Leaks, Leaks, and more Leaks

[Coloradofrost]

So since week 2, I have been fighting and ongoing battle with a leaky UC. It seems that no matter what I do I cant seem to figure it out. Replaced whole buckets as well as seals. Its not cracking but almost seems that the seals are compressing or something I dunno. It will be fine for a couple of days than ill go in and my floor is flooded.

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. Im only 2-3 weeks from harvest so any ideas, b4 i completely abandon the system and go back to coco.

 

[GanjaAL]

Try a bead of silicone brother. On the outside of the bucket between the seal and the bucket. See if that works. That should do it and use your finger to swoop all the way around thand get the silicone between the rubber and the plastic. Hope this helps brother.

 

[Cort]

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-potato-leek-soup-recipe/index.html

oh.. that kind of leak...

I know nothing of UC, I'll make that clear from the start. I do know a tad of plumbing and mechanics tho...

If you over tighten, or have overtightened in the past some seals are less effective. Once you squash a seal past a certain point it dont work as well.

Not saying that is the case with you, but something to keep in mind.

 

[TurboNugs]

So since week 2, I have been fighting and ongoing battle with a leaky UC. It seems that no matter what I do I cant seem to figure it out. Replaced whole buckets as well as seals. Its not cracking but almost seems that the seals are compressing or something I dunno. It will be fine for a couple of days than ill go in and my floor is flooded.

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. Im only 2-3 weeks from harvest so any ideas, b4 i completely abandon the system and go back to coco.

Ok you replaced the buckets and seals? Is the uc on uneven ground, is the system strait not twisted or off set? Did you use hot water an dish soap for assembly? Look at your epicenter air disc air hookup outside of bucket....that seals leaked a little on mine. Im not trying to be a dick but it sounds like operator error...unless you missed the obvious.

If you do wanna get rid of the system i have a good home for her....lmk and good luck man....give her hell.

 

[Coloradofrost]

Try a bead of silicone brother. On the outside of the bucket between the seal and the bucket. See if that works. That should do it and use your finger to swoop all the way around and get the silicone between the rubber and the plastic. Hope this helps brother.

Yeah I plan on giving that a shot when I get these plants outta the system

Ok you replaced the buckets and seals? Is the uc on uneven ground, is the system strait not twisted or off set? Did you use hot water an dish soap for assembly? Look at your epicenter air disc air hookup outside of bucket....that seals leaked a little on mine. Im not trying to be a dick but it sounds like operator error...unless you missed the obvious.

If you do wanna get rid of the system i have a good home for her....lmk and good luck man....give her hell.

Well when I say I replaced the buckets and seals, that just means I replaced with another bucket and seal that I have laying around.Not new buckets and seals. But to answer your questions its on even ground, the system is as straight as I can get it with the naked eye, and yes used the soap.

 

[All4freedumb]

Soak the uniseals in warm/hot water before installing. Not only will it make things easier but the uniseals expand as they dry in place on PVC and bucket... Sometimes you can slide/ twist/tweak PVC in place to stop a small leak. I like that CC now has threaded seals, I think this will help with these issues.. best of luck..

 

[GanjaAL]

You do not have to wait on it brother unless you want to. Use silicon caulking not the white caulk as that gets hard as a rock. Use clear rubbery stuf that can be pealed off easy. You just run a bead on the outside and use your finger so smooth it out and push it inbetween the ruber and plastic. Again as a former plumber... I hate leaks brother and wish you the best at getting this fixed.

 

[John Ditchweed]

chances are its what ever lubricant you used to push the pvc into the uniseals is still there allowing water to seep out.... I will say the system is a bitch to put together and I had leaky uni's using the lube they sent me... I small amount of soap water was what I ended up using as lube and it would leak for the first few days till the soap was washed away from the seals and ceased to leak all together. Over all I wasn't blown away by the system. Yes it works great but maintaining it sucks. I broke 3 buckets trying to get the pvc in and out. And it did leak more often then not. I wish they would use some sort of snap or screw in feature for the pvc so it would be easier to break down maintain

 

[desertsquirrel]

the new bulk heads are amazing... or you can run tons of cal-mag for a few days and see if the calcium clogs the holes.

