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Thursday, 24 September 2015

Fixing A Leaky Gutter Growbed

Just noticed this morning water droplet from one of the #guttergrowbed, it's about five drops per minute.


Thro the leak is small, it's enough to wet the floor and over time if not checked moss or algae will grow.


Bottom view of leak, marked so that it can be located during repair.


First, all plants from #guttergrowbed need to be removed and place somewhere safe and not dry out.


A car boot tray is good for holding the plants and fill it with water about an inch, this is a precautionary measures just in case the repair took longer that I anticipated.


After the last flush, switch OFF the pump and lift up the ends that needs repair. It advisable if the adjacent growbed share the same pump, ensure it is full of water before stopping the pump.


I have tubes in the gutter to support those pots, clear them out and the #guttergrowbed will be dirty just like above photo.


Give it a good cleaning, it should not be difficult since the area is always underwater and the sludge did not have time to hardened.


Use a hair dryer to accelerate drying, heat from dryer will make the originally applied glue tacky, sometimes this itself can cure the problem.


Dry it from underneath too. Then once completely dry, apply hot glue to the affected area. This is the easiest glue to use and it is very good for quick fixes.


No matter how I do, it will always looks messy. Once all area covered with glue wait for it to cool for about five to ten minutes, then we can restore the growbed.


Start water inflow to check for leaks


Having satisfied that the repair is good, I can put the plants back in its place.


Prior to that don't forget the bottom part which need to be check for leaks too.


Plants in, everything back to normal.


Minor disturbance to the plants, as if nothing happen. The potted #guttergrowbed system makes it easy to do repair if needed.


If it's happen to be the inner growbed, same can be done as long as there is access to the container ends. #Guttergrowbed leaks are mostly from the endcaps area which may be tricky to seal. But out of four growbed only this one leak.


So that is 1 out of 8 endcaps.

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