How long do you wait for plumbers epoxy to harden b4 turning on water?
Question:The valve that my ice maker hose attached to started leaking. Ice maker doesn't work, so I turned off water main, removed stop-**** valve, filed and cleaned the copper pipe and applied plumbers epoxy. It says to wait 20 minutes but I've never used it before so I wanted to know if you've used it and is it pretty accurate as to time to set/harden.
Thanks!
Answers:
I don't think you can wait long enough. . . .
The epoxy will set in the 20 minutes stated. It is a chemical curing process, temperature has as much to do with cure time as anything. As long as it is over 60 degrees F or so, 20 minutes should do.
This does not sound like a permanent repair. I would expect it to start leaking again, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a couple of months, but it will leak. The epoxy will get hard. The vibration caused by the ice maker turning the water on and off will break it free, most likely from the valve side.
The better solution is to cut out a small piece of pipe where the valve was located and replace it with a new piece. I would not do it right now, but I would do this when it starts leaking again.
Supposedly 20 minutes. But this depends on temperature and humidity. To be safe, I would let it set for at least an hour or so.
Following the manufacturers recommendation is better than a thousand guesses from people like us.
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