Gluing ABS bulkhead to PVC, lots of push out

[AlanM]

I glued 1" PVC into my 1" ABS bulkheads. I used the special green transition cement which is designed to go from ABS to PVC, so I thought it would work out well.

 

First, I used the clear all purpose cleaner that says it's for ABS, PVC and other stuff. Then about a minute later I put the green stuff on the pipe and the bulkhead and shoved it in and counted to 100. As soon as I let go it pushed it way out. Like 1/4" out.

 

I tried holding the next one for 2 minutes, but it pushed that one out too. What gives? The last one I tried using regular PVC cement, but it pushed out too after being held for 2 minutes.

 

These are only gripping now by about 1/4" of meat, so I'm probably going to cut it all out and start over with new bulkheads, but what do people do to glue in their ABS bulkheads since the product that is supposedly designed for it doesn't seem to work well? The ABS seems to stay soft for a really long time.

 

Should I put them in and clamp them for a while to get them to stick?

 

 

 

 

[BowieReefer84]

I used purple primer and regular glue no issues. Pushed in with a twist, and held for a minute or two until set.

[Rosco's Reefs]

I have some purple primer and regular glue if you want to try one before committing to redo them all. LMK

[AlanM]

I used purple primer and regular glue no issues. Pushed in with a twist, and held for a minute or two until set.

 

Thanks. The near one in the last pic was regular cement and it seemed to push out about the same as the green stuff.

 

I have some purple primer and regular glue if you want to try one before committing to redo them all. LMK

 

I have that stuff too, thanks. I glued them all now, though, so I don't have another one to try it on... It seemed like this must be what everyone who doesn't use schedule 80 bulkheads does, so I figured there should be lots of successful users.

[zygote2k]

what's with the excessive amounts of PVC pipe? no need to jump up to 1.5" for a drain thats open to air. A regular "T", a short piece of pipe for a riser and a cap with a hole drilled in the top works perfectly and is much smaller.

[AlanM]

Rob, it's a BeanAnimal overflow. I know 1.5" is big, but that's what the design recommends, and I'm trying not to deviate too much at least for the first attempt to get it to run correctly. I'm already putting in a nearly horizontal run over to my sump area, which isn't recommended, and which may cause the full siphon drain to vapor lock and never start. The open channel one exposed to air (with the murlok fitting in the top) can be quiet if the diameter is large which keeps the water as a film flowing down the outside. The threaded caps are for cleanout and the sanitary Tees (which don't seem available in sizes less than 1.5") are to help the water be quiet when it's making the turn to go down.

 

There's pretty quiet, and then there's silent. I'm going for silent and maybe getting more complicated and using larger pipes than "pretty quiet" would require. We'll see if it works or not as I only have what the BeanAnimal boosters say to go by, having not done one myself before and not knowing enough about finite element simulations to do the calculations myself to see if it should work. 8)

 

I've seen 7-8 tanks now in person and most of them range from pretty quiet to kinda loud, by my ear. The only really quiet one I saw was behind a wall.

[Integral9]

FWIW: When I set PVC pipes and fittings I always push them in 90 deg. from where I want them and give them a 1/4 turn to the correct position as I push the pipe in the final 1/4" or so. I feel like it helps the pipe go into the fitting better, get a better seal, and I feel there is less push out.

 

BTW. Are those stainless steel bulkheads? Nice. Also, I like your threaded end caps. Got any more pics of them? What's on top of them? Where can I get them?

[Origami]

FWIW: When I set PVC pipes and fittings I always push them in 90 deg. from where I want them and give them a 1/4 turn to the correct position as I push the pipe in the final 1/4" or so. I feel like it helps the pipe go into the fitting better, get a better seal, and I feel there is less push out.

That's what I do and have never had a problem. If I do get push-out, I will hold the fittings together until set. (I also use just regular cement and, often times, primer - though it's not necessary.) I've never, ever had to wait 2 minutes for it to set enough to hold, though.

