Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Anyone know how to get 90mm pipe through a frigging uniseal. I have cut the required 102mm hole, and beveled the edge of the pipe but Im stuffed if I can get it through or even started

Boil some water and put into a bowl/bucket. Add some detergent to it. Place pipe in it. It will go soft and make it easier to push thru.

You won't have much time before the pipe becomes hard again so you may need to boil the kettle a few times.

Push harder.

make small cuts in the end of the pipe down 1-2 cm. All the way around the end of the pipe. Now you should be able to squeeze the end of the pipe in to make it very tapered on the end.. goes in easy then.. well relatively.

Hard to describe but I hope you understand.. Once we found this method we used it for all our uniseal joins.

+1

Worked for me along with detergent and pushing harder

we also used a rubber mallet on the end of the pipe to "help" things.

I have done this also and it does work.

I did encounter a problem when using this method though. Occasionally it would create a crease in the pipe which made it wider than 90mm and impossible to push through, had to cut the end off behind the crease and start again.

Using a rubber mallet is good. I pushed the pipes through with my leg/knee and ended up bruised and sore.

When using 20mm and 40mm pipe/uniseals I find you can just push them thru with ease. Just the 90s which are a PITA.

I used woodworking clamps, dishwashing detergent and a dead blow mallet and it was still difficult. The idea of heating the rubber uniseal and cooling the pvc pipe makes sense, especially if you use detergent to reduce friction even further.

Couldn't edit my post - warming the uniseal may expand it in both directions so that might not help but cooling the pvc should.

If all else fails;
Put a threaded rod through the center of the pipe and through some wood blocks - one at the back of the pipe to push it along and a U-shaped block at the front that pushes against the inside of the tank but leaves plenty of space for the pipe to come through before it touches. Make sure the force is distributed so you don't damage the tank. Once you have this setup just tighten the nuts until it's where you want it.

Thanks guys , I will know what to do next time but I went to plan B. I cut the bend off a 90 degree water tank overflow so the pipe would go right through and fastened it with sikaflex and stainless bolts.
Uniseal would have been much neater though. Next time

It may be neater but not as good in my books

Vaseline

theres nout wrong with that i say if you paint the sika black would look really tidy

Cheers
pete

This is straight off the Uniseal Fitting Instructions:

"DO NOT use silicone, grease or Vaseline, as anything with a
slippery or greasy base will cause the marriage between the
pipe and the Alcryn in the Uniseal® to fail under pressure."

"Wet and apply liquid detergent to the end of pipe
to be inserted into the tank. Then drive the pipe
through the Uniseal® from it’s wide side. (It may
be necessary to use a mallet & dolly). The
detergent will be squeezed off as the pipe passes
through the Uniseal®. The coefficient of friction
of the rubber holds the pipe tightly in place."

And +1 for slotting the pipe end.