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hePEX tubing burst coming off my geo-thermal unit this am.

Scrappy123
Scrappy123 Member Posts: 1
Any ideas why my tubing burst and flooded my basement?

Comments

  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 1,883
    Could have a freeze up? It can burst even if its pex / ehPEX.

    Did the failure happen on the pipe itself or a fitting or joint?
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 5,695
    Do you have a photo of the damaged tubing? Was it near your loop pump? Is your loop pressurized or atmospheric?
    NJ Steam Homeowner. See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 9,574
    If it froze it could very easily have popped it off the hose barb
  • bnjmn
    bnjmn Member Posts: 53
    Did the failure occur on the desuperheater piping?
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,457
    Hepex can grow something like 6 times its diameter without failing, so freezing should not be an issue. However, if it got real hot, it could swell up and blow. But it would still take a lot to do it. Did the tubing burst, or come off a fitting?
    Rick
    ethicalpaul
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 9,574
    If it expands 6x and that part was on a fitting it will no longer be on the fitting.

    I don't think there is a point where water would be liquid and hot enough to soften it enough to burst.
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 22,022
    edited January 2020
    Temperature and pressure relationship with pex. ASTM F877 dictates the temperature/ pressure listing on the tube.

    While not published or stamped on the tube, it can be tested to something like 248°F for 3000 hours, 125 days as part of the stabilizer functionality test.

    Not all pex is created equally :) That long alphabet of numbers on the tube tells a story. Depends on the cross-linking method, better pex generally costs a bit more, for a reason.
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    coby
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 22,022
    Some of the pex listing criteria
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,561
    I do believe that @Scrappy123 may be a one post wonder....
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ1_jNnAHWg
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
    Intplm.ethicalpaul
  • Peter_26
    Peter_26 Member Posts: 129
    :D:D:D