I have a small leak starting in the elbow of the pipe. It is a cast iron pipe about 70 years old. How can I temporary seal this until I am able to have it replaced. Is there some past that can be spread on the pipe to seal the crack.

Hi rcoesr:

They make some great epoxies today. For your situation I would recommend the PROPOXY 20 epoxy stick sold at most home supply stores (see image).

Here, you want to clean the hole you speak of (clean easy or may increase hole size) and then sand the area well.. then mix the 2 part epoxy until forms a uniform gray putty.,. Then work it into the hole a bit (not too much or will act to catch things as waste goes by) and then spread out and over the repair area.

The trick with this epoxy is it is water soluble. That means you want to install as suggested and then use wetted fingers to smooth it down to the pipe... idea is to feather the edge out so bonds and seals the edges.

I primarily use to temporarily repair lead pipes... but have used a few times for cast iron.. bonds real good to metal.

There are also other metal epoxies at epoxy center of home improvement stores.. check them out as well...

Be prepared, however, to replace that cast iron as you suggested... one hole usually equals more holes in time... ;)

Hope that helped some. If it did, please RATE THIS ANSWER. Thank you... Mark

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Mark is giving you a great product, sometimes my tempoary repairs with plumbers epoxy can last 15-20 years.