The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors heater leak

Hi all, I have a very small leak in my heater.drip every 3-5 seconds or so. Is there a home remedy to fix this without taking it into a shop
Thanks Rick

the "home" remedy is to take the heater apart and find out what the problem is, and as it's likely to be the core, or [if a deluxe version] the Ranco valve, buy some new parts

Bill

Yup I did pull it out an took it apart as far as you can. Yes it seems to be in the core. I'm not sure what a ranco valve is. I dont seem to be able to pinpoint the location of leak as it comes to the lowest point

plug one tube of the core, put a piece of hose on the other tube, dunk the core in a bucket of water and blow in the tube as hard as you can, watching for bubbles, could be leaking at a seam that you could re-solder - if it's leaking in the body of the core you'll need to get a rad shop to re-core it or find a new one

Bill

Thank you sir I shall try that

I was teasing the local high school auto-tech teacher about fixing cars in crazy ways. I asked him about putting eggs in radiators to stop leaks (don't remember where I heard that one. . .) He said, "No, but pepper works for small leaks. The pepper 'finds' the small hole and will fill it up!" Might be worth a try for a leak that small. Let us know what you find.

Craig

I believe it was only egg whites that should be uses. And, yes, back in the 60's I do remember adding pepper to plug a small leak. I also remember pinching off the tubes of a leak as a temporary fix.

For the heater, I'll bet the core is too far gone to salvage.

Should not be too bad to replace. I'd bet you can do it yourself!

Never seen any cores available for TF trucks? You can make a core with a tight serpentine copper layout maybe, 1/4 or 3/8 tubing? It's just some hot water to blow over. Make it fit in the same space as the core, use larger copper tube on each end to accept the heater hose. never done this, just brainstorming. maybe an inlet valve to control flow rate so you can tweek it. Sounds like a crazy idea to me. Easy to make anyway if they don't make cores anymore. Only two leak points and they would be outside the cab. Eggs and pepper, I'm getting hungry for breakfast.

There are dozens of cores for a variety of applications for sale on eBay every day may get lucky or find something close from another application? Worth a look if all you want is heat not originality.

" Bars Leaks " saved my butt a couple of times for small rad /heater leaks. I wouldn't want to use it on a modern setup, but might work on the old stuff.