4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)

[Nolapete]

good luck and finding and fixing the leak.
I have a question on those uni seals. It appears that you drill a hole and place these seals inside the holes and that they lip over the plastic container and then the PVC tube is placed thru the uni seal. My question, is this a pressure fit with no adhesive between the PVC and the uni seal? Do I just come thru the uni seal and then have a fitting outside the seal? Thanks

All you do it drill the appropriate hole size; 3" for the 2" Uniseal. Push it into the hole, then wet it and slide the pipe in. They suggest windex, but I'd only use water. The pipe expands the Uniseal to seat it in the hole.

You can even use smaller Uniseals to join smaller pvc to larger pvc. In example, if you had 1" overflow drains and wanted to connect it to a central system 3" pipe. You'd drill a hole for each drain in the 3" then install uniseals for the 1" pipe and connect them in.

 

[Nolapete]

The higher the water level the more leverage placed on the structure. Leak most likely is higher based on logic of leak relation to height, but could also be due to increased levered separation stress on wall due water level height increasing both stress and pressure exerted on bottom. I would not let it drain on its own unless you are confident the leak will not lead to split seam. But letting it bleed down and stop on its own will tell you one of two things that the leak is the lowered height it stops leaking or if it leaks lower then it originally did not leak, that the structure is being compromised by stress and making new leaks as water height increases, not from pressure but from structueral chages breaking the seal especially if that seal does not stretch a little lite a fabric liner.

Please go back and look at the early pictures of the frame construction. All of the seams, particularly the corners have solid wood behind them. There's no place for it to move to. There's no movement in the structure.

3 inches is 180 gallons give or take a few. That's 1500 lbs. which sounds like a lot, but divide that by 96 and it's only 15.65 lbs. per sq. foot that is being added to the floor. I don't recall the calculation for forward thrust, but I can assure you that the increase between 27" where it isn't leaking and 30" where it is leaking is minimal.

It isn't leaking like a sieve, but only a trickle. I believe that there is a void or thin spot in the coating that I missed or simply didn't apply enough coating to. The tank isn't draining down any notable amount after over 12 hours of leaking. Do the math on it. If it was draining down one inch (60 gallons), that would be 5 gallons per hour over 12 hours. There's not enough water outside where it's leaking to fill a cup.

When it was at 3700 gallons, there might have been a a gallon after leaking about 16 hours.

 

[nc0gnet0]

Could there be an interior surface irregularity (raised screw, bump in wood, etc) that is puncturing the coating when enough pressure is applied?

Does the leak appear to be coming out of the bottom or on a corner/side?

 

[Nolapete]

It could be a screw head, seam, or other surface that was filled with Liquid Nails and shrunk after it dried. There's no real way to tell. It's only showing up on the side by the French doors which could be due to a very slight incline or mere location. Too bad I don't have some barium and an x-ray machine. I could make the tank drink it then x-ray it to see where it flows out

 

[aquanooby]

lol that sounds pricey and hey man cut me a piece of that cake on the table in the last set of pics looks yummy

 

[xsdbs]

Thanks again for the help Pete I appreciate it. I placed my order today.

All you do it drill the appropriate hole size; 3" for the 2" Uniseal. Push it into the hole, then wet it and slide the pipe in. They suggest windex, but I'd only use water. The pipe expands the Uniseal to seat it in the hole.

You can even use smaller Uniseals to join smaller pvc to larger pvc. In example, if you had 1" overflow drains and wanted to connect it to a central system 3" pipe. You'd drill a hole for each drain in the 3" then install uniseals for the 1" pipe and connect them in.

 

[Nolapete]

Thanks again for the help Pete I appreciate it. I placed my order today.

No problem. Glad to pass on what I've learned.

 

[nc0gnet0]

They make moisture detectors much like the infrared thermometers. Most serv-pro's will have them as they use them for mold detection issues. Not sure what they would charge and you would have to drain the tank, but other than that it's just going to be a guessing game. Hopefully the leak is leaking straight through at the leak spot and not channeling through the sublayers of the plywood.

 

[Nolapete]

Gf will be out of town for work, so tonight I'll be shop vac'n the rest of the water out the tank and working on coating it.

 

[FISHSHROD]

Good luck Pete