Under slab pin hole leak in copper heating pipe
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
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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 retrofitBob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream1 -
The system piping is over 50 years old but the furnace is 10 years old ….WHat is retrofit ?
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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.
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is the heat in floor or baseboard?
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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
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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 England0 -
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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.
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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
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