Viega FostaPex issues

kcopp

Hi All.

Someone may have posted awhile back about Viega FostaPex O2 issues….

This product was on the market for years and it had some nice benefits. Solid, no drooping, bendable to a point, simple connections.

Viega pulled it from the market for some reason a couple years back No explanation. Local rep had no explanation.

Now i am wondering in O2 ingress was the reason and the higher ups have kept this under wraps to allow plausible deniability.

I was called for a no heat call last week. Circulator was done. (Grundfos 15-58).

System is an Adu installed in 2009. 3/5 Fpex. 10 feet on HW baseboard, kick-space heater.

When I went to purge out the loop I was stunned at how little flow was going through the piping. To attempt to force the flow I cut in a second boiler drain and street pressure (65psi) to blow out any junk.

I was surprised to see sediment in the bottom of the piping.

When purging I got A Lot of rusty hematite laden water from the loop.

More troubling the flow rate was terrible. maybe 1-2 gallons a minute.

I added a tube of Fernox cleaner to the system and let it run a week.

Returned a week later and very little change.

The loop gets some flow w/ a 0015 on high speed.

Next step is to either pull out tubing or try to flush out junk w/ a flush cart.

Pix to follow.

kcopp

pix.. town/municipal water. Munchkin boiler. A couple Baseboard loops and an air handler.

EdTheHeaterMan

Interesting. That would not be the first time a company kept the manufacturer's rep from knowing all the details.

hot_rod

My understanding was the inner, black full size pex tube is their barrier HePex? The aluminum and PE layer over it was to make it "form stable" that is where the name comes from FostaPex.

The Viega June 2013 Tech Bulletin addresses the splitting outer jacket and they say the oxygen permeation is not compromised by the splitting outer jacket. Maybe find the TB at their website.

Is that what you are seeing the outer grey PE and aluminum splitting?

Has the system been taking on water. Any other place O2 could be entering?