Radiator repair leaking!

adambuild

Hi Wallies,

We repaired a radiator in a cold spell in Northern Jersey last month. It was a recessed radiator that developed a 1" long crack on one end from freezing when the heat went out in the home. We thawed it and confirmed that that was the only leak, cleaned down to bare metal, cleaned with acetone and applied a generous layer (1/8") of JB WELD. A month later, a leak sprung through the center of the patch!? The customer, though grateful that we got her heat up quickly a month ago, is not ecstatic. I'd be happy to grind down to bare metal again and try something else, but I'd of course like it to last! Any further suggestions?

As always, thank you in advance for your help, Adam

bob young

time for new

you need to replace it. if you repair again you cannot gaurantee it. she might not want to even pay to repair second time. if its your own home , the labor is free but not so for a paying client.

adambuild

would still like to try repairing once more. Customer's financial situation is extremely tight.

bob young

if you can get at it you can braze it. if it takes to base metal , you will be good to go. big gamble though.

clammy

all crafts exopy

Try a exopy called all crafts it blows away jb weld ,i does stink to hi hell until it cures completly and set in about 14 minutes and in probalby a 1/2 to 45 minutes you should be good to go,if your in north jersey i know universal used to carry it peace and good luck clammy

Kool Rod

JB Weld makes another product "Water Weld" . It cures even if the surface is wet and is a bit more flexible that JB Weld. We've used it before when it would take too long to empty the lines and dry out the crack /surface.

How did the JB Weld leak? Did it crack? Was it too thinly applied? Always had good luck with JB Weld. Have repaired large HP pumps with it so rather surprised when you said it failed. I was wondering if it was expansion related though J.B. weld is commonly used on engine blocks so the expansion on them should be greater than a radiator.

If you apply more over the old JB Weld, sand it first with some heavy grit (50 -60 grit) sandpaper as epoxy doesn't like to stick to itself and needs some "tooth" to grab on to.

- Rod

Mark Z_2

radiator repair leaking!

Adam, sounds like it's time to replace it and hear ya on the $$ issue, but hear this. During house extension realized I needed an extra rad for total room BTU requirement. Looked on Craig's list and found a guy selling one for $25. Yeah $25.00, thought it too good to be true, but called anyway. Rad was 26" high, 10 plate 35 EDR no cracks, missing legs or any other issues, perfect bookend to the other 35 EDR rad I have in that room. Could have simply spray painted it, but spent extra $$ to have it sand blasted and powder coated along w/ the others. She looks brand new and works great. Maybe I got lucky, but w/ steel down in price right now you might even get lucky at a salvage yard aside from Craig's list. Best of luck.

regards, Mark Z

Jamie Hall

Sometimes

the dang stuff just doesn't quell the leak and you do have to go with new. However...

A couple of more thoughts: you might have better luck if the patch covered more area (ugly!) but had a good quarter inch or more wide area over the crack where it didn't stick (I know it sounds weird, but it gives more length for the JB or whatever to 'flex' as the radiator expands). Make sure the edges seal, though! Also, might try it a little thicker (yeah, ugly again, but what can you do?). No guarantees, though, my friend!