Noooooooooooo..... sobs

[lord groan]

Arghh , I'd just begun to think about tasting my Courage Directors GW Clone which I kegged 2 1/2 weeks ago when I looked at the plastic tray it was sitting on. Full of beer it was! Its a Hambleton Bard beersphere and it wasn't the drum tap leaking, it was a tiny crack at the corner of the hand hold indentation in the side. The leak smelled fantastic though. I've rekegged and bunged some sugar in to condition (again) so hopefully it'll survive the experience.

does anyone know of any reliable way to 'weld' up a crack in a barrel? or is it a dustbin job?
cheers

[Nathan]

Definitely doable, there is a product called JB weld (if I remember correctly) that can be used. Go on YouTube and search "plastic weld pressure" and there is a video of a guy doing it on a garden sprayer. Not sure whether these products are food safe though.

[Wonkydonkey]

Just my 2p worth, not that it's worth that much at this time of night.

The first thing to ask yourself, and others what is it made of ? Then find the right glue / solvent to weld it, ie. It melts it just enough and join back together and then slowly solvent evaporates, so it becomes one,
Some plasic's are harder than others, methyl chloride welds Perspex, and a few other things but it don't touch plasic milk bottles. Which are LDPE,
Some things like heat, I think that's how they join those big gas pipes these days.

But what I will say is you only really get one go with fixing it properly, and It needs to be clean, and I mean clean and dry.

If all else fails and you can' t find anything then yeh, epoxy type thing and if it flexes/bulges umder pressure , you will be in the same boat at some point.
So start saving,

Good luck
Edit.
After typing this, I just thought, I'd ask my mate. ( Google) I got this link.

http://www.brewplus.com/forum/threads/u ... yone.2114/
So if it's the same. It's a now a flower pot.

[boingy]

Plan to get rid of it because a repair is probably not going to last. I'd be inclined to try to "weld" the crack with a flat soldering iron tip (or a screwdriver blade heated with a blowtorch). If it is the same type of plastic as my beersphere then it's that "greasy" soft plastic that just won't take glue very well.

[lord groan]

Thanks Wonkydonkey and Boingy I think I may just retire it after reading Wonkeydonkeys link, I've done the soldering iron welding trick on a rain barrel with limited success so I'd never trust it on a pressurised container,
never mind hopefully the beer is safe!

[Wonkydonkey]

No problem guys, i'lm Happy to help, and of course more than happy to share/link where the info comes from. So you could make your own mind up.

I wonder how many peeps still don't know about the kegs problems. I only found it by googling what's your keg is made of.

I can see ebay having a few listed In the near future.

Wonky