Enamel pan repair

Metal cookware can last a long time. With proper care, it practically does not fail. But nevertheless, during cooking, various troubles occur, including overheating, as a result of which a hole or a chip may appear if restoration of broken dishes is possible. After such an incident, the pan is most often thrown away, but is it always necessary to immediately run into the trash? Repairing an enameled pan is sometimes possible, and this will be discussed later.

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Metal utensils in the kitchen

Despite the fact that many housewives have long been using pots and pans made of refractory glass or ceramics, metal dishes are still extremely popular. She has many advantages:

• heats up quickly:
• cools quickly;
• tolerates temperature differences;
• it is easy to look after her;
• costs much cheaper than analogues from other materials.

True, metal pans also have drawbacks - in particular, not all of them are repairable. Mostly used utensils from the following materials:

• of stainless steel;
• aluminum;
• enamelled steel.

Important! For cooking some dishes, cast-iron cookware is still used, it holds heat better and distributes it evenly. Read about what and how to cook in such dishes in our culinary blogs:

• What is better to cook in a cast-iron pan?
• How to cook meat deliciously.
• How to cook oyster mushrooms.
• Care for cast iron utensils. Rust which is a problem.

But, unfortunately, cast iron utensils are often not repairable. But to tidy up the rest - you can try.

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How to close up?

If a hole appears on an aluminum, steel or enameled surface, you can do one of the following:

• plug the hole with a bolt;
• solder;
• make a rivet;
• stick up;
• brew.

Important! The first method, as well as riveting, is suitable for any material. But not all can be soldered - for example, steel must be annealed beforehand, but the method is extremely unreliable. The best option is to brew, if there is equipment.

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We put a bolt

This method has a significant drawback - the enamel cannot be restored in this way. Just the opposite - it will gradually exfoliate. So the option can be regarded as temporary. If you urgently need to close up a small hole in the bottom and it doesn’t matter what happens to the pan later, you can’t imagine a better way. Enamel can then be restored.

How to fix an enameled pan? Very simple. You need:

• a suitable bolt;
• drill;
• drill for metal.

A hole is rarely the absolutely regular shape. Therefore, first of all, it must be brought into relative order:

1. Take a 3 mm drill (if there is a 2 mm bolt, then you need the same drill).
2. Drill a hole, giving it the most regular shape.
3. Insert a bolt.
4. Firmly tighten the nut on the inside.

Important! It’s hardly worth cooking in such a pan, but you can still boil the water for a long time - as well as use it for other purposes (for example, if it is steel or enameled, you can paint things, boil the laundry etc.).

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Solder

Repairing pans with a bolt is the easiest method, but not suitable for any occasion. For example, repairing a curved surface this way is unlikely to succeed. In this case, it will be necessary to solder, and you need to use solid solder - that is, do the same as tin mills on the streets and markets used to repair metal dishes.

You need:

• tinplate;
• tin solder;
• flux;
• sandpaper;
• file;
• high power soldering iron.

Tinned tin is used to make finger battery cases - from there it can be taken to be used in this way:

1. Strip the area around the hole to completely remove the enamel and leave only pure metal.
2. Apply flux.
3. Cover the damaged area with a soldering iron using solder.
4. Cut a patch out of tin.
5. Tincture it the same way.
6. Patch the hole.
7. Warm it with a soldering iron.
8. Wait for the solder to melt.
9. Press the patch onto the outside of the pan.
10. Remove excess solder - this is done with a file.

Solder should be applied in a thick layer - not less than 5 mm. With such a repair, the patch will not fall off for quite some time. You can cook in a pan, but not too often.

Important! Lead is toxic, so if you intend to cook in a saucepan in the future, use pure tin as solder.

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We restore enamel

How to repair an enameled pan if there is no hole, but the enamel has broken off? It is necessary to restore the enamel. This will require putty, which you can do yourself. You need:

• kaolin - 225 g;
• trepan - 60 g;
• calcined borax - 40 g;
• silicate sodium - 30 g;
• powder glass - 20 g;
• slaked lime - 20 g;
• water - 10 ml;
• capacity;
• mortar and pestle:
• pharmacy scales.

