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Fun with Polybutylene Pipe

February 28, 2008 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Repair Renovate Maintain, Tucson Homes Explained 

Ah, polybutylene.  Once the favored child, now banished and reviled.

Polybutylene pipe was once considered the pipe of the future, and was used as a substitute for copper plumbing between 1978 and 1995.  It was low cost and easy to install.  Until reports of leaks started.  And didn’t stop.

Turns out, “poly pipe” has one irredeemable flaw – it tends to leak.  Not the most desirable quality in your plumbing system. 

In Tucson homes, you’ll find polybutylene pipe in homes of that era.  Anything built in the 1980s and early 1990’s should set off a little warning bell in your head.  Or your agent’s head.  Who should then tell you all about PB Pipe.

I heard a plumber talking a year or so ago, who went on about how the crimping tools for the fittings were sometimes hard to use, or that the pipe never tightened up after being stretched over the fittings.  A bit of online research says the pipe may be failing because some chemicals in the water may react with the pipe and fittings, causing them to scale and flake from the inside out, become brittle, microfracture, and so forth.

Bottom line: polybutylene tends to leak.

There’s a class action suit (but that doesn’t surprise you) that you can read about at www.pbpipe.com.  Potentially, home owners with poly in their house who have had leaks can go there and find out if the suit will help them take care of the issue.

If you’re selling a home and your house has polybutylene pipe, know that it is becoming ever more common for a buyer to require the house be replumbed – and to have it done at your expense.  We’re talking in the ballpark of $5k – $8k, roughly.  Your mileage may vary, depending on the size of the house, if there’s attic space, where the pipe runs, etcetera.  I tell you this now, as much as I know you don’t want to hear it: just replace it now.  Really.  I’m urging you to repipe your home now, from the bottom of my heart.  Please, let me help you get a good price and get it done right now, so that we can get you more money when we sell it.  Really.  Please, please, please, trust me on this one.

How do you know if the home you’re buying has polybutylene pipe?  Well, it’s grey stuff.  There’s pictures here, and here, and here.  Best bet – call a plumber and ask them to come take a look.  Sometimes, it’s only the water main that is poly.  Sometimes, the stuff in the wall is poly, but it’s connected to copper that stubs out through the wall, so all you see outside of the wall is copper.  Sometimes, we can look into the washing machine connection box and find out.  Sometimes, we’ll need to get permission to cut a coupla holes in the wall.  Usually behind the washing machine, since we know there’s pipe there, and it’s a somewhat unobtrusive area.

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