patching mainline

[ascutneymaple]

anyone have any good methods for patching holes in plastic mainline tubing? drilling holes for manifolds i accidentally drilled through the bottom of the pipe on one...oops.

[jason grossman]

if you can find them i call them "repair dots". they are made for pulgging a hole when you remove a saddle. they have been around for a while and they work great for those "oppps" holes. you usually find them in a square of 25. last time i bought some they were $25 for 25. just one od the 25 squares and a hose clamp is all you need. i would stay away from black tape duct tape , silicone, etc. that stuff never lasts very long.

[bobbyjake]

The answer depends on how you run your system, ie. vacuum or gravity, wash under pressure or wash under vacuum or not at all, take down or leave up. The only real fool proof way is to cut the pipe and splice across that spot and move your manifold up or down a few inches.

[maplecrest]

a piece of 4 seasons tubing cut length wise put under the clamp of the saddle 'like shim' and close the saddle will seal hole.if record saddle, if lapierre super saddle your out of luck not wide enough to plug hole. i put out 500 super saddles and i do not like them.record saddles are the best for me. i spent the last two days dealing with the clamps on the super saddles i put out last fall.

[carmstrong]

well i have worked on a few vacuum systems, but if you have high vacuum then this may not work, but tire inner tube cut into small 2 inch by 2 inch sqaures wraped by electrical tape will seal it up. Your best bet though is too use a connector with clamps for a sure fix.

[BradWilson]

I'm so far behind at this point that 2" 3m Super33 electrical tape will have to do. It's about the best out there.

[sapman]

I think that should work pretty well. That's what my wife has used on lots of small leaks.

[sugarstone]

anyone have any good methods for patching holes in plastic mainline tubing? drilling holes for manifolds i accidentally drilled through the bottom of the pipe on one...oops.

I assume you were using a power drill? Put a piece of tubing on the drill as a depth gauge to stop from drilling through the other side. Cut a piece, hold onto it with a glove on, slip it onto the drill bit and pull the trigger a couple of times and it will work its way on.
I use this method of a depth gauge on my tapping bits too to stop me from drilling too deep.
You will end up with plastic bits in your mains but that'l come out with no problem in your filter. Doesn't bother me anyways.
Regarding patching your "oops"...connector/clamps is the best. If in a hurry, I use decent red electrical tape so I can find the spot again to fix quickly at a later time...probably not until cleaning time.