Leaking bulkhead......fix?

[Pelfiredc]

Need a little help with a leaking bulkhead. Picked up a used 90 gallon with a center overflow and replace the bulkhead with a new bulkhead which seems to be leaking very very slightly drip drip drip The leak was not apparent in the beginning believe one of the kids bumped the drainpipe and started the drip. The drainpipe is also a Durso. I have tried to tighten the knot down but that does not seem to work I also tried to drain the overflow box to reseat the bulkhead but a third of the way into emptying it it maintains its level and starts to empty the tank itself rather than completely draining to empty. I can definitely not tighten the nut any further did it with a pair of channel locks and am afraid any tighter will actually crack the nut. Do you think that caulk will work and any way of doing that while there is still a slight drip? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[bertyboy69]

i believe when that haopened with mine i had to re seat them but im not sure how you would go about it with the overflow still letting water in mine was clogged with sand in the bottom

 

[marrone]

First, don't over tighten the nut, just hand tighten it. You need to remove the water from the overflow and then clean the glass and the gasket, as there probably is sand or something under it that is making it leak. Then replace everything again.

 

[Pelfiredc]

I would but it seems that I have a leak in the overflow so is soon as I get the water about halfway or a third of the way down it just starts to empty the tank rather than completely emptying the overflow........ I got the leak almost beat from trying to loosen and retighten it to almost completely stopped but still not sure if I can put a slight beat of caulk around the bottom to finish it off?

 

[edd]

if your tank is leaking into your over flow when it is below the weirs, then you need to drain the tank and repair it. or else in a power outage or pump failure you will have a flood.

 

[Pelfiredc]

Thanks edd, I killed the power to the pump in the basement , it drained strangely enough just to the top of the grate and into the sump in the basement and stopped........that's why I thought it strange also...........it has been 3 hrs and not a drop yet, hope it's done for , but will restart pump and recheck draining but pump has been off for a day so.......