is there anything that will safely dissolve the insulation foam around hot tub pipes so that i can get to a le?
is there anything that will safely dissolve the insulation foam around hot tub pipes (without hurting the pipes: i have copper and pvc) so that i can get to and fix a leak easier?
Your best bet is mechanical removal down to the pipes (carve it off). If you need to take more to clean right down to the pipes, you’re talking solvent and need REALLY GOOD VENTILATION. I can’t emphasize that enough; not so much because of the health issues as much as the flammability factor. Get the cheapest bottle of nail polish remover you can find and see if it works to dissolve the foam. If it works and you need more than a little, get a pint of acetone (the active solvent in nail polish remover) at a hardware store. VENTILATE!!! It’s nasty flammable stuff but a really, really good solvent. Only use as much as you need. I don’t know how it affects PVC. You might want to check it out on a scrap piece if you can find one. But it evaporates so fast in a fan draft that I don’t think eating through a PVC pipe will be a problem.
Your best bet is mechanical removal down to the pipes (carve it off). If you need to take more to clean right down to the pipes, you’re talking solvent and need REALLY GOOD VENTILATION. I can’t emphasize that enough; not so much because of the health issues as much as the flammability factor. Get the cheapest bottle of nail polish remover you can find and see if it works to dissolve the foam. If it works and you need more than a little, get a pint of acetone (the active solvent in nail polish remover) at a hardware store. VENTILATE!!! It’s nasty flammable stuff but a really, really good solvent. Only use as much as you need. I don’t know how it affects PVC. You might want to check it out on a scrap piece if you can find one. But it evaporates so fast in a fan draft that I don’t think eating through a PVC pipe will be a problem.
References :