🧿1. Common Causes of Fiberglass Pipe Leaks

Understanding the cause of a leak is key to preventing it from happening again. Leaks can be categorized into the following categories:

1. External Damage:

Construction Damage: Localized cracks or breakage caused by collision, squeezing, or improper lifting during installation.

Third-Party Damage: Accidental damage to the pipe caused by subsequent construction (such as excavation or piling).

Foundation Settlement: Uneven settlement of the pipe foundation causes uneven stress on the pipe body, leading to cracks.

2. Internal Factors:

Excessive Pressure: Exceeding the designed working pressure of the pipe can lead to pipe bursts or joint failure.

Water Hammer: Rapid changes in water velocity in the system generate shock waves, causing transient overpressure damage to the pipe wall.

3. Joint Problems:

Seal Failure: Improper installation, aging, twisting, or displacement of the rubber ring in the socket joint can result in a poor seal.

Glue Failure: For glued pipes, separation may occur due to poor adhesive quality, improper mix ratio, or incomplete curing.

4. Product Manufacturing Defects:
Quality issues such as uneven pipe wall thickness, delamination, and poor resin curing can lead to leaks at weak points over long-term use.
5. Aging and Corrosion:
Although fiberglass has excellent corrosion resistance, its performance will gradually degrade and its strength will decrease under extreme chemical media or prolonged UV exposure.

🧿II. How to Repair Quickly (Emergency Repair Methods)

Important Prerequisite: Before any emergency repair, you must first close upstream and downstream valves, depressurize, and drain the leaking pipe section to ensure safe operation!

The following are several common quick repair methods, among which using leak repair clamps is the most recommended professional and quick solution.

Method 1: Using Leak Repair Clamps (Quickest, Most Reliable, Most Professional)

This is currently the mainstream method for emergency repairs of pressure pipes in municipal and industrial settings.

Steps:

1. Shut down and depressurize: Close the valves and drain the damaged pipe section of water and pressure.

2. Surface Treatment: Clean dirt, rust, and burrs around the leak. Use sandpaper or an angle grinder to roughen the pipe surface to ensure a tight fit for the leak repair clamp.
3. Measurement and Positioning: Accurately measure the pipe's outer diameter and select a leak repair clamp of appropriate specifications. Identify the leak.
4. Install the Leak Repair Clamp:
Snap the two halves of the leak repair clamp onto the leaking pipe and align them.
Preliminarily tighten the structural bolts on both sides to ensure the leak repair clamp does not slip.
Key Step: Tighten all bolts sequentially and evenly in a diagonal order, ensuring uniform tightening force and a tight seal around the pipe.
5. Pressure Test: Slowly open the valve, restore the water/media supply, and observe for any remaining leaks. If slight leakage is detected, tighten the bolts slightly further diagonally.

Method 2: Epoxy Resin/Fiberglass Cloth Wrapping Method (Temporary Leak Stop)

Suitable for small holes or cracks where pressure is low.

1. Surface Preparation: Similarly, shut off the water supply and sand and clean the leaking area, covering a larger area than the repair area. 2. Resin Mixing: Mix epoxy resin and hardener according to the indicated ratio.
3. Wrapping Repair: Apply the mixed resin to the crack. Then, saturate pre-cut fiberglass cloth with resin and wrap it around the pipe layer by layer (usually at least 3-4 layers). Press each layer firmly to release any air bubbles.
4. Curing: Wait for the resin to fully cure (time depends on the environment and resin type) before refilling the pipe with water.

Advantages: Low cost and readily available materials.

Disadvantages: Time-consuming (needs to wait for curing), requires high skill, and is less reliable than a leak repair clamp.

Method 3: Leak-Proofing Stick/Sealant (Very Temporary)

For very small pinhole leaks.

Clean the leak.
Soften a special sealant stick (similar to Silly Putty) and press it directly onto the leak.
It will cure quickly and form a seal.

Advantages: Extremely quick and easy.

Disadvantages: Only a temporary fix with limited reliability. A permanent repair should be arranged as soon as possible.

🧿 3. Benefits of Using Leak Repair Clamps (Why They're the First Choice)

Leak repair clamps (also known as leak repair clamps or pipe patchers) are standard components designed specifically for quick repairs. They offer significant advantages:

1. Fast and Efficient:
From preparation to installation, they can typically be completed in 1-2 hours, significantly reducing downtime and minimizing the economic losses associated with water outages and production stoppages.

2. No Hot Work, Safe Operation:
The entire installation process is a cold operation, requiring no welding or hot work. They are ideal for use in flammable, explosive, and other hazardous environments, ensuring exceptional safety.

3. Reliable Sealing and Strong Pressure Capacity:
Using high-quality rubber sealing strips and a metal housing, high-strength bolts provide uniform circumferential pressure, resulting in an excellent seal that can fully restore or even exceed the original pipe's pressure capacity.

4. Highly Adaptable:
Compatible with pipes of various materials (fiberglass, steel, cast iron, PVC, etc.).
A comprehensive range of specifications is available to accommodate various pipe diameters. In addition to straight pipe repairs, we also offer emergency tee and elbow leak repair clamps specifically designed for repairing tees, elbows, and other fittings.
5. Simple Operation, No Special Skills Required:
No specialized welders or specialized techniques are required; ordinary repair personnel can complete the operation with simple instruction, reducing the skill requirements.
6. High Structural Strength:
The metal casing (usually ductile iron or carbon steel) not only provides fastening force but also provides additional mechanical strength and support to the damaged pipe section, protecting it from further external damage.

The housing is typically made of metals such as ductile iron and carbon steel, which are corrosion-resistant and high-strength. It can last the same life as the original pipe, eliminating the need for frequent repairs. Baoshuo brand carbon steel half joints are available in a variety of rubber materials, including NBR, EPDM, FKM, and silicone rubber. The half joint body is available in Q235 carbon steel and 304 and 316L stainless steel.

The following are Baoshuo brand oil-resistant pipe repair clamps, high-temperature-resistant pipe repair clamps, acid- and alkali-resistant pipe repair clamps, stainless steel pipe repair clamps, high-pressure-resistant pipe repair clamps, and large-diameter pipe repair clamps.

Summary and Recommendations

Causes of leaks: Most often due to external damage, connection problems, or abnormal pressure.
For quick repairs: Use professional leak repair clamps. This is the optimal solution, balancing speed, reliability, safety, and cost. Temporary Measures: If leak repair clamps are not readily available, epoxy wrapping or sealing sticks may be considered as a temporary solution.
Fundamental Solution: After emergency repairs are completed, the root cause of the leak should be investigated and plans should be made to permanently replace the damaged pipe section during the next downtime to ensure long-term operational safety.

For any critical piping system, it is recommended to maintain a stockpile of several common pipe diameters for emergency response.