You are so correct! Got home from a short camping trip and smelled gas in the garage. Found that there is a very slight leak. Evaporates before it drips on floor, but it did wet my finger. Going to go the milk bottle route this time, and I have a heat gun, so that should speed it up a bit. I'll let you know, and thanks for that heads up!Thanks for the heads up
Would have been a lot better to use milk bottles than putty.
The putty does not chemically bond so will not make an water tight seal should the stitching with the soldering iron fail
It is very easy to do and a hair drier actually works a lot better as I have found out since the original thread
Better temperature control.
Takes a bit longer but does not make the plastic hot enough to soften & slump or melt.
Good luck .
Well, I gave it my best shot, but chased leaks constantly. The original leak was on a rounded surface and in a VERY inconvenient spot to try to repair with my lack of experience at this. I can solder gold, silver and lead solder with no problem, but this one unfortunately beat me. Ordered a new tank today. I want to thank you very much for your help and I'm sure I'll be here again! "Thank You" bertsmobile1!You have made the job a lot harder for yourself as to work the plastic has to be absolutely clean so you will have to get all of the putty out, scrape with a stanley knife blade or really sharp chisel.
Plastic will only bond to plastic so any dirt or left over putty will prevent it bonding .
final wash with acetone & a stainless steel brush ( must be stainless, not plain steel or brass ) will help .
Put a thin strip over the crack then a wider strip over it and a wider sill over the other two
Where the crack does not join together I V groove the crack, fill with round rod, still using the hot air gun, then patch over the rod .
Most 5 gallon chemical drums are HDPE and about the same thickness so make good practice materials.