A Casualty to the Freeze

During the latest cold weather that we've been talking about, we've heard about many people that had broken pipes.  We just aren't prepared for that kind of stuff down here.  Fortunately, we didn't have any broken pipes of dead fruit trees.  But we did have problems with our main water trough.  After the freeze, I noticed that the trough was leaking from a place that had previously been patched with an epoxy resin fiberglass repair kit.  But after the freeze, drip, drip, drip...  I assume that the thick ice perhaps stretched the sides of the trough and ruptured the seal of the epoxy resin that had previously held for years.  Suddenly, I had a muddy mess and an empty water trough!

But I think it can be fixed!  I bucketed out the sludge and leaves from the bottom of the trough and moved it into a blue tub and scattered it in the garden.  I cleaned all the algae off of the sides of the trough and let the sides dry.  Here is a close-up of the two places on the outside where the trough was leaking.  I'll  leave that in place.  I'll concentrate on removing the epoxy resin fiberglass patches from the inside of the tank, cleaning the area and then roughing it up with some sandpaper.

Then I'll apply some JB Weld Water Weld.  It costs about $6.50 for a 2 ounce tube.  I have used this before and am sold on the product.  It works!  It is a putty that you simply roll into a ball.  A chemical reaction occurs when the putty on the inside mixes with the outside and then you press the putty over the cracked area that is causing the water leak.  It sets up in 15-20 minutes and then has a 1 hour curing time.  You can see the two areas where I affixed the JB Weld Water Weld.

In about an hour and a half, I began to fill the trough with water.  Time to see if we did any good.

As the water began to fill and cover the places where the trough was leaking, it was time to start checking the exterior for leaks.

When it got completely full, I inspected the area that was previously continuously dripping water.  Not a smidgeon of water!  It was as dry as the Sahara Desert.

I highly recommend JB Weld Water Weld.