Phase One Plumbing

A homeowner had a pipe burst last night, luckily he was able to get a Plummer right away, the pipe coming out of the hot water heater had a pin hole leak in it, enough to cause a leak all the way to the first floor damaging insulation and sheetrock. Two years ago a section of pipe a foot from this section on the other side of an elbow joint split in half causing significant damage to the same home.

This time however the Plummer had informed the homeowner that all of the pipe in is home is defective, yes defective there has been several law suits including at least one class action suit and there may be another one, basically if you have the terracotta colored DURA PEX pipe and connectors in your phase one home you have the defective pipe.

After doing a lot of research on the internet it seems to be a lot of people in the Charlotte area that have the most problems with this pipe, it is susceptible to getting pin hole leaks, cracking in half, and the connectors are known to completely fail.

The experts say its not a matter of if it will fail but when, most failures seem, to happen on the hot water side coming out of the hot water heater first but can occur anywhere in the line. The only real fix is to completely replace all of the pipes in your entire home.

Many homeowners have had this problem in our community before some have had 3 or 4 leaks like this, but we are only now learning that the pipe is considered completely defective.

My first suggestion is get a plumber to replace the first several feet of the old pipe coming out of the hot water heater as this has been the most common first point of failure, this should be relatively inexpensive, and could save you from a big headache later on.

Here are some links discussing this issue further:

http://audetlaw.com/investigations/nibco-pex-products-breach-warranty-investigation/

http://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/why-would-nibco-cpi-durapex-pex-split-lengthwise-and-leak.21075/

http://gotaclassaction.com/nibco-inc-named-in-class-action-lawsuit-over-cross-linked-polyethylene-plumbing-tubes/

http://www.nachi.org/forum/f54/dura-cross-linked-polyethylene-nibco-problems-38109/

Expansion Tank?

A homeowner reported that last week his thermostat malfunctioned on the hot water heater the additional heat build up caused more pressure in in the pipes which caused one to rupture, spilling water from the attic all the way down to the laundry room, kitchen, dinning room, and living room, causing extensive water damage. It was noted while replacing his hot water heater by an engineer with York County Natural Gas and by a South Carolina certified plumber that had an expansion tank been installed the line would probably not have ruptured.

After some investigation it has been found out that if your incoming water pressure is 80 psi or greater you are required by County Building Codes to have an expansion tank installed, at time of construction. The water pressure in this neighborhood can average between 70 and 90 psi depending how you have your pressure regulator valve adjusted. This valve is located under the emergency cut off switch installed in the hall closet outside the laundry room in phase 1 homes.

An expansion tank can be purchased at Lowe's for $40 and installed by a plumber for about $100 and is installed on the cold water side of the pipe just before it enters the hot water heater,

Most phase 1 homes do not have this installed and should consider adding one, to reduce the chance of a pipe failure.

The incident that occurred last week on Harpers Inlet Dr is the second such incident at a home in Harpers Mill this year.