2nd water line break in 4 months. Water pressure is getting turned down, and leak detection/monitoring is happening. I come to grassroots on how to fix this properly.
Grey polyass garbage line on the left snapped at the connection to the fridge. I'd like to replace it at the threads, but my concern is if anything you buy today can thread into that. Should I unthread it and replace or leave it threaded and connect to the line?
In the last few years I remodeled 2 modular homes in Florida which both had the grey polybutylene pipe. I replaced it with PVC and CPVC throughout the house. Where I couldn't access and remove an entire line, Lowe’s sells a specific "Sharkbite" fitting specific from butyl to PVC/CPVC/copper/pex.
I don't think they sell those type of compression fittings anymore. If possible, rip out all the gray pipe and replace it with either cpvc or pex. Our house had that quest pipe when we bought it, and I go so sick of fixing leaks that I repiped the whole thing with cpvc.
That is polybutylene piping. The best way to deal with it is remove all of it. It is a ticking time bomb.
As mentioned above a temporary fix would be the PB shark bite transition fitting. Unfortunately shark bite fittings have their own issues and should be avoided if possible.
Cpvc is trash and gets brittle with age too, avoid it like the plague.
pex or copper
After learning how to solder I recommend replacing everything with copper.
When I redid my house, I went 100% Pex. It comes into the basement as copper from who-knows-what underground. Everything after the shut-off valve is Pex and sharkbite.
Super simple to repair, reconfigure, install, and service. No possibility of reactions with water (like you might get with PVC, copper, or other metals) and just darn easy to work with.
PB is no longer up to code- you're gonna want to dump it as soon as you can. The sharkbite is the easiest way, but eventually you're gonna want to go through it all with CPVC or PEX as stated.
CPVC or PEX. No real reason to use copper.
I went with pex, and connected into the existing line with a sharkbite.
I know replacing it all is inevitable. I have 2 floors plus the basement. I'm fine with replacing the water lines in the middle floor. The issue is getting them to the 3rd floor. As much fun as ripping walls out to access everything sounds....
I don't really know what to do. Other than move.
pjbgravely said:After learning how to solder I recommend replacing everything with copper.
After having a boatload of slab leaks in rental houses over the past few years with 40 year old copper plumbing...copper can kiss the plushest part of my nether regions. Annoying enough, I used copper on a slab when wife and I built our house 15 years ago, I will spend my retirement years kicking myself daily.
Anything you can repair with PEX, repair with PEX.
old_ said:Unfortunately shark bite fittings have their own issues and should be avoided if possible.
I've never heard or experienced any issues. What have you?
NoviceClass said:pjbgravely said:After learning how to solder I recommend replacing everything with copper.
After having a boatload of slab leaks in rental houses over the past few years with 40 year old copper plumbing...copper can kiss the plushest part of my nether regions. Annoying enough, I used copper on a slab when wife and I built our house 15 years ago, I will spend my retirement years kicking myself daily.
Anything you can repair with PEX, repair with PEX.
My concern with PEX is how long has it been around? Do you know that it won't be a PITA in 30 or 40 years? I mean, I know CU has potential problems depending on water chemistry, but what else out there has the same length of service records?
My house is a 1980 built with copper and I haven't had any problems related to that. On the other hand, I often have problems with plastic fittings and such from the 80s/90s, if you still have devices that have lasted that long.
It's like trusting a "new car reliabilty award!" I mean, sure, if the car has major problems after only 5 years, it's junk, but I want to know if the tranny is a time bomb in the 10-15 years range!
WonkoTheSane (Forum Supporter) said:NoviceClass said:pjbgravely said:After learning how to solder I recommend replacing everything with copper.
After having a boatload of slab leaks in rental houses over the past few years with 40 year old copper plumbing...copper can kiss the plushest part of my nether regions. Annoying enough, I used copper on a slab when wife and I built our house 15 years ago, I will spend my retirement years kicking myself daily.
Anything you can repair with PEX, repair with PEX.
My concern with PEX is how long has it been around? Do you know that it won't be a PITA in 30 or 40 years? I mean, I know CU has potential problems depending on water chemistry, but what else out there has the same length of service records?
My house is a 1980 built with copper and I haven't had any problems related to that. On the other hand, I often have problems with plastic fittings and such from the 80s/90s, if you still have devices that have lasted that long.
It's like trusting a "new car reliabilty award!" I mean, sure, if the car has major problems after only 5 years, it's junk, but I want to know if the tranny is a time bomb in the 10-15 years range!
Unfortunately, you have valid concerns. There is no guarantee with PEX, but most under slab PEX installations I have seen will be far easier to repair should there be issues. Virtually all codes will not allow under slab joints, so once the offending line is identified, a simple matter of sleeving the line from point A to point B should be a simple procedure. All the pipe junctions will be accessible behind drywall, ideally they will be run to common manifolds which are behind an access panel. PEX runs also won't have 90 degree corners that are unaccessible, and most installations have the blue/red combo, making leak diagnosis even easier.
But yeah, PEX now seems like a panacea, but in 40 years who knows. I'll likely be dead by then, so it will be someone else's headache.
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