Pex issues?

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  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Posts: 4,209

    Hi, Sure would be interesting to know about the water quality in this development. Having a forensic look at failed pipe would be interesting too. Then, how was the pipe handled and stored before installation?

    Yours, Larry

  • GGross
    GGross Posts: 2,102

    Is this just the same case that keeps getting new stories periodically?

    One thing that always bugged me about these stories with Uponor. its always large spec home subdivisions. I wonder does the supplier, or the builder just store this stuff outside in the sun for the duration of the project or something? we have been selling Uponor since before I worked at my current company and I can count exactly zero failures in the 30 ish years its been up here. We sold it through the time when this all started, Uponor actually pulled the product for awhile to make sure there was no issue, then they pulled the dye out, they never could find an issue. we sold it through all of that and had zero issues.

    ChrisJ
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 21,307

    Obviously, something is wrong the damage is widespread and is in other states. Sooner or later they will find the cause but that doesn't help now.

    Defective installation, bad pipe or the pipe degraded somehow either before or after installation. I would think they could examine the defective pipe and come up with an answer.

    I wonder if it is leaking where the Pex attaches to the fittings or randomly along its length.

    Hot water, cold water or both?

    GGross
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Posts: 17,756
    edited 5:43PM

    My first thought was what @GGross said.

    Spools of pex being left out in the sun for who knows how long. If they get thousands of feet delivered and just let it sit outside in the yard for months and months, and then drop it off at the jobs and it sits for another month.

    It's a shame the product cannot be exposed to sun for very long, but at the same time copper has issues too, at least recently it seems to with certain types of water.

    According to that article Uponor said all of the cases were dismissed. That means it was found to not be their fault.

    My experience with Uponor is fairly limited. My parents house was done with it back in 2006, or rather "Whirsbo" and we recently made some changes and I had no problems expanding that pex, no cracks, nothing. I installed a bunch of Uponor in my own house, no issues, no signs of trouble but it's only 6 years old or so.

    For now, I still have confidence in their products, including the valves and plastic fittings and I'll continue using them.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Posts: 18,380

    so is the engineering analysis of the failed tubing available somewhere? the few stories i have seen don't even show the failed tubing.

    if you are mass producing spec houses there are lots of reasons the plumbing might get installed before the framing is finished and it is dried in and it might sit out in the sun for months. did this show up before covid and all sorts of shortages made projects sit for months to years? were they sitting exposed in houses that couldn't get windows? Even pre covid it is really common for developers to run out of money and subdivisions to sit partially built for months or years.

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