Cracks forming next to plastic Uponor fittings
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Jeff H Young
In the Trades
Good Luck Bow and Breplum or client of! I would expect some comment from uponor on the yellowing etc as they should know more than us or jadnashua. as an owner or an insurance company Id be pushing for more than a coupling or splice fitting 2 dollars worth of parts aint going to fix it.
I think Id be re piping
I think Id be re piping
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bow
New Member
I am in San Diego, so it does get hot on occasion. However, I imagine the pipe itself is normally on the warmer side since its the hot water?
But yah, that is kinda weird the yellowing. Good idea on the sensor.
-bow
But yah, that is kinda weird the yellowing. Good idea on the sensor.
-bow
Jeff H Young
In the Trades
theres a lotof places that have triple digit heat. city of san diego not too bad . but its reall hot where I live and my county likely hottest in country . but places all up and down the state have many 100 degree days . So is my house expected to fail soon its 21 years old?
btw just checked and its rated for 200 degrees at 80 psi or 180 degree at 100 psi . so i dont know if yellowing is a problem but it shouldnt crack at those temps and psi .
btw just checked and its rated for 200 degrees at 80 psi or 180 degree at 100 psi . so i dont know if yellowing is a problem but it shouldnt crack at those temps and psi .
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bow
New Member
Hey breplum, thanks for the response!
Like I mentioned, our house was torn down to the studs and completely remodeled in 2014. ALL brand new Uponor PEX and Uponor fittings. First failure happened March 2019. My father-in-law was the licensed plumbing contractor to install it -- he has since retired. The local supply house had not idea what was wrong and ended up just giving me some lame Uponor instance claim form.
I keep patching it, but sounds like the whole line might be bad so I should consider just removing the PEX line and installing a new one.
Just sucks.... Anytime I leave the house for a few days I just get worried I am gonna come back and have a bunch of water damage. :|
Like I mentioned, our house was torn down to the studs and completely remodeled in 2014. ALL brand new Uponor PEX and Uponor fittings. First failure happened March 2019. My father-in-law was the licensed plumbing contractor to install it -- he has since retired. The local supply house had not idea what was wrong and ended up just giving me some lame Uponor instance claim form.
I keep patching it, but sounds like the whole line might be bad so I should consider just removing the PEX line and installing a new one.
Just sucks.... Anytime I leave the house for a few days I just get worried I am gonna come back and have a bunch of water damage. :|
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Jeff H Young
In the Trades
bow
New Member
I think you're right Jeff ! At first I thought it was just a single failure that maybe my father-in-law accidentally expanded bad (he's getting old 
)
Then it happened again.... and it seemed fishy. But now that I've had 3 leaks (that screwed my dry-wall) and around 8 fittings that cracked, I am thinking repiping is definitely necessary. I've tried turning off my recirculation system thinking that was it... and then also by-passed my soft water tanks. This last week happened with both of those disabled.
Anyone on here know a good point of contact at Uponor? Like I mentioned before, I tried to go through the supply house my father-in-law used, but they aren't very helpful and didn't seem to really care?
-bow
)Then it happened again.... and it seemed fishy. But now that I've had 3 leaks (that screwed my dry-wall) and around 8 fittings that cracked, I am thinking repiping is definitely necessary. I've tried turning off my recirculation system thinking that was it... and then also by-passed my soft water tanks. This last week happened with both of those disabled.
Anyone on here know a good point of contact at Uponor? Like I mentioned before, I tried to go through the supply house my father-in-law used, but they aren't very helpful and didn't seem to really care?
-bow
Jeff H Young
In the Trades
Bow , I get it, first leak you take care of and hope its a flook , and now your on 3 and its concerning. Yours is just the red color pipe ? this could turn into a insurance claim as well mold or water damage , and drywall repair .
Ive never dealt with customer service much but it shouldnt be much more than phone calls to get started . just a matter of how they deal with you.
Ive never dealt with customer service much but it shouldnt be much more than phone calls to get started . just a matter of how they deal with you.
John Gayewski
In the Trades
I'll just add the yellowing I have seen a lot. I don't think it's much of an issue.
bow
New Member
bow
New Member
To Reach4's point, they are the black plastic fittings. And the fittings are fine -- no cracks. It's just the expanded red pipe around the fitting that has cracks.
BN1029
New Member
There is a class action lawsuit in CO against Uponor for premature pipe failure (https://www.classaction.org/news/di...agued-by-cracking-defect-class-action-alleges). It sounds like this may be the issue you're having. Basically, they claim that the process Uponor was using to color their tubing red or blue involved heating the tubing to the point where it would eventually become brittle around expansion points. They were the only manufacturer to use this process. Uponor has since stopped making their red and blue tubing and now is only selling white with color lettering.
Jeff H Young
In the Trades
maybe plastic aint so fantastic. Everyone swears by PEX, bummer to hear about this its bad all the way around the manufacture all the way down to consumer. but hopefully product has improved
Since the red is used to denote the hot water side, I wonder if it's the combination of heat and manufacturer's radiation exposure ( process used to color the pipe) that causes early cracking. IOW, I wonder if the blue will start failing in a few more years as age catches up to it. All I know is that if I was repiping because of red PEX failure, I'd get the blue the hell out of there at the same time and go with all white.
John
BN1029
New Member
Hot water pipes tend to degrade first. But Uponor's process of coloring the pipes is the same for red and blue, so I wouldn't trust either.
Plumbstar
In the Trades
I'm seeing the exact same thing here in Newport Beach on homes about 10 years old. Most of these homes have whole house filter that should be removing chlorine & chloromines