All ingredients can be bought at chemical reagent stores, but it is easier to do this through an online store. Grind the components thoroughly and mix. Then follow this procedure:

1. Clean and dry the surface.
2. Degrease the place where you will putty.
3. Apply putty.
4. Let it dry for two days.

Quartz sand enamel

There is another kind of homemade enamel. For her you will need:

• casein;
• sodium liquid glass;
• borax;
• quartz flour;
• ground glass.

Here's what to do with all this so that the repair of the enameled pan gives the expected result:

1. Combine 12 parts of casein, 6 parts of water glass, 10 parts of borax, 14 parts of quartz flour and 5 parts of grated glass.
2. Mix everything well, add a little water to make a homogeneous dough.
3. Prepare the enameled surface in the same way as in the previous case, that is, strip to metal and wipe with acetone or gasoline, and then dry.
4. Apply the composition you prepared, rub and let dry.
5. Then polish to make it smooth and beautiful, and you can use it.

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Other ways to restore enamel from video

If the dishes are white, you can apply a simpler method. On sale you will easily find glass enamel. It is applied to any metal surface, including utensils, if it is used at temperatures up to 350 ° C:

1. Read the instructions.
2. Scrub the surface with large emery paper.
3. Degrease the repair site.
4. Apply enamel.

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Big hole

But what should you do if a solid hole has formed in your favorite pan, which is simply not enough for tin from the battery? You will need a piece of copper, that is, a copper plate. Still very useful:

• file;
• file;
• sandpaper;
• gasoline or acetone;
• soldering iron;
• tin;
• rosin;
• flux.

Before applying a patch, everything needs to be carefully prepared:

1. Wash the pan thoroughly.
2. Clean the damaged area from any deposits and rust, if any.
3. Strip the plate to shine too.
4. Wipe both surfaces with acetone, gasoline, white spirit.
5. Apply flux or treat the surface with solder fluid (sold at any hardware store).
6. Preheat the soldering iron.
7. Place the sting on the rosin.
8. When a light haze appears, you can start.
9. Dial solder - the sting needs to be kept until a film appears.
10. Apply solder to the repair site.
11. Flatten it on the outside and inside of the pan.
12. Gradually apply pieces of solder and smooth until the hole disappears.

How to prepare a soldering iron?

If you have already dealt with a soldering iron, repairing the pan will not seem difficult to you. To the same one who decided to do this for the first time in his life, it makes sense to start preparing a soldering iron. It must be irradiated:

1. Strip the sting - this can be done as an emery cloth or a file.
2. Heat the device by plugging it in.
3. Rub a sting on a piece of rosin.
4. Separate with a heated tip a little solder.
5. Making circular movements, make sure that the tin spreads evenly throughout the sting - the end should be covered on both sides.
6. If you did not get an even layer, repeat the procedure, but try to clean the sting as best as possible.

Important! If you notice a blue film on the prepared soldering iron, you need to cool it.

Can I use it?

You can use the pan, but not immediately. It must first be prepared. It is done like this:

1. Wait for the solder to cool.
2. Strip the joint so that the patch does not stand out too much.
3. After that, you can try to boil water - if you did everything correctly, the pan will not leak.

Important! Well, the utensil has been saved, it's time to check whether milk will escape from it. By the way, if you still don’t know in which dishware it is better to cook milk, we will tell you in our article:"In which pan is it better to cook milk porridge."

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We repair an aluminum pan

Much more difficult is the case with aluminum surfaces. Soldering them is very difficult. Of course, if there is argon welding (and such a device can now be bought completely freely) - there are no problems. But buying such expensive equipment makes sense only if you are going to do it all the time - for the sake of one aluminum pan, this is definitely not worth it.

