ensure a
strong repair.

Easier said than done.

The bolt and washers would be my choice going

nut plain washer rubber washer butt plain washer bolt.

Rubber washer on the inside so the water pressure pushes it on not
off.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Friday, 24 January 2014 16:04:22 UTC, Dave Liquorice wrote:

If it really is pin hole size just melt it closed e.g. with an old
soldering iron or a knife over a flame. Inside and out would ensure a
strong repair.

Easier said than done.

It's exactly what I did (with a soldering iron) and didn't find any issue doing so.

In article o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:13:07 -0800 (PST), Mathew Newton wrote:

I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I can mark
the
hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of sealing
it?

If it really is pin hole size just melt it closed e.g. with an old
soldering iron or a knife over a flame. Inside and out would ensure a
strong repair.

Easier said than done.

The bolt and washers would be my choice going

nut plain washer rubber washer butt plain washer bolt.

Rubber washer on the inside so the water pressure pushes it on not
off.

But flawed as the water can seep along the thread, bypassing the washer.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

On 24/01/2014 17:59, fred wrote:
In article o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:13:07 -0800 (PST), Mathew Newton wrote:

I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I can mark
the
hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of sealing
it?

If it really is pin hole size just melt it closed e.g. with an old
soldering iron or a knife over a flame. Inside and out would ensure a
strong repair.

Easier said than done.

The bolt and washers would be my choice going

nut plain washer rubber washer butt plain washer bolt.

Rubber washer on the inside so the water pressure pushes it on not
off.

But flawed as the water can seep along the thread, bypassing the washer.

Just screw a self tapper in.

On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 17:59:45 +0000, fred wrote:

nut plain washer rubber washer butt plain washer bolt.

Rubber washer on the inside so the water pressure pushes it on not
off.

But flawed as the water can seep along the thread, bypassing the washer.

The rubber washer deforms into the thread when you tighten it up.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 24/01/2014 19:41, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 17:59:45 +0000, fred wrote:

nut plain washer rubber washer butt plain washer bolt.

Rubber washer on the inside so the water pressure pushes it on not
off.

But flawed as the water can seep along the thread, bypassing the washer.

The rubber washer deforms into the thread when you tighten it up.

The other quick and dirty solution is to add some very fine silver sand
and a small amount of dung to the water dribbled down the side with the
leak. A genuine pinhole defect doesn't take much blocking.

Most of the faults I have seen have been splits.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 17:59:45 +0000, fred wrote:

nut plain washer rubber washer butt plain washer bolt.

Rubber washer on the inside so the water pressure pushes it on not
off.

But flawed as the water can seep along the thread, bypassing the washer.

The rubber washer deforms into the thread when you tighten it up.

But that is an incidental effect and not to be relied upon. Washers of
the type we are talking about are designed to work on parallel sealing
faces under compression so using it in its correct mode involves
squishing it up between a plain sealed surfaces such as, in this case,
the smooth inside face of the head of a roofing bolt or similar and
outer body of the butt.

The reason for the pedantry is to point out (to others) that incidental
seals on threads are not to be relied on to protect against leaks. It's
why the rubber washer goes on the cistern inlet stem before it is fitted
and not under the nut outside and many other similar examples.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

Broadback has brought this to us :
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill the
water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it no
longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to locate the
hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I can mark the
hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of sealing it?

Stainless self tapper, with a soft washer under it, or a nut, bolt and
a soft washer.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On 25/01/2014 12:44, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Broadback has brought this to us :
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill
the water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full
it no longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible
to locate the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position
where I can mark the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable
way of sealing it?

Stainless self tapper, with a soft washer under it, or a nut, bolt and a
soft washer.

If there are no taps or pipes on it, just line it with a bin liner.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:03:51 +0000, Roger Mills
wrote:

On 23/01/2014 18:38, Broadback wrote:
What would be the best way to seal such a hole. When the butt is fill
the water comes out in a fine stream. Once the butt is about 3/4 full it
no longer leaks. On empting and removing the butt it is impossible to
locate the hole. I now intend to re-fill the butt in a position where I
can mark the hole. If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of
sealing it?

You don't say what the butt is made of - is it metal or plastic?

When I was a kid, our galvanised metal butt developed a number of
pinhole leaks when my brother and I missed with darts!

I was most impressed by the number of holes a Worcester sauce bottle
weighted and turned into a weed killer and sugar Bomb made when
immersed in the galvanized water tank behind the school cricket
pavilion.
The hole in the cap made a perfect entry for the fuse and kept water
out till the oxygen producing mixture really got going.
School caretaker who wasn't the sharpest tool in the box apparently
was a bit mystified how shards of glass were sticking out of the tank
sides.

G.Harman

If I manage to do so is there a reasonable way of

sealing it?

Fill butt, mark hole with indelible marker.

Check recycling info on butt to identify the plastic, get PVc (or whatever)solvent-weld adhesive from plumbers merchants, cut patch from a container made of the same plastic, clean with meths or appropriate cleaner, stick and clamp on patch.

Some plastics degrade in UV light; the whole thing may be brittle and on the verge of sudden break-up.