Food safe epoxy sealant or glue

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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Mar 24, 2005
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Stokesdale-Greensboro
Before I head blindly to Lowe’s to find some, can any one give me a heads up. I have a hole my water softener brine tub that needs plugged. It’s on a relatively flat surface. The tub seems like a big rubbermaid tote made of translucent white plastic. I’m thinking I can just cut a chunk of milk carton or OJ bottle plastic and just stick it to the inside. Maybe I’’m being overly cautious, but this is our household drinking water. Would hate to make the dumbass headlines when a family of five is found dead of superglue poisoning.
 
If it's polypropylene or polyethylene or another LSE plastic (low surface energy), good luck with that. They're hard enough to bond in the first place without throwing a food-grade requirement into the mix too.

If it's a small-ish hole, plastic welding may be a good option.

Or, bonding a patch internally with a food-safe flexible sealant that will properly stick to LSE plastics without having a shear or peel failure. Mixed results finding a product to do that as well.
 
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JB weld it, let it cure, then fill it back up. It's a brine tub. It'll be fine.
 
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How did you wind up with a hole in your brine tank? How large is the hole? If the spot isn't too curved, some sort of bulkhead fitting with a plug might do the trick.
 
awheelterd said:
How did you wind up with a hole in your brine tank? How large is the hole? If the spot isn't too curved, some sort of bulkhead fitting with a plug might do the trick.
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The level valve sits inside a 4” vertical pipe inside the tub, allowing the float mechanism to work. For some reason I don’t understand, the level valve mounting stud not only went the the pipe, but was intentionally run thru the side of the tub. The nut was outside the tub, below water level. It’s worked for 10 years or so, but pouring 40lb bags of salt in has knocked it around and the hole wallowed out, no surprise. I just rotated the pipe 90 degrees so the stud is completely inside the tub.
Now that I think about it more, the only thing holding the pipe in place is the rock salt around it. If it becomes a problem, maybe I’ll JB weld it to the side of the tub
 
I wouldn't worry about it being food safe, most stuff after curing won't leach much chemicals. Besides, you're talking about exposing salt water to it, not cutting food on it. And you're talking about what maybe 5 sq in of surface area? I'd try plastic welding it. You can borrow the kit and rods I have but I think it's a bit of a drive.
 
a_kelley said:
Besides, you're talking about exposing salt water to it, not cutting food on it.
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But the water will run onto food whnen you wash it, rinse it, boil in it, etc...plus Tony is one of them engineer types that is paid to worry about unlikely shit happening...it bleeds over
 
a_kelley said:
I wouldn't worry about it being food safe, most stuff after curing won't leach much chemicals. Besides, you're talking about exposing salt water to it, not cutting food on it. And you're talking about what maybe 5 sq in of surface area? I'd try plastic welding it. You can borrow the kit and rods I have but I think it's a bit of a drive.
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This is our household water supply. We drink it regularly, seems like something worth 'worrying' about. Granted, @Ron is probably right.
 
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