If you have polybutylene pipes in your plumbing system, You may want to read this

[sugarli]

These pipes were widely used in homes built between the 1970's and late 90's. They may leak after a few years and cause a lot of demages. There were class actions against the manufatures in both the US and Canada. The law suits were all settled. Many home owners have had their whole houses repiped. These polybutylene plumbing systems are like ticking time bomb waiting to explode. They are grey color plastic water pipes. If you have unfinished basement, it's easy to spot them.

http://www.polybutylene.com/poly.html
http://www.classaction.ca/content/actions/polybutylene.asp

 

[housewife]

My pipe are all white color(hot or cold plastic water pipe),are they the same thing as you talking about?
Thanks

 

[sugarli]

The white pipe is called Pex. They are fine.

 

[MSH]

最初由 sugarli 发布
The white pipe is called Pex. They are fine.

Pex is too good since it's semi-transparent, I can see the hot water pipe has reddish sediment all the way from tank to end. Did anybody notice this kind of reddish stuff at you home?

 

[haoren1]

I am replacing my Polybutylene system with copper.

Pex is made of plastic also. Some are white in color and some are transparent. It has 30 years of history. There has been no documented problems specifically associated with these pipes. Most builders use Pex because it's cheaper and easier to install.

Copper is still the best plumbing choice. It has been around for over 50 years and has sustained the test of time. Material and labour cost is higher than plastic pipes.

My neighbours and I all have polybutylene (Poly-b) pipes in our houses. I have had 2 leaks and the house across the street has had two also. Our houses are about 17 years old.

 

[Timothy's]

What kind of fitting your have. It is plastic or copper? And what kind of leak? If you don't mind. Could you tell me how much it will cost to replace the whole house with copper pipe?
Thanks!

 

[haoren1]

最初由 Timothy's 发布
What kind of fitting your have. It is plastic or copper? And what kind of leak? If you don't mind. Could you tell me how much it will cost to replace the whole house with copper pipe?
Thanks!

I had plastic fittings in my house. Leaks occurred at the fittings. The estimates I got from a few plumbers ranged from 2,500 to $3,500. Dry wall patch-up costs about $1,000. I now have copper pipes.

 

[Timothy's]

Thanks! haoren1
I have PB pipe too, even my house was built at 1997.The Ontario building code still allow builder to use PB pipe even today. Could you believe it even after that much lawsuit? Mine has copper fitting. I did extensive research on PB pipe because of that. The information I found are.
In Canada PB pipe does not have much problem as in US. The code is stricter. Workmanship general is better. And in Canada most system use copper fitting and for indoor water system only, apprently UV light will damage the PB pipe too.
Only at three situation people should worry if they have PB piping.
1) The fitting is plastic. These fitting have problem but not the pipe itself.
2) If PB pipe are used to run heating system. In such system the water temperature is over 82C which is over the limit of PB pipe.
3) Some PB pipe, mostly blue have quality problem. They are rare in Canada.

On internet most information about PB pipe is from lawyer who is look for people join the lawsuit or plumber company making money on re pipe whole house. So we should think again about the information from them.

I don’t have any problem yet. But I will still keep eye on them.

 

[基础墙]

我的房子里也是用的ＰＢ　ＰＩＰＥ，七年多了，什么事都没有，也没听说哪位邻居的水管出毛病－－用的都是铜接头。

另外，安省并没有禁止用ＰＢ，只要是用铜接头，保险公司也不会找什么麻烦。

 

[haoren1]

最初由 Timothy's 发布
Thanks! haoren1
I have PB pipe too, even my house was built at 1997.The Ontario building code still allow builder to use PB pipe even today. Could you believe it even after that much lawsuit? Mine has copper fitting. I did extensive research on PB pipe because of that. The information I found are.
In Canada PB pipe does not have much problem as in US. The code is stricter. Workmanship general is better. And in Canada most system use copper fitting and for indoor water system only, apprently UV light will damage the PB pipe too.
Only at three situation people should worry if they have PB piping.
1) The fitting is plastic. These fitting have problem but not the pipe itself.
2) If PB pipe are used to run heating system. In such system the water temperature is over 82C which is over the limit of PB pipe.
3) Some PB pipe, mostly blue have quality problem. They are rare in Canada.

On internet most information about PB pipe is from lawyer who is look for people join the lawsuit or plumber company making money on re pipe whole house. So we should think again about the information from them.

I don’t have any problem yet. But I will still keep eye on them.

Your 1) to 3) situations were written by one home inspection company. I had a 10 minute phone conversation with this company a month ago. As far as I know, this is the only organization that says Poly-b pipes are not as bad as people say. In any case, I do think if you have copper fittings, you should be fine for a long while. Also, are you sure you have polybutylene pipes? You many have plastic, but not neccessarily poly-b.

One of my neighbours got his house re-piped last year, before the law suit settlements expired in June of 2005. He spent about 4 grand but received a check for 7 grand from the settlement. Man, if I only had problems with these pipes a year earlier......

 

[haoren1]

最初由 基础墙 发布
我的房子里也是用的ＰＢ　ＰＩＰＥ，七年多了，什么事都没有，也没听说哪位邻居的水管出毛病－－用的都是铜接头。

另外，安省并没有禁止用ＰＢ，只要是用铜接头，保险公司也不会找什么麻烦。

Poly-b pipes last a lot longer than 7 years. I only started having leaks this year. My house is 17 years. I looked at the fittings on the pipes we replaced. Some of them are badly erroded. They would cause leaks at some time in the future if I kept them. The poly-b pipes aren't in too bad shape. The pipes on the cold are in better shapes than the ones on the hot.

 

[Timothy's]

最初由 haoren1 发布


Your 1) to 3) situations were written by one home inspection company. I had a 10 minute phone conversation with this company a month ago. As far as I know, this is the only organization that says Poly-b pipes are not as bad as people say. In any case, I do think if you have copper fittings, you should be fine for a long while. Also, are you sure you have polybutylene pipes? You many have plastic, but not neccessarily poly-b.

One of my neighbours got his house re-piped last year, before the law suit settlements expired in June of 2005. He spent about 4 grand but received a check for 7 grand from the settlement. Man, if I only had problems with these pipes a year earlier......

I am sure. Because there is Poly B marking on the pipe. My guess my system should be good enough of at least another 20 years. After that if I have problem, I will repipe them with PEX. By that time, we should know if the PEX system will withstand times.
Do you have an estimate for PEX re piping? Or have considered it. I heard if I repipe with PEX, it will be cheaper because of less drywall job.


And I guess there could be another lawsuit for it too. There is only one settlement, it does not say people like you could not sue them again. Just you are too late to be included in the first one.

 

[haoren1]

最初由 Timothy's 发布


I am sure. Because there is Poly B marking on the pipe. My guess my system should be good enough of at least another 20 years. After that if I have problem, I will repipe them with PEX. By that time, we should know if the PEX system will withstand times.
Do you have an estimate for PEX re piping? Or have considered it. I heard if I repipe with PEX, it will be cheaper because of less drywall job.


And I guess there could be another lawsuit for it too. There is only one settlement, it does not say people like you could not sue them again. Just you are too late to be included in the first one.

The plumbers gave me seperate prices, copper and pex. Pex is about one thousand dollars cheaper on average.

You have copper fittings. It's very likely that you won't have to worry about leaks for a long time.

There were two class action law suits in Canada. One against Shell and the other against Dupon. Both settled in 2005. I spoke to the law firms that handled the two settlements. The layers told me that one could not sue these two manufactures again, not for the same reason, unless if one elected to opt out of the class action. In any case, it's too late for me.