Multiple leaks uponor pex 2012 home

[JohnCT]

I have been encouraging people who have a house piped in wirsbo pex or any kind of pex to
consider installing a 2 cubic foot backwashing carbon filter to take out the chlormines in the city water
and extend the life of their pex plumbing system--

If that's the reason the Uponor is failing. Is it? Maybe. It's as good a guess as we have right now, but there's no definitive scientific study that concluded what the failure mechanism of Uponor pipe is, and Uponor certainly isn't saying (assuming they even know themselves).

But as you say, there's no downside to removing the chorine/chloromine from the water, so why not? If you've already got Uponor, a filter makes sense, but I would also remove any recycling hot water system and add a PRV as well as Uponor pipe also doesn't seem to like hot water or high(ish) pressure.

John

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

If that's the reason the Uponor is failing. Is it? Maybe. It's as good a guess as we have right now, but there's no definitive scientific study that concluded what the failure mechanism of Uponor pipe is, and Uponor certainly isn't saying (assuming they even know themselves).

But as you say, there's no downside to removing the chorine/chloromine from the water, so why not? If you've already got Uponor, a filter makes sense, but I would also remove any recycling hot water system and add a PRV as well as Uponor pipe also doesn't seem to like hot water or high(ish) pressure.

John

This was all talked about a long time ago on Terrys site as
far back as 2005 we were debating about how long
the pex pipe that had just been legalized in California would
last with the high levels of chlorine in the city water.
Now 20 years has passed since then and the shit is beginning to hit the fan..

Well, I know that the carbon filters are made to take out both chlormines and chlorines from the water...
I know that it makes the water more healthy to drink , and its better to bathe in water that does not smell like a swimming pool when the bath is full... It just cant be bad for humans and if you have any kind of pex system in your home it really cant hurt at all and logically I feel its the best
solution to lengthen the life of the system

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[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

Where do the leaks actually occur? At the fittings, the compression rings, or anywhere along the pipe?

 

[John Gayewski]

These threads should just be deleted. Nothing is hitting the fan. People are reading things online where failures are highlighted and all of the working pipe that is in service and has been for many years is ignored. This is not an accurate picture of the failure rate. Copper falls all of the time year in and year out. It all depends on specific circumstances.


Recirc lines need to be properly sized. A lot of people used to use 1/2" which was never right.

 

[JohnCT]

Copper falls all of the time year in and year out. It all depends on specific circumstances.

Copper does indeed fail - it did on my house after 25 years (not bad really but copper can last 100 years), but after I started getting pinholes, I discovered the real cause was low pH.

An acid mitigation system FIXED the cause. Scientific tests show low pH water dissolves copper.

Will a chlorine/chloramine filter, PRV, and proper sized recirc prevent Uponor failures? *Maybe*, but no one knows why the pipes fail when other brands/types of PEX are not getting this kind of press. We don't have a scientific explanation yet.

Moreover, if it was a single failure at any given location, it would be easy to dismiss this as installer handling or even an occasional defect along a section of the extruded pipe, but when Uponor homes feature a leak, they feature several to a dozen of them until the pipe is mercifully removed from the home.

I also don't like how Uponor pipe yellows in blotches even if it's not leaking, including some pipe that's *never* been installed - this tells me that there's some sort of lack of uniformity along the pipe.


John

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Found my first. Got a call from a contractor I work with that he had a leak in his house. Work had been done by a guy that worked for a company I worked for, but he was doing this job as a side project.

Navien 240A with recirc loop, with recently failing oversized expansion tank coupled with a Scala 2 pressure pump just to the left of this photo where the hot pipe below (red and blue mixed) and cold on top (blue / clear mixed ) connect.

Split was on the Hot side where that Hot blue pipe comes out of the stud from the left on the horizontal connection to the elbow.

 

[Michael Young]

2012 house, I have been here for two years. Whole house uponor pex. Clear PEX

in March 2023, I had a leak on the hot water side in upstairs closet approximately 10 feet from the water heater. At the time, Plumber told me that the Pipe was brittle and was cracking in several places and that I would have future issues.

In December 2023, I had a leak on the same hot water line, approximately 6 inches from the first leak. This time, the plumber replacement, approximately 20 feet of pipe working backwards from the water heater.

In January 2024, just a couple of weeks after the above repairs, I had another leak in a hot water line, approximately 10 feet from where the line was repaired.

in between these incidents, I also had a slab leak in July 2023 on the cold water side, which the plumbers thought was from some thing rubbing against the pipe. The remainder of the pipe looked OK.

I see these as my options:

1. Do nothing and hope the problem goes away.
2. Add a leak flow detection device at my water meter that shuts off water in the event of any leak. This won’t prevent damage, but may mitigate it. Then, watch and wait
3. proceed with re-piping the hot water line only.
4. Proceed type of both the cold and hot water lines

For completeness, I have never had a recirculation pump, but the previous owner probably did. Also, I now have a pressure reducing valve put in.

What would you do?

Also, I have heard about the Uber north claims department, but I’ve heard very few stories of people successfully getting any compensation recently. is it worth it?

Your house is only 12 years old. Pex is good material. I trust it. What I don't trust are plumbing companies leaving stacks of pex pipe out in the sun. The UV damages the pipe. Based on what you're describing, it sounds like the plumbing company that roughed the house was likely pulling pipe from a pipe that had been sitting out in the sun. The pipe "get brittle". You can literally hear the pipe (that's been left out in the sun) make "crunching" sounds. I think you're going to have to do a repipe and get that questionable material out of there.