Is pvc primer safe?

Notsolostfish · Jul 1, 2023

I just finished up my uv closed loop. And let me tell you its my first experience with pvc glueing and priming. And i did such a messy job. That all my fittings dripping in primer. And some of them are stained on the outside. Now i really dont care on the looks. As i dont see it. But wanted to know if its safe for it to touch the water after curing?

Dom · Jul 1, 2023

Lately, I've been reading posts where people haven't been using primer on their PVC. I always have when gluing PVC. I wouldn't worry about it.

I imagine you would touch up using spray paint? I wouldn't want to do that around the tank. Aerosol from the spray can may become an issue.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 1, 2023

PVC primer is just a solvent that softens the surface of the PVC, and a water-insoluble dye to show where it went. . Once dried, it is no concern.

I coated the ends of PVC in my tank with purple primer to make it look more like coralline than plastic.

Notsolostfish · Jul 1, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
PVC primer is just a solvent that softens the surface of the PVC, and a water-insoluble dye to show where it went. . Once dried, it is no concern.

I coated the ends of PVC in my tank with purple primer to make it look more like coralline than plastic.

I feel embaraced of how bad of a mess i made with a primer. Literally was everywhere lol.

TriggrFish · Jul 1, 2023

charbel101 said:
I feel embaraced of how bad of a mess i made with a primer. Literally was everywhere lol.

After tipping over full bottle of purple primer on the carpet, I always use the clear version now... it makes messy plumbing look great!

Garf · Jul 1, 2023

Pretty sure some folks paint homemade aragocrete rocks with it to make it purple/pink.

hart24601 · Jul 1, 2023

While not recommended I was plumbing over my basement Rubbermaid sump and the stepstool slid and I ended up dumping about half a can into the system….

I put in carbon but there was no impact I noticed. Alk consumption via alkatronic didn’t change and the display of acro only wasn’t impacted either. However I recommend letting it dry!!!