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[notnim]

Has anyone had any experience pulling- removing their old (leaking) water lines thru the 4 in black corrugated tile and then pulling new lines back thru?? My 5 yr old lines, 3 wrap Pex-AL-Pex (orange) has developed a pretty good leak in the return line, I have a 130 ft run from the stove to the house. No sharp bends, just a few gradual curves when I trenched it in. I have been able to only pull it about 6 inches and already is getting pretty snug. I am using a 3/4 T come-along dogged off to the hitch of my Jeep. I want to at least try and pull it out so I can see where the leak is and what is going on with it. I'm pretty disgusted at this point with only getting 5 yrs out of this line. Any one else have trouble with this type of Pex-AL-Pex .

[AirForcePOL]

I have never tried but I would imagine it would not be an easy task.  What are you wanting to replace the lines with?  130ft is a lot of pipe to try and pull through a tile, especially when it's insulated.  I'm not saying it's impossible but I would think you would have a lot of resistance before you even got half way to your house with the new stuff.   What brand of pipe do you currently have?  Maybe they have a warranty on their product?

[juddspaintballs]

It might be an impossible task...

But you can try making some sort of smooth end cone that will help it feed through the drain tile.  Also try a bunch of pulling lube on it as it feeds in. 

If it doesn't work, but some good pipe like logstor and put it in the ground.

[yotehunter66]

Wrap it in black plastic. You can pull it through if it's not too long a run. It's a sob getting it through elbows though.

[willieG]

I think you will have the near impossible on your hands...I pulled 5 inch logstor through  a 12 inch tile for only about 20 feet and even though I had made a nice cone for it so it would not catch on the ribs of the 12 inch tile it was still a chore.

Then at my son's I put a 6 inch smooth steel pipe under his garage floor before pouring the concrete and later pulled logstor through it as well. I had a rope pulling  from inside the house and 2 ropes pulling  through the trench outside. (the entire length was about 185 feet)I found that pulling outside from a long ways back from the pipe actually helped, pulling up too close was making the pipe bind on the entry to the 6 inch pipe.  Once we figure that out it only took about 5 good pulls to go the 22 feet.

I think to pull anything through a corrugated tile will be hell unless there is a huge diameter difference.

[ijon]

If it hung up you would probably damage the tile.

[woodbutcher]

17 years ago I thought that I might have that problem too, replacing the pex underground. I used a 6" sewer pipe and buried the pipe then pulled the pex through it. Turns out I had to replace the lines after 10 years because the pex turned to be so brittle that as I pulled out the old lines (had a rope on the other end) the lines just snapped like glass as I pulled them out. I couldn't get more than 3' out at a time before they snapped. The new lines from CB was the insulated lines with the Styrofoam insulation in it similar to Logstor.  The old lines had the insulation on the outside and the pex on the inside.  The new pex went in like a charm no snags.   

[juddspaintballs]

I also think that any hang up will tear the snot out of the drain tile and you'll have water entry problems very quickly. 

[notnim]

I really appreciate the feedback, Yes, I had the feeling it would be about impossible, but thought perhaps someone else had success with replacing their pipes, with this method. I hate the thought of digging everything back up again, especially since I had to locate and tunnel under a propane line, and a drain tile from the house the first time. I'm sure if I try to use a trencher I'm going to snag the old line, and then really have a mess. The next time I will plan on running the 4 in. inside of a larger drain tile, either 6 in. or 8 in. I don't know what brand this Pex is but I ordered it from Brent Industries in NY. It is supposed to have a limited lifetime warranty, and have e-mailed them for the specifics of the warranty, so far no reply after 2 weeks. I have read about some failures with the crosslinking process on this orange pex-AL-pex. Anyone else hear of this??
I also have a run of this pipe to my shop, keeping my fingers crossed it holds together!!

[Cabo]

I have pulled Logstor through a 8" single wall drain line and it is not easy but do-able.  Mine was under my driveway so I also wanted to not re=dig if there was ever a failure.  I installed the 8" tile the year before I installed or saw the Logstor.  Slimjim was right; the stuff is virtually bulletproof.  I did get it through with my electrical pulling equipment and the tractor but to do it again I would direct bury it and just backfill with clean sand and be done.

[RSI]

If it was pex, it would be a lot easier to pull out. Pex-al-pex will hold it's shape and not move to easily.

I would just try pulling it and see what happens. If you will have to dig it up anyway then not much to lose. You may want to wait till you hear back about the warranty though. I doubt they would do anything if you pull it out first unless you get it out without tearing it up much.

If you do get it out and plan on trying to reuse the tile, I doubt you will be able to use pex-al-pex. If you switch to 1" pex it will be a lot more likely to make it through.

Are there any marking on the pex-al-pex? Just curious if it is Pexworx, BHS, or some other brand.

[notnim]

Well, it took me a while to get back at it but was finally succesfull at pulling the pex-al-pex from the 4 in. tile. I used two (Chinese fingers) that electricians use to pull cables through conduit. They gripped the slick pex and I was able to pull the 120 ft out with the winch on my Jeep. I found no external damage to the pex, but upon closer inspection, the ID of the pex was all cracked, almost like fractured. I am thinking that after the pex is up to temp, that water is leaking through these cracks and finding its way through the laminations. I did find the origin of manufacture marked further in on the line, CHINA!!. Now I will be able to contact the supplier and see if there is anything to this limited lifetime warranty .

[notnim]

Just to let you all know , it is possible to pull the wrapped pex-al-pex back thru the field tile. The folks at Outdoor Furnace Supply ( Brent Industries) made good on their 25 year warranty, They sent out brand new triple wrap pex-al-pex, also covered the shipping cost.  . So by using the 1 inch cable pullers ( chinese handcuffs) attached to a length of 5/16" cable I had previously pulled thru the buried field tile, I was able to pull the entire wrapped assembly through the field tile, I used cable pulling lube to make it slippery as we fed it thru. Used the winch on my Jeep on the other end of the cable and 15 minutes later, we had the entire 135 ft pulled thru. The insulation didn't have a scratch on it. What a relief I didn't have to dig everything back up