Is it necessary to throw out a damaged pan? Not at all. It can be used for a variety of purposes - for example, it is quite suitable in the garden. In it you can collect fruits and vegetables, as well as carry water for irrigation. For repair you need:

• piece of aluminum;
• bolt with nut;
• drill;
• hacksaw for metal.

Of aluminum, you need to make two patches. They should be bigger than a hole:

1. Put patches on the hole from the outside and inside.
2. Fasten them with one or more bolts - the nuts should be inside.

Important! The steel pan can be repaired in any way - and soldered, and put patches.

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Seal the aluminum pan

Aluminum is poorly soldered due to the rapid formation of an oxide film. In addition, you will need a very powerful soldering iron - 100 watts or more. There are difficulties with solder - bismuth is added to it, and getting it is not as easy as other metals.

Solder consists of two components:

• tin - 80-95%;
• bismuth - 5-20%.

Important! It should be borne in mind that bismuth is toxic. Cooking in such a pan is hardly worth it, but it can be used for other purposes.

The flux used is:

• paraffin;
• stearin.

To avoid the appearance of an oxide film, you can try the following method:

1. Strip the surface on which the hole is located.
2. Melt the rosin.
3. Melt the hole
4. Apply flux.
5. Put solder on the sting and close the hole from the edges to the middle.

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We clean aluminum and steel dishes after repair

If you need to restore the appearance of aluminum utensils, it is enough to simply clean it. The most common soda is suitable for this. Clean the pan and it will regain its former beauty.

Important! Every housewife knows how easily aluminum pans get dirty and smoked.But not everyone knows how to return kitchen utensils to their former appearance. Our blogs will help you figure this out:

• How to clean aluminum pans at home.
• Aluminum is harmful to health.
• Cleaning stainless steel utensils.
• Top rated stainless steel pans.

In the same way, the spectacular appearance of stainless steel products is restored. In this case, even soda is not needed - any dishwashing detergent is enough.

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other methods

In some cases, it is better not to weld metal surfaces, but to glue them together. True, cooking in sealed pots will not work - except that it will fit as a bucket. But just in case, you need to know these methods. Adhesives suitable for you:

• BF-2;
• BF-4;
• epoxy.

BF-2 and BF-4

These adhesives are made from phenol-formaldehyde resin, so cookware repaired with their help is not suitable for cooking. The method of application is simple:

1. Clean surfaces well so that no grease, rust or dirt remains.
2. Treat the glued place and patch with acetone or gasoline.
3. Apply glue with a thin layer - it is more convenient to do this with a brush.
4. Let the product dry for about an hour.
5. Apply a second coat of glue.
6. Let it dry a little.
7. Attach surfaces to each other (for example, a metal plate to a hole), press.
8. Put the product in the oven and heat for one hour.

Epoxy adhesive

This solution consists of several components. He has:

• epoxy resin;
• dibutyl phthalate (plasticizer);
• aluminum oxide or silica flour;
• hardener.

After the patch is glued, the product must be placed in the oven, heating it to 200 ° C and warming for about three hours. This is the best variant. If there is no oven, then you can warm up to 120 °, and then leave the pan alone for a day, after which it will be ready for use. You can store food in it; cooking is not worth it.

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Rivet

If there is no glue at hand, but the house has a lot of tools for working on metal, you can make a rivet. You need:

• a good hammer (it should sit tightly on the handle);
• hacksaw;
• chisel;
• pliers;
• vise;
• nippers;
• anvil;
• metal plate;
• thick wire - copper or aluminum.

Pan repair procedure:

1. Cut a piece of wire 10-12 cm.
2. Grip it in a vice.
3. With light hammer blows, flatten one end to make a hat - it should be larger than the hole.
4. Insert the free end of the wire into the hole so that the cap closes it.
5. Trim the free end.
6. Flatten it so that on the second side there is also a hat blocking the hole.

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Stock footage

A pan repaired by any of the above methods will last a long time. In addition, the very feeling that hands are growing out of shoulders gives a person confidence - if you succeed, you can repair anything.