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Under slab pin hole leak in copper heating pipe

tonydb5656
tonydb5656 Member Posts: 4

I have a ver smal leak in my slab coming from my heating system I lose maybe 2 to 3 gallon every 4 day sif that…..is there a product that I can put in the system to plug the leak …..I have had local plumbers here but all they want to do is rip up the slab and install new pipes ..I have contacted local plumbers and asked if they do the resin injestion but no one seems to know what I'm taking about

Thanks

Comments

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,756

    Ive had some success with this Fernox product. It depends on the size of the hole.

    The aerosol can makes it easy to push into the system


    How old is the system? Once copper starts to pin hole there tends to be more coming😳 if it is a 50 year old system, start thinking of a plan B retrofit

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    delcrossv
  • tonydb5656
    tonydb5656 Member Posts: 4

    The system piping is over 50 years old but the furnace is 10 years old ….WHat is retrofit ?

  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 6,443
    edited November 2024

    There are products that claim "Boiler Seal" but it could do more harm than good. Especially if the boiler has a tankless coil. The sealer will adhere to the coil, drastically reducing heat transfer. Forget it altogether if it's a mod con. It will also adhere to the interior walls of everything, not just attack the leak.

    If the boiler gets replaced, all pipes will need to be flushed well to get rid of the sealer.

    Have the leak repaired, and try to devise a way to get the pipes out of the slab if possible. Do you have central air conditioning? You could eliminate the baseboard and add a hydro coil to the air handler. Its not something I normally recommend, but I don't think you've seen your last slab leak. If the air handler is in the attic, it might need a glycol mix.

  • PC7060
    PC7060 Member Posts: 1,510

    Conversion to panel radiators is alternative. Re-piping through walls and ceilings; still a mess but nothing like cutting out floors.

    delcrossv
  • tonydb5656
    tonydb5656 Member Posts: 4

    The heating copper pipes run under the slab from baseboard to baseboard ….There is no way to get the new pipes to each baseboard without cutting into the slab …..It's a raised ranch finished basement and running them in the ceiling is not option as the rafters run the wrong way and running the new pipes down the walls there is no roon for a heating pipe as it is a blockwall with very little room between the sheetrock and wall ….no central air …it's a boiler system

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,206

    Copper? Under the slab? Leak? You're going to have more leaks. Sorry about that — so it is time to figure out how to repipe the thing with a minimum of mess.

    Without seeing how the space is finished off, I really couldn't suggest options — or rather, I'd couldn't make a suggestion which might work (I can think of several options…)

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Kaos
    Kaos Member Posts: 313

    The one solution I've seen is to pull off the baseboard, run the pipes there along the bottom of the wall. Put a nice piece of 2x2 above the pipe and nail the baseboard to that. Once painted, you don't even notice the extra space.

    You can start by doing this only for the section with the leak.

    SuperTech
  • DCContrarian
    DCContrarian Member Posts: 799

    Are the baseboards cast iron or the slant-fin type? The slant-fins allow you to run a return pipe inside the enclosure, so you can run the supply and the return in the same chase.

    You're going to need to replace the pipe in the slab. The easiest way is probably going to be to run it in the walls and ceiling. If you switch to home run piping you can probably use 1/2" pex throughout, which fits in a lot of tight spots. If the walls are block with a 1x furring strip holding the drywall, you can run 1/2" PEX in the space of the 1x furring strip. Going perpendicular to joists isn't a problem, although you do need access. If you have recessed lights often you can pop them out to get a look into the ceiling.

    If doing a full repipe is too much, and you know where the leak is, you can bypass just that section. But the other pipes are going to fail in time and ultimately it's less work to do it all at once.

  • PC7060
    PC7060 Member Posts: 1,510

    building out the baseboard to create a chase for pipes is good idea; a good trim guy would make it all disappear. Hopefully some later owner doesn’t drive a nail through it. 😎

    delcrossv
  • tonydb5656
    tonydb5656 Member Posts: 4

    Thank you all for your suggestions…..I decided to try the Black Swan boiler leak…..I called the company and they said it will not harm my system….I have flushed the boiler and added the product …..so far it looks good ….I'm 70 years old and hope it lasts ….and let the next owner worry about it lol……Again thanks for your help

    GGrossPC7060