PVC cement drying time
 

I am planning on upgrading tanks and want to do it as quickly as possible.

Does anyone know how long it takes for PVC to dry and not be toxic? I know the drying time for cement union is very fast but after the tank swap and with newly installed plumbing how fast can you have saltwater flow through without issues from the pvc cement?

I know peeps who glue and use in @ 1 hours time, never did it myself, they said they had no probs.

I've filled plumbing after an hour many times.

That is the answer I was hoping for.
Thanks!!!

i once went and placed my nose to the end of some plumbing a couple hours later to see if it still smelled. I was thinking if it didn't smell I was good to go.

My vision blacked out and I almost fell down. In my opinion that's not long enough to be safe. My guess is that the water on the welds causes it to finish curing pretty fast but that something will leach into your water... it might not harm anything that you notice of course. I'm sure the bond itself is safe for our reef pressures in 10 seconds.

The difference in the VOC levels after 1 hour and after 24 is huge. IMO it is best to wait at least 24. But the sniff test is the only way to be sure. If you don't want to wait carbon helps absorb the VOC's. Letting your parts cure in a well ventilated warm spot speeds the process.

Heh the longer the better. I do a modified sniff test, when i do not want to get high in the fumes. Blow the air out of the plumbing then sniff.

The glue drys really quickly, but don't let that fool you. It still needs about 24 hours to cure. At least (IMO)

I have plumbed in new lines and put to use within 2 hours on running tanks, a couple time winin an hour. on a closed system it is going to take a long time for the smell to dissapate and not a good indacator.

Steve

Agreed. I've shut my tank off, spliced in some new parts, drank a cup of coffee and fired it back up.

thank goodness
 

Thankfully some else said this first.
I was starting to panic a little thinking " Am I the only crazy person that fires things up after a very short cure time"?

I do try to do it in very small amounts under the idea that if I re-did tons of plumbing all at once, the VOC would be much more of a problem.

Let it sit 5 minutes and you are good to go. Wipe off the excess cement inside the pipe with a paper towel where possible.