I finally got that old pressure valve on the boiler at the old mill to seal right

It took three tries with different gasket materials before the brass one from the shop in Norfolk held at 150 psi. What's your go-to method for sealing up those old, pitted surfaces underwater?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sandra3h ago

Read an old marine engineering manual that swore by a two-part epoxy putty for temporary underwater seals on pitted metal. You mold it around the valve like clay before it sets. It's messy but can get you through until a real fix. The trick is to rough up the surface with coarse sandpaper first, even underwater, so it grabs better. I'd still replace the whole valve at the next dry dock, but it beats a total failure on site.

matthewgonzalez2h ago

Heard a story from a guy who used to work on tugboats about packing the worst pits with grease and then wrapping the whole flange with that self-fusing silicone tape. It's not a forever fix, but he said it could hold for a few months if you stretch it tight enough. The grease keeps the water out of the deep spots while the tape does the squeezing. Always seemed like a clever field repair to me for when you're really in a bind.