Glycol Reservoir Repair while camping

System · May 2018

This discussion was created from comments split from: Outstanding Customer Service!.

Flydude · May 2018

24° F in mountains on Fri night of Memorial day weekend when Alde quit working. Thanks to this forum, had some good ideas of where to begin problem solving. Found empty expansion tank and glycol on both hoses just below bottom of tank. One of the nipples completely broke off when I attempted to remove the hose clamp.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/4j/1dbes6ix86kj.jpg

After removing the tank, discovered a crack in the other nipple that involved nearly half of its circumference. Wouldn't be able to order new tank until Tues. Had heard of plastic "welding" so watched some YouTube vids and with a cheapo soldering iron and plastic "welding rods" sourced from corners of the expansion tank, proceeded to "weld" both nipples to the bottom of the tank.

Reinstalled, added extra hose clamp to each nipple, refilled tank with Prestone low-tox, bled system and tested Alde before and after bumpy test drive. Heat working great and no leaks yet.

Still plan to put in new tank but the plastic welding worked great and is something to consider when a non aesthetically important plastic piece fails at an inopportune time. A word of caution... Attempt plastic welding only in a very well ventilated area as burning and/or melting plastic apparently produces cyanide containing smoke (much badness). Thanks again to all that contribute to the forum. What a fantastic resource!