Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Plumbing => Topic started by: jcc273 on December 28, 2012, 07:43:57 AM
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Just wanted to vent and share my frustration from yesterday.
I purchased my house about 2 years ago, but it was built in 86. So alot of the plumbing in this house is Qest Polybutylene (yep, the stuff with all the lawsuits in the 90s). I have already redone my water/laundry room and swapped alot out, so the majority of it is contained within the access hole (house in on a slap no basement), with the exception of a line that runs to my kitchen sink and a line to my bathroom sink.
Unfortunately this piping is also used to run from the OWB to my baseboards : /. i have 2 zones, so 2 lines run from OWB to house, then 2 from downstairs to upstairs, then 2 from upstairs to downstairs, and finally 2 back to the OWB.
I got up a little before 6am yesterday and went to the bathroom. I could hear water running, so i tracked down the noise to under the bathroom sink (this is where both zones enter the house). I found that the Qest fitting that attached the Polybutylene to copper for one zone had cracked and burst open just like they are known to do. AND not only did it break, but since this stuff is no longer used it was damn near impossible to find a new one. I finally found that this stuff was used in alot of mobile homes, so i had to track down a mobile home supply house to find them.
It was a huge mess, thankfully the one that burst was in the bathroom. Since the OWB was installed when the house was built the lines run through the concrete slap itself, so replacement of all lines would be a major pain! After this though maybe i'll at least try to replace the lines that run between floors. For now i just bought a stock of fittings from the mobile home supply house in case it happens again.....
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Won't Sharkbite fittings work with QestPex ?
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Won't Sharkbite fittings work with QestPex ?
It isn't Qest pex, it is PB that he has. I think sharkbite fittings should work on it though.
I have seen the crimp fittings at Menards for it too.
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You can buy brass barb style Poly to PEX conversion fittings at Menards, Low's and some good hardware stores. The ones I bought came with the crimp rings and all. Have used many of them and no leaks. I believe Shark Bite fittings will work too, but they are more expensive.
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Yeah i made several calls to local plumbers, of which only one ever got back to me. The one that got back to me just gave me a "Maybe sharkbite connectors will work for you", but at that point i had already located Qest fittings at a Mobile Home Supply Warehouse, so i went with that instead of the maybe since i needed it fixed quick.
I have seen these sharkbite connectors, they have them at the little hardware shop right down the road. Looking at them i get nervous though. Just push the pipe in and your good? it always scared me, no cement, no threading, no soldering. I stuck with standard PVC when replumbing my water room. Are these fittings a good proven solution?
I guess what would worry me is the sharkbite having the same fate as my current PB piping, being used extensively for 15 years until problems start cropping up and the lawsuits begin. although i guess since i already have PB piping it can't get worse. Maybe i'll stock up on a few 3/4" shark bites for the next time, which i am sure will come at some point....
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Like you, I do not trust them for some reason. I have co-workers who swear by them, they love them. I only use them as a stop gap measure until I can save the money, find the parts and time to perform a more permanent solution. Roger
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Haha, glad im not the only one then. My eventual solution is to replace all that PB crap completely. unfortunately it runs through my slab : /. so for now im just going to finish replacing the stuff running through the walls (almost done only two sets of lines to go).
The lines that run through the slab enter into my bathroom under the sink and the outgoing set exit through the kitchen under the sink. So what will probably happen is i'll end up leaving those and just routinely replace the Qest fittings (as long as i can get them).