underground electrical and keeping water out!

[Dave Sparks]

I have a clients home who has an underground electrical armored conduit on a hill.
There is water from rain entering the conduit at a union. (I dug it up and found the source) The water is going down hill and filling a J box.
I do not want to replace everything (the right way)

I think long ago I repaired a similar issue by bathing the connection in 1/2 gallon or so of latex paint.
I have been thinking a vinyl paint might be better.

Any comments or advice?  Thx!

[rick91351]

Dave up here in the boontoolies and need a fix don't forget the silicon caulk - a tube of grease - in side a piece of PVC.  Seems like it works but how long.....    Sure not code but gets the juice flowing...... But we are looking a usually a whole day to run out get pieces parts.  Come back in then if you forget or something else occurs your down another day.......    

[glenn kangiser]

Dave, there is a liquid tape in a can as I recall that may work.  I don't know a supplier ... Maybe Seivert or Coast

[Dave Sparks]

Thanks Rick but I can't get inside and the power can't go off, easily...
It takes me a little longer than you as my SO keeps crossing it off my list 
She thinks that I will do more on her list 

[Dave Sparks]

Whoa, Glen is back?   I do not need the electrical insulation properties of the liquid tape.

Do you think it would be better underground than latex or vinyl for keeping water out?

[glenn kangiser]

Partially back, Dave.  Still waiting for my mind to show up... It's somewhere between here and Myanmar... missed the flight I think.

I think I would trust the liquid tape better than the latex...

At the phone company we also had castable plastic stuff we put in a mold to waterproof phone lines.

For readily available here, I think Ricks suggestion of Silicone Rubber might be the best thinking about it.  I have used Silicone rubber to hold oil in a cracked engine pan before.  I would trust it after thoroughly drying the union and keeping it dry until the silicone cures. 

[Dave Sparks]

Dang, I hate it when the mind misses the flight. 

I have separated the uphill portion of the union so it can drain in the trench and will leave a gap for draining.

OK so, some GE exterior silicon, rough the exterior with sand paper of the downhill  union and get the silicon inside the conduit and outside.

This has got me thinking of using DuPont Marine 5200 sealant, if I can get some before the next rain..

[MountainDon]

There is a silicone tape that might work.

http://www.xtremetape.com/?gclid=CjwKEAiAluG1BRDrvsqCtYWk81gSJACZ2BCeS4c-9RkscrOAEUENGWZKJQpo71kKhsx3j2I_xR2WSBoCodTw_wcB

I have bought it, though a different brand, at Lowe's and HD.

I have one joint taped with that on our hill slope. No apparent leaking.

[glenn kangiser]

Apparently the brain is stuck in Customs Dave..... Something about it being a protected exotic material.... may not get it back.  [ouch]

Sounds good, Dave. Also I don't know how steep a grade you are on but backfilling with gravel to the downhill side so water will drain away could be an option.... too flat that wouldn't work.  Hope it works out.

[Redoverfarm]

Butyl tape.  Various widths and thickness. 

[DaveOrr]

Here's a couple of options for you.

1/ Chemical bonding tape. I got some off a friend that worked for the power company. It is stretchy and waterproof. You stretch and wrap the tape over it's self and it chemically bonds water tight.

2/ Use Plasti-Dip to seal it up. There are spray and brush on varieties available. The brush on is also used to dip tool handles in to replace damaged handles on pliers and wire cutters etc. Very thick and waterproof. There's that spray stuff on TV too. The stuff they seal leaky eves with and also seal a screen door mounted in the bottom of a boat to show how it works.

[MountainDon]

.. Chemical bonding tape. I got some off a friend that worked for the power company. It is stretchy and waterproof. You stretch and wrap the tape over it's self and it chemically bonds water tight.

That sounds like the silicone tape. The one I linked to has a film separator that has to be stripped away as you wind the silicone tape around the part. It is stretchy too.

[DaveOrr]

That sounds like the silicone tape. The one I linked to has a film separator that has to be stripped away as you wind the silicone tape around the part. It is stretchy too.

Sounds like it or very similar Don.

[Dave Sparks]

I think the stretchy silicon tape is sold on amazon as emergency tape
http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Repair-Tape-Self-Fusing-Silicone/dp/B00BSXAH06

All of these great idea's got me thinking of the 3M 5200 underwater marine polyurethane.
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Marine-Adhesive-Sealant-White/dp/B00SIMEYTU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1455041379&sr=8-2&keywords=3m+5200+marine+adhesive+sealant

It sticks to just about anything almost permanently. You can fix plastic tools with it like a plastic yard rake that you ran over.  I used it on our sailboat.
You can take a metal yard rake that has a broken off  wood handle and glue the metal into a 1 inch pvc pipe that will last for decades.

I am going to use it in the opening of the conduit and around the type UF romex outer jacket.  You may ask why the direct burial type UF is in
armored conduit?  There is a bedrock layer about 5 inches below the soil and the armored is to protect the type UF from gophers.

After that sets in 5 days I will use the emergency stretch tape over it for the double whammy. The rain still looks far off for us 

The leak is somewhere up 450 feet on the top of their hill so this will be far easier Glen. The only thing I do with gravel these days is watch it come out of  a dump truck 

[Dave Sparks]

That sounds like the silicone tape. The one I linked to has a film separator that has to be stripped away as you wind the silicone tape around the part. It is stretchy too.

When I used this on a pipe water leak from a pressure pump, you had to have room to really get a huge amount of stretch for it to work and seal the leak.

I did this 3 times and I still had a slight leak.  But after about a week the pressure from the pump sealed the leak and it has been good for 4 years. Really good for copper pipe, steel, or PVC if you have about a foot or more clearance all the way around.