I had a new leak this week, so I took the tube out to find and patch it. Turns out the new leak was at the edge of an old existing patch or just under it. Removed the old patch, tested it in a bucket of water and there were 2 leaks! One was the original one I'd patched, and the new one very close to the edge of where the old patch had been (outside of the edge). I had an oversized patch, so I applied it. Just wondering if you can do that - will one patch work for 2 holes that are close together? It wouldn't have been possible to put 2 patches on. Won't know until I get the next flat and replace the tube with the one I just fixed.

Thanks.

At that point I would have long replaced the tube. All the time and effort to try and cover up some holes on an old tube to just potentially fail again is just too much.

Yes, that will work fine as long as it was applied properly. I've used overlapping patches over an old patch a few times for a new hole and as long as the old patch was still holding air it was a permanent fix. In your case, as you did, it's better to remove the old leaking patch and use one larger one for both holes.

This^^

Tubes are so cheap, I don''t bother repairing them.

Sure. IF you have the right kind of patch.

One advantage of REMA is they have a feathered edge, so you can lay patches upon patches.
Not so of the rubber 'brick" type patches with an abrupt edge.

the second leak was ,probably, already there... and the patch got applied off to the side a bit.
"Snake bite" punctures usually happen from tires being at too low of a pressure, or curb hits, that pinch the tube from the top and bottom.
i've seen tubes caught between the tire iron and rim, or between the tire bead and rim, get snake bit too.

if the patch was applied well, and the Tube was properly prepped, and it's not a "peel and stick" patch, it may hold up fine...

my unwritten rule on tubes is.. if they already have two patches, then i won't patch them a third time.

While I also would have abandoned hope on this tube by now, my distaste of landfilling tubes (I even cut the valves off and put them in my metals recyc bin) is just another reason why tubeless is the way forward.

For some values of "cheap".
Patches are *much* cheaper than tubes, and so am I.

Most of us paid $2k - $5k for our bikes. A $5-$10 tube is small potatoes in the big picture.

I'd rather have a new tube vs. a compromised one and go through the hassle that OP went through.

Time is MONEY. It is quicker to swap in a tube than to properly patch a tube and then do the same labor to swap that tube back in. Also getting a flat because of a failed patch is more of a pain I feel like because that shouldn't have happened.

Given how few things I use are still repairable, it can be satisfying to patch a tube. Saving it from becoming landfill is a bonus.

Once tubes are beyond saving because of, e.g., a failure at the base of the valve, I find plenty of uses for them.

For instance, when a spring anchor on a front derailleur broke, I replaced the spring with a cut-up section of a tube. It worked, if anything, better than before. I took my time ordering a replacement derailleur.

I also once towed a friend and his motorcycle 5 miles to a repair shop using a string of tubes from my car's rear bumper to the bike's stem. Good times.

Who is this "us"? My bikes are more like $200-500. I do tend to build them from good used parts, and they are all probably over 30 years old ... I do use tubes with multiple patches, fixing stuff is part of the hobby AFAIC. OTOH I wouldn't patch tubes for a customer because it's not economically viable if he's paying for my time at workshop rates, but I have patched tubes at the co-op I used to work at.

There are always exceptions or outliers. But the majority of us here are enthusiasts with disposable income to purchase bikes within the price range I mention. It's more the norm than not.

Patching tubes falls into "The stepping over dollars to save pennies" category to me.

I replace the tube, take the punctured one home with me to patch at my leisure, and put the patched tube in the spare tube supply to carry with me on future rides.

Hope you're doing well.

If the two holes are pinholes (like that caused by a a thorn or wire) and can both be covered by the "thick" part of the patch, you can use a single patch to seal both. Multiple holes that aren't pinholes (such as the dreaded "snakebite" slits from catching a tube under a tire lever) can be trickier, as if not sufficiently spanned the slits can tear beyond the patch under pressure.

You can overlap patches - thinner patches such as Rema make that easier. But you need to prep the top of the first patch where the second patch will cover it, similar to prepping the tube by removing all old oxidized rubber, dust, and contaminants. A successful example:

To respond to all who answered (and thank you)...
For those of you who said it wasn't worth the time and effort, I didn't have much else better to do.
For those of you who said a new tube is cheap, you don't know my financial circumstances. You also don't know that I'm not part of this throw-away society.
To Bill/RC - Thanks for telling me about REMAs. Those are the ones I use and prefer and didn't know they're meant to overlap. THanks for the pic.
For those of you who think I don't know when a hole isn't "already there", I do know a thing or two about bikes.
To Choddo/Trakhak - thank you for recycling as you do. Some of us appreciate it. As for the tubeless thing, I just looked into that on-line and it seems you need rims to go with tubeless. Which isn't going to happen anytime soon.
To PRJ - Most of us DID NOT pay such a ridiculous sum for their bike! Stop trying to demean people with ******** statements. Even if you're the owner of this site, you have no idea what people spend on anything.
To John - that's exactly what I do too.

