Cracks in Pex Tubing

NRTDave

I responded to a service call where the complaint was leaking Pex tubing in a residential light weight underfloor radiant heating installation. The tubing is 15 year old Wirsbo 1/2" Hepex tubing. I immediately noticed the tubing had a split in it but oddly cannot repair the split as the tubing will split further when I try and use the expansion tool. At the time, I did not try to repair the split with a compression type connection. Upon closer inspection, the tubing looks to have hair line cracks throughout. A call was placed to the Wirsbo Rep. and they suggested the problem might be related to acidic water degrading the tubing or an over temperature issue. They did request a sample of the tubing for inspection.



I am not familiar with this radiant floor heating system, but at this time it seems unlikely those two ideas would be the source of the tubing deterioration. I will need to wait for a reply for the Rep. after review of the sample. In the mean time, I would like to ask the forum, if anyone has experienced a similar problem with Wirsbo tubing as described and what the resolution might have been.



Thank you in advance for any replies to my post.

NRTDave

Follow Up To Post

I see where the poster is identified as UniR and will add that I, The Poster, am not UniR. When I tried to create a new account so as to post, I was told that my email was already active and only needed to type in my password. As I did not know of my password, I reentered a new password and my thread listed UniR as the poster. My apologies to UniR for the hijack of your poster identifier as I did not catch this when typing the thread. I will make sure not to use the poster identifier in the future. Perhaps Dan will let me know the source of my error in thread creation protocol?

Mark Eatherton

Cracks in PEX...

The only time I have seen this, and delamination of the external EVOH barrier was in a situation (snowmelt) that had been exposed to freezing conditions.



I have seen tubing that was exposed to steam and it didn't show any cracks, just strange elongations of the tubing.



Hope you get your identity crisis straightened out :-) Who the heck are you anyway ? ;-)



ME

NRTDave

Mystery Poster

Thanks Mark for the reply. I am....... David Michaud from Northeast Radiant Technology in Gardiner, Maine. I do note the irony in my posting challenges as my partner, Rob Brown, might just be the most prolific poster of all time. My new years resolution was to catch up with Rob in the amount of forum postings. This makes my third post and I am now 2,152,221 behind Rob. Of course, in the time it has taken me to write this thread Rob has posted 7 times. Either I will need to speed up my posting or Rob will need to slow down. I shall disable his typing finger!

NRT_Rob

Hi Dave

thanks for posting, I hope you find this "internet" thing helpful. When you attempt to disable my typing "finger" though, remember I type with ALL my fingers, not just the two pointers. so I will still be nine times faster than you.

DanHolohan

To change the name that appears on the Wall

Go to My Account and then Settings. You'll see a spot for Nickname. That should work. 

NRTDave

Follow Up To Post

A little follow up to my original post is in order. The contractor erroneously informed me that tubing in question was Wirsbo. This information was incorrect and in fact the tubing is identified as LASKO OXY GUARD as written on the wall of the tubing. My apologies to implicating Uponor as the manufacturer of the tubing. I shall be more careful not to mention manufactures without all facts confirmed first If I were to mention a manufacturer as all. A follow up question would be has anybody ever heard of Lasko Oxy Guard tubing? Is there a current manufacturer for this product.

Mark Eatherton

Kleenex, Aspirin and Wirsbo...

What do these things have in common? They are TRADE MARKED names that have become daily vernaculars.



People see a clear plastic tubing and assume it is Wirsbo because they hold such a large chunk of the market share.



Never heard of Lasko Oxy Guard. Are there any approval numbers on the tube, like ASTM of NSF or anything like that?



Certain plastic tubing that have roots on the internet do not have good anti-oxidation packages, and when exposed to oxidation agents (spelled chlorine) they have "issues".



They are typically a part of an open loop system, whereby they get the opportunity to "see" plenty of fresh chlorine.



Keep us posted.



Congrats on the new name :-)



Looks good on you.



ME

CMadatMe

Plasco

I seem to remember a tubing that was used in the Northwest had quite a bit of this type of failure and I believe it was made by Plasco which is was owned by Wirsbo.  Here is an article I remembered reading quite some time ago that I found.



[url=http://contractormag.com/news/cm_newsarticle_221/]http://contractormag.com/news/cm_newsarticle_221/

Devan

Maybe

Plasco oxyguard. P rubbed off , leaving lasco?