[AlanM]

FWIW: When I set PVC pipes and fittings I always push them in 90 deg. from where I want them and give them a 1/4 turn to the correct position as I push the pipe in the final 1/4" or so. I feel like it helps the pipe go into the fitting better, get a better seal, and I feel there is less push out.

 

BTW. Are those stainless steel bulkheads? Nice. Also, I like your threaded end caps. Got any more pics of them? What's on top of them? Where can I get them?

 

 

They're normal ABS bulkheads from BRS, I think. I got them from QuantumReefs. They just look like stainless in picture 2, I think. They're going into a 1-1/2" Sanitary DWV tee with a Street-1-1/2" NPT adapter on top and a 1-1/2" PVC cap on top of that. On one of them I drilled and tapped for a 3/8" NPT to 3/8" Murlok fitting for a Durso vent. That one is going to have a bit of tube in it which will bend over and go into the overflow box so that the vent gets filled with water and converts that drain into a siphon which will flush the overflow box if the level gets too high. Then I screwed it all together with teflon paste to try to get it to seal and try to leave a bit of lubrication so that if I ever need to take it off I won't break the back of my tank or the plumbing with the wrench.

 

I did the quarter turn thing. I was optimistic until I started letting them go and they kept coming out unless I really held them.

 

That's what I do and have never had a problem. If I do get push-out, I will hold the fittings together until set. (I also use just regular cement and, often times, primer - though it's not necessary.) I've never, ever had to wait 2 minutes for it to set enough to hold, though.

 

Thanks. The ABS that was exposed from the push-out stayed gummy for a while. I could feel it on the inside from where it pushed out and I was able to put my fingernail in it for a couple of hours afterwards. Maybe I shouldn't have used the cleaner because it's a solvent too, and might have softened it.

 

One other thing I should mention is that I cut off about 1/2" of the depth of that bulkhead so I could get the fittings to take up a bit less room. I figured about 1/2" of contact area would be plenty since it's not holding pressure, but since these fittings are tapered along the depth so that it gets nice and tight when you put it in maybe I didn't leave enough material to grip the pipe while the cement dried so the taper in the bulkhead just shoved these out.

 

It's possible that these would hold water, but I think I'll not risk it and will just get 4 new ones and new fittings and try it all again. This time I'll put the PVC into the bulkheads first and clamp them overnight. Maybe I also won't shave off the back of the bulkhead.

[Origami]

Just a guess: Cutting the bulkhead down might have slowed it a bit just because there may have been a thicker layer of solvent that needed to set up enough to hold the piece in early on.

 

Anyway, with the new fittings: After it sets up, you could probably cut the bulkhead down just fine.

[AlanM]

Just a guess: Cutting the bulkhead down might have slowed it a bit just because there may have been a thicker layer of solvent that needed to set up enough to hold the piece in early on.

 

Anyway, with the new fittings: After it sets up, you could probably cut the bulkhead down just fine.

 

Right, but then it would have pipe in it, so I wouldn't want to cut it or I'd lose the pipe too. 8) I guess unless I was careful and cut around the outside...

[Origami]

Ah, I see. I thought you were putting the bulkhead in the other way (the way Glass Holes does on their overflows). Gotcha.

[AlanM]

I cut them off to look at the joints and it looks like they had about 1/4 inch of glued depth, so maybe they would have held, but I will feel better with them redone anyway

 

 

 

[Steve175]

A gentle sand on the pipe may help a bit. Purple primer followed by regular all purpose glue has always worked well for me with never a leak (26 bulkheads in current system).

[AlanM]

A gentle sand on the pipe may help a bit. Purple primer followed by regular all purpose glue has always worked well for me with never a leak (26 bulkheads in current system).

 

That's a lotta bulkheads!

 

OK. I'll use the normal stuff. Hadn't thought about roughing up the pipe, but I guess with a solvent weld cement like that a little roughness would increase the surface area and give a better bond.

 

BTW, I don't know why no one ever told me about the PVC cutter in the past picture. It's super easy to cut even 2" PVC one handed with that thing instead of using a chopsaw or hack saw.