If your financial status is such that you can't afford a $5-$10 tube...I don't know what to say.

While you may not have paid what you call a "ridiculous sum" for your bike, the majority of us here are spending that much on a bike.

Nothing ridiculous about spending money on a bike unless it is just a cheap bike covered in gold to make it look more expensive. 2-5k isn't even that much realistically. I can understand someone scoffing at double digit bikes in some cases those can be more on the ridiculous end for some people but $2-5k is normal for the average bike of decent quality.

I get it yes you can go down to a big box store and they sell an object shaped like a bike and it is $100 and it seems like it would have the same functions as a more expensive bike but being this is a bike forum most people aside from some new members and some members who actively chose ignorance everyone knows that is not the case.

I'm an enthusiast, I could buy a S-Works Tarmac or a Stumpy EVO tomorrow, hell, why not get them both? Because they would not give me joy. I like old stuff, and not even the exotic classics, just ordinary bikes that perform adequately.

When I rode competitively I would set myself a performance target I had to reach before buying an upgrade, turns out that after I got an Ultegra gearset and Campy/Mavic wheels I didn't need anything else, because that stuff was as good as I needed, riding at the level I was. I could have taken it more seriously but that might have been less enjoyable.

I did spend a bit more on recumbents, an e-bike and a tandem, but only in keeping with my "good enough and cheap on eBay" approach. I once spent the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $3000 on a bike, the only new complete bike I ever bought (my first MTB was built from all new parts, I have no idea how much I spent on that).

There are several problems with your statement. All kinds of people ride all kinds of bikes. Some pay lots of money for their bikes and some don’t have two nickels to rub together. It’s not your place to judge.

Even for those of us who have lots of money, using a tube once and throwing it away is wasteful. It’s bad for the environment. Whether or not it is economical also depends on the number of flats you get per year. I’e gone through a box of 100 patches in a year. One hundred flats at $5 to $10 each is $500 to $1000 per year which is a lot of money even if you spend lots on your bike. One hundred patches and the glue for them costs around $40. That leaves $460 to $960 that I have to spend on other stuff. I have had tubes with 30 patches on them in the past. That’s $150 to $300 I saved as well as not contributing 30 tubes to landfills.

I’m not a fan of patching over patches but it can be done if necessary.

Stop claiming to talk for "the majority", you are not qualified to do so. Also we don't care about your disposable income, despite how much you want to tell us about it.

IF you can carry a new tube, you can carry a patched tube. (BTW, sometimes new tubes fail)
Patch when convenient. Maybe when you have 2-3 to patch, or between TV commercials. Buff, watch, glue, watch, apply patch, watch.....
Else, what an arrogant & entitled POC.

People in the C&V sub-forum often refer to snobs in the 33/Road Bike section sneering at them, but this might be the first time I've actually seen an example.

Actually, most bikes i see on here are under a grand, new, and most are used when purchased by the present owners...
every one of my personal bikes were bought used, except one Frame/fork, and many were just a frame with some remnant parts on them.
my DB was a nearly complete bike, in need of everything serviced, bought for $17 at a "Moving Tomorrow!" Sale..
I'd spent most my pocket cash on a front door at that sale... it was $25, and works wonderfully to this day.
the Specialized was a frame with a few bits, $50... found on CL.
the Trek was a bare frame/fork.... but brand new at the time... $310.. i put another 400 into it, over a couple months time, all new, high end parts.... prices were far lower back then.
The Commencal was a frame and rear shock, nothing else, $50.
the CF Fuji, just a frame and Campy Crank/bb, $110(it now has the price of $600 marked on it's sale tag), 18.5 lbs of fast and fun.... i over-paid for that crampy crankset.
the Gitane crit bike, $90, in need of a major re-grease/service... it came with extra parts, tires, and a pair of size ten shoes.
the Marin was just the frame, at 1/10 the original price, still in it's shipping bag.

even my Santana tandem needed Serious help... it was Complete. but outdated and not well... $75, at a moving sale.
none of them needed a credit card, and almost all of my recent builds are done with used parts, found for real cheap. (Cables, housing and chains are new.. i buy them in bulk, heavily discounted!)

you must be thinking of some other sub-forum, eh?

Now YOU definitely need to upgrade to tubeless