amkazen
New Member
Hi,
I am, as of 2 weeks ago, very well aware now of the $125M settlement of the class action lawsuit out of North Texas. What a stupid, stupid thing I did to have this entire house plumbed with KITEC in 2001 - 2002.
Anyway, here we are now and guess what? Leaks. But, it is interesting. None of the pipe we have cut & replaced have the build-up inside like you see in the pictures from the Clark County, NV houses. The pipes in my house are really clean on the inside. I called an attorney here in Albuquerque who looked into joining the lawsuits but determined it was not much of a problem here (i.e., not enough $ for him). And, his opinion is that water softeners caused the problem. Well, moving on...
My 1st KITEC failure occurred about 11 months ago in the main hot water line, in the wall, coming off the indirect hot water storage tank about 4' off the tank. The next leak occurred about 7 months ago on a line that that teed off the main hot water line, in the ceiling, about 10' from the 1st leak, and about 2' away from the tee fitting. Leak #3 occurred 1 month ago on the main line right where the KITEC is curved above the wall, leveling out into the ceiling. It is currently repaired with silicon tape. Leak #4 occurred last week on the line that tees off the main line, about 3' from where leak #2 occurred. I still need to fix leak #4 with silicon tape but it only leaks in the past week when it wants to.....odd.
All the leaks are not occurring at or near any fittings. The pipe is clean on the inside. After reading the lawsuit at www.plumbingdefect.com I thought the issue was the fittings and dezincification and not the pipe itself. However, after 4 leaks I am not so sure.
On the KITEC lawsuit website was a link to Delta Mechanical. Their on-line quote system quoted $11,750 to repipe my house with Wirsbo. Wow..no way can I afford this. I am waiting for the plumber that came out this past Friday to come back out on Tuesday, Sep 17 for his look and estimate to repipe with Wirsbo.
KITEC is in my walls and the 1st floor ceiling. KITEC was used for the radiant in-floor heat in the 1st floor concrete slab and 2nd floor gypcrete. I read on this site KITEC should be used for radiant systems but not for domestic water supply.
Questions:
1) Ever hear of issues with KITEC pipe just failing and not because of the dezincification issue? Or, is that what I have but without any build-up inside the pipes? All the JKITEC threads on this site..wow, and I could not find but one post abut a KITEC pipe failing as a result of something other than dezincification.
2) If I find the money to repipe do I need to do the in-floor pipes? There are no joints/fittings in the floor as it was all continuous runs to & from the manifolds in the wall. The $11,750 did not include the in-floor pipe, I do not believe, nor do I know if it included R&R of sheetrock, repaint, etc.
3) Should I repipe everything, including cold water lines, or just deal with the two hot water lines?
4) The attorney I talked to locally says I now have to disclose when & if I ever sell this house that I have KITEC and that there is a class action lawsuit. Anyone have any experience with this kind of disclosure, or the need to do so? I wonder how it affects the value of the house having KITEC..a lot, I bet.
5) Any responsibility on the part of the original plumber and the supply house? The supply house folks are really nice, but the plumber? Left a lot to be desired.....And, perhaps the supply house is being nice to avoid being sued....who knows?
Thanks.
4)
I am, as of 2 weeks ago, very well aware now of the $125M settlement of the class action lawsuit out of North Texas. What a stupid, stupid thing I did to have this entire house plumbed with KITEC in 2001 - 2002.
Anyway, here we are now and guess what? Leaks. But, it is interesting. None of the pipe we have cut & replaced have the build-up inside like you see in the pictures from the Clark County, NV houses. The pipes in my house are really clean on the inside. I called an attorney here in Albuquerque who looked into joining the lawsuits but determined it was not much of a problem here (i.e., not enough $ for him). And, his opinion is that water softeners caused the problem. Well, moving on...
My 1st KITEC failure occurred about 11 months ago in the main hot water line, in the wall, coming off the indirect hot water storage tank about 4' off the tank. The next leak occurred about 7 months ago on a line that that teed off the main hot water line, in the ceiling, about 10' from the 1st leak, and about 2' away from the tee fitting. Leak #3 occurred 1 month ago on the main line right where the KITEC is curved above the wall, leveling out into the ceiling. It is currently repaired with silicon tape. Leak #4 occurred last week on the line that tees off the main line, about 3' from where leak #2 occurred. I still need to fix leak #4 with silicon tape but it only leaks in the past week when it wants to.....odd.
All the leaks are not occurring at or near any fittings. The pipe is clean on the inside. After reading the lawsuit at www.plumbingdefect.com I thought the issue was the fittings and dezincification and not the pipe itself. However, after 4 leaks I am not so sure.
On the KITEC lawsuit website was a link to Delta Mechanical. Their on-line quote system quoted $11,750 to repipe my house with Wirsbo. Wow..no way can I afford this. I am waiting for the plumber that came out this past Friday to come back out on Tuesday, Sep 17 for his look and estimate to repipe with Wirsbo.
KITEC is in my walls and the 1st floor ceiling. KITEC was used for the radiant in-floor heat in the 1st floor concrete slab and 2nd floor gypcrete. I read on this site KITEC should be used for radiant systems but not for domestic water supply.
Questions:
1) Ever hear of issues with KITEC pipe just failing and not because of the dezincification issue? Or, is that what I have but without any build-up inside the pipes? All the JKITEC threads on this site..wow, and I could not find but one post abut a KITEC pipe failing as a result of something other than dezincification.
2) If I find the money to repipe do I need to do the in-floor pipes? There are no joints/fittings in the floor as it was all continuous runs to & from the manifolds in the wall. The $11,750 did not include the in-floor pipe, I do not believe, nor do I know if it included R&R of sheetrock, repaint, etc.
3) Should I repipe everything, including cold water lines, or just deal with the two hot water lines?
4) The attorney I talked to locally says I now have to disclose when & if I ever sell this house that I have KITEC and that there is a class action lawsuit. Anyone have any experience with this kind of disclosure, or the need to do so? I wonder how it affects the value of the house having KITEC..a lot, I bet.
5) Any responsibility on the part of the original plumber and the supply house? The supply house folks are really nice, but the plumber? Left a lot to be desired.....And, perhaps the supply house is being nice to avoid being sued....who knows?
Thanks.
4)
