HELP!! Broken Sump!

I wouldn't risk the uncertainty of silicon adhering to acrylic on any external portion of a sump. If it was internal to a sump, like a baffle cracking, that would be fine, since any further breakage would be internal and not be a flood risk. Batch work in this sense should be left for some good weld-on and a large piece of acrylic to melt onto the broken hole area of the sump. Better to play it safe than sorry IMO.

 

J-B Weld Company - MARINE WELD Product Information

JB-Weld it


Do it!@!@

 

I read about that product. It's still an epoxy and can crack over time. The Weld-ON will actually bond and melt the two pieces together and become one solid piece. Either is a safer alternative than silicone though. A sump is under a decent amount of water pressure, especially if it is dealing with 40-50x turnover rate.

 

I didn't consider that, Mike. You're right on the money. Silicone doesn't bond well to acrylic. Silicone is to glass as Weld-On is to acrylic. You really should use a Weld-On glue. That will bond the two sheets together permanently and it should be forever watertight.

 

Hey everyone. Thanks again for all of your help. I just saw the posts about the silicone, unfortunately I have already repaired the sump with silicone and re-filled with water. So far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm including pictures of the finished product. As you can see, the hole actually falls above the water line that is controlled by the float valve so I think I'll be okay.

 

You should be ok, but you could use another piece and Weld-On #4 on the other side, just to be safe. I personally like to err on the side of caution. I'm extremely paranoid when it comes to floods. My entire house flooded 4 years ago when a pipe under my kitchen sink burst and needed to be completely restored. I wouldn't want to see anyone go through even a 10th of what I had to that summer.

 

I actually have the same size patch on the other side as well now only it's siliconed on. Where can you get Weld-on #4? Maybe what I will do is someday when I upgrade to an external pump just redo it.

 

I don't know who said silicone doesn't stick to acrylic, but obviously they have never had to take a sump that had the baffles put in with it apart because it does stick and rather well.

And a patch that is put on the inside which is where I would put it and glued with a liberal amount of silicone would have the additional water pressure to help hold it in place.

I am not saying that using weld-on wouldn't be the proper way to do it in an emergency silicone is fine and will last forever.

You can get weld on on line from a bunch of places, I get mine from Ridout plastic Corp.

 

you did a great job on the patch, it will hold just fine....

 

Good looking repair....nice save....