 

[smokie]

Water Weld

 

[stickyfing3rs]

if you can get an arm in your buckets push out on the uni seal while pushing in on the bucket from the outside. the uni seals have a taper at the end and pushing it out tightens the seal should fix the leak no problem

 

[Bubblehaze]

Mine leak sometimes when I do complete water changes. You need to use shims underneath and try to move the buckets left and right until the leak stops.(even if it makes the rows crooked). Also if you use lube sometimes it gets between the seals and takes time to work its way out before the seal completely seals. If its seals and then starts leaking its the position of the buckets. If your buckets are old I say good luck all my 1.5 year old uc buckets have started cracking at the seal. Had to replace 3 buckets so far. The uc buckets suck for long term use,

 

[desertsquirrel]

The new bulkheads eliminate all of that, and cut instillation time to 1/10th as well.

 

[woodsmaneh]

Silicone will not work, it will not stick to the uniseal or the bucket, like Smoki says Waterweld or plummer epoxy same thing

. I found that when putting it together some times the pipe in the seals will have some twist in it from fighting to get it in and that tork in the seals causes leaks. I know they have a new lube to use but I have always used the plain blue Windex and it goes together easy. I even have a 4" system try shoving them in 4" uni-seals LOL. Don't give up when you get it right it's very addictive..

 

[coloradochem]

the new bulk heads are amazing... or you can run tons of cal-mag for a few days and see if the calcium clogs the holes.

add that with my well water. and there will be no issues. lol

 

[ttystikk]

The new bulkheads eliminate all of that, and cut instillation time to 1/10th as well.

I knew that uniseals were the achilles heel of their system, so I built my own RDWC with 1" bulkheads. Now with this upgrade, maybe I'm just a little jealous of CC's new gear!

 

[Mr postman]

I must say this thread scares the shit out of me...I was just about to purchase the UCE24XL and i have delt with other leaky hydro systems in the past (some of the worse experiences i ever had) however those systems were made by me and i wasnt selling expensive faulty equipment to anyone knowing its faulty and will cause them problems. You would think for what they charge for these systems that they would have tested it better before selling a shit load of them. I would get so aggravated in those past experiences that i would end up just ripping the whole system out and changing/modifying it. Thats what they should have done (changed/modified it before selling it) even with the blue bucket that lets light in that should have been black in the first place, seems like a common sense thing to me. My f'ed up back cant take another one of those situations! Its hard enough for me to even assemble a system as it is.
I hope the new upgrades really live up to their hype.

I'll tell you what as much as i"m dying to rock the hell out of one of these systems i sure as hell wont buy one now, untill someone can prove to me that the new systems wont have any issues caused by manufacturer error.

Curious??? Anyone ever try this specific system UCE24XL ?? what was it like for u?
I noticed some small things that i didnt like in the specifications on their website like the biggest model of this specific system using the same size air pump as the smaller version..to me it makes sense to add more air when you add more buckets no?

 

[Mr postman]

So i checked the site again and realized i was wrong about the air pumps..i missread it. But every thing else still rubs me the wrong way

 

[BHolmes030]

So since week 2, I have been fighting and ongoing battle with a leaky UC. It seems that no matter what I do I cant seem to figure it out. Replaced whole buckets as well as seals. Its not cracking but almost seems that the seals are compressing or something I dunno. It will be fine for a couple of days than ill go in and my floor is flooded.

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. Im only 2-3 weeks from harvest so any ideas, b4 i completely abandon the system and go back to coco.

Are the buckets the square buckets or the cylindrical round type. Cause the seals on those never seal right since they are made to be mounted flush qnd they have to conform to the convex shape of the bucket wall on a round bucket. If they are round buckets just go buy square ones

 

[BHolmes030]

So since week 2, I have been fighting and ongoing battle with a leaky UC. It seems that no matter what I do I cant seem to figure it out. Replaced whole buckets as well as seals. Its not cracking but almost seems that the seals are compressing or something I dunno. It will be fine for a couple of days than ill go in and my floor is flooded.Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. Im only 2-3 weeks from harvest so any ideas, b4 i completely abandon the system and go back to coco.

I can't believe nobody suggested the buckets. That's literally the #1 reason round buckets leak if you're using them. But it says to use jb weld on the outside and rubber cement on the inside if you are using square buckets and it won't seal