Patching a galvi tank

[Ridgeland Farm]

I have a Galvi tank that was given to me that has 3 seams in it and at least 2 leak. Anyone have any suggestions on ways that are strong enough to patch them with?

[Haynes Forest Products]

OH BOY this will open a can of worms:lol: First lets just get it out. dont use it its not food grade;) Now back to the question 1st is the seam pulled appart? Is it a crimped type seam and it is rusted. If thats the deal and it doesnt pull and streach when you use it. I would scrub it with a wire brush till the areas are shinny clean. Then paint with food grade epoxy. They do make a tank liner type epoxy that will seal it. If the tank is split and the seam is open then you need to repair it with a patch and then I say SH*T can it and get a poly and your good forever:)

[tuckermtn]

I have used a food grade silicone sealer- comes in a caulk-like tube... I think I got it from Grangier- on some funky seams I have had it has worked quite well.

[lew]

i have used JB weld on the outside, then painted the inside with food grade paint. I actually pushed the paint into the seam to fill the gap and the JB weld kept the paint in the seam.

On another note. I had a couple of incidents years ago where someone thought it would be fun to shoot holes in my galvanized stock tanks with a .22. At first I was scrambling around trying to figure out what to do to just stop the leak until I could get the tank pumped out. Of course they shot the bottom of the side of the tank. I guess so they could see the sap really squirt out. the only thing I could find was an old plastic sandwich bag on the floor of the sap truck. At first I tried pushing in from outside. Obviously the pressure from inside the tank kept pushing out not giving a very good seal. I really did not want to put my arm down in an almost full 400 gallon stock tank, but I bit the bullet and did what I had to do. The pressure from the sap pushed the sandwich baggie over the hole and made an almost perfect seal, even over the ragged edge. This bought me time until my driver could come and pick up the sap. Once the tank was empty, a 1/4 inch bolt with a rubber gasket was inserted from the inside and tightened with a washer and nut on the outside and made a perfect seal. This happened on 3 tanks almos 20 years ago, never happened again. But I still use this as an excuse to not clean all the garbage out any of my vehicles.

[Thad Blaisdell]

kinda off subject, but last year in the side of my flue pan where my sight gauge was, the solder cracked and the sight gauge fell off.... while I was boiling.... I had to scramble pretty fast shutting off the burners and getting a barrel to catch the concentrated sap pouring out of the side.... I used a stainless bolt and two washers. I sanded everything fluxed it up put the bolt on tight and put the map gas to it, tightened again and put the map gas to it again. Perfect fix. Still like that today.

[brookledge]

In my opinion as long as the galv. is not being exposed to heat or fire it will not release much lead or poisoness gasses. If you are keeping sap in the tank and it is not in there for extended periods of time you will be ok. I know producers who use galv buckets and don't get high lead counts. If you collect daily you should be ok but if the sap was put in the tank for along time it would be possible to leach out lead.
Many household water tanks where made with galv. once the water gets inside it creates a coat of mineral deposits and as long as it isn't disturbed it is ok. another thing I have seen is homes that are fed with spring water. hundreds of yrs ago lead pipe was used and as long as the water keeps moving no lead will transfer into the water
Keith

[3rdgen.maple]

Like Haynes a little more info on how bad the leaks are. If they are mild and not blown out clean the area up and solder them. If they are blown out I might consider taking it for metal scrap and investing in a poly tank or better. As far as food grade paint????????? Nevermind Its been said over and over and over.....