Equipment
Needed:
- Electric Grinder with Masonry Disc or Wire Wheel
- Rotary Hammer with 5/8", 1/2", or 3/8" bit
- Airless Sprayer with Zerk Coupler
- Screw Driver or 9/32" Nut Driver
- Prime Packers or Bang-in Ports
- Socket Wrench with 3/8" deep well socket and extension
- Flush Wand
- Vice Grips
- Hammer
- Safety Googles
- Rubber Gloves
- Long Sleeve Shirt and Pants
Materials Needed:
- Prime-Flex 920 and 900 XLV or 900 LVSF
- Prime Flush
- Prime Plug
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here to visit our page of downloadable Technical Data Sheets
and MSDS.
DRILL RELIEF HOLES / INJECTION HOLES
Reduce water pressure as much as possible. Drill relief
holes (also to be used as injection holes) below or at the side
of the leak. When the crack is patched the water will be diverted
through the relief holes and the pressure on the crack will be
reduced. An appropriate size hole should be drilled at a 45o angle
so that it intersects the crack at roughly 1/2 the depth of the
concrete. 18 inches is the maximum depth required on almost any
structure. Prime Resins recommends the use of a heavy duty rotary
hammer for drilling. Hammers with vacuum bits are not recommended.
Cracks tend to veer off in one direction or another below the
surface level. For this reason it may be necessary to stagger
injection holes from one side of the crack to the other. This
will insure that at least half of your holes intersect the crack.
Hole spacing depends on the width of the crack, but typically
for gushing leaks only a few holes are necessary.
FLUSH INJECTION HOLES
This is not necessary if water is running out of the holes. A
flush wand that will reach the back of the injection holes should
be used to flush out the drilling dust. USE ONLY CLEAN WATER TO
FLUSH OUT THE HOLES. Make sure to get the holes as clean as possible
to insure penetration of the grout.
APPLY THE SURFACE SEAL
Apply Prime Plug (a fast setting hydraulic cement) to clean, sound
concrete. If the crack is extremely wide, the Activated Oakum
Technique may be used (see Activated Oakum Technique).
INSTALL PORTS
1/2" and 5/8" Prime Packers are high pressure injection ports.
Install so that the top of the rubber sleeve is flush with concrete.
If the rubber is not flush with the concrete it may either spall
the concrete when tightened down or blow out when the injection
pressures start to rise. Use a 3/8" deep well socket to tighten
the Packers. Do not beat on the Packer with a hammer. This will
damage the threads and the tip will not be able to screw on. Leave
off tips of Packers until you inject.
NOTE: The rubber in the Packer tends to relax
if left in the wall for more than eight hours. This causes the
Packer to become loose and may cause blow outs when high pressure
is used to inject the grout. To avoid this, the Packers may need
to be re-tightened prior to grout injection.
INJECT THE GROUT
Please see MSDS before working with any Prime-Flex product. Always
wear safety glasses, rubber gloves, long sleeve shirts, and pants
when doing any type of pressure injection. It is best to use two
different pumps - one for flushing and one for grout injection.
If this is not possible, be sure to thoroughly flush the pump
out with Prime Flush cleaning solvent before switching from water
to grout.
Grout may be injected as a single component or two components.
For two component injection, a two component pump with a static
mixing chamber at the end of the hoses may be used. Prime-Flex
products can be mixed at a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of grout to water.
The mix ratio has only a slight affect on cured properties of
grout. Call Prime Resins for more information on pumping equipment.
If, after surface sealing, you are still encountering problems
with water flow, inject Prime-Flex 920 with a maximum dose of
Prime-Kat. The Prime-Flex 920 reacts very fast and expands up
to 2,900%. It will seal off the leak very quickly. If the crack
is expected to move, or if the surface seal was sufficient to
control the leak, a flexible material (Prime-Flex 900 LVSF) should
be injected. The 920 requires a catalyst, and should be poured
into a mixing bucket and mixed with the proper amount of Prime-Kat
Clear. See technical literature or label on pail for proper mix
ratio. Do not allow any moisture to enter the pail.
In most pressure injection procedures it is necessary to leave
the tips off of all the Packers that have not had grout injected
through them. They allow air and water to vent out of the crack.
Failure to do this will result in excess pressure building up
in the crack and possibly cause further damage to the structure.
This is not always necessary with a gushing leak. If the leak
is bad, the pressure will vent to the water source. Remove the
tips from all of the Packers. Re-tighten the Packers if necessary.
Put a tip on the lowest Packer and begin injecting Prime-Flex.
The lowest pressure that will get penetration should always be
used (250 p.s.i. minimum), but it may be necessary to increase
the pressure as high as 2,500 p.s.i. Be very careful when increasing
pressure. If the surface seal blows out and grout begins to flow
freely from the crack, Prime Plug may be necessary to re-plug
the leak. Clean the grout off of the crack as much as possible
before applying the Prime Plug. It should set within a few minutes.
Continue to pump until material has penetrated the entire distance
between the first and second Packer. The grout should begin to
flow out of the second Packer. If this occurs, put the tip on
the second Packer and continue to pump into the first.
FLUSH THE PUMP
At the end of day the pump should be thoroughly flushed out using
Prime Flush non-flammable solvent. Material left in the pump overnight
may set up.
REMOVE THE PACKERS
In a gushing leak, the packers can usually be removed within an
hour after injection is completed using A 3/8" socket and wrench,
vice grips, and a small screwdriver.
PATCH INJECTION HOLES
Seal the injection holes to a depth of one inch with an epoxy
gel (Speed Bond #1).
GRIND GROUT OFF SURFACE
Use an electric grinder with a grinding disc or a wire wheel to
remove the any excess grout from the surface. Use caution, a wire
wheel can "grab" the grout and be pulled from the technicians
hands.
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list of Prime-Flex Products.
