we have had 5 leaks from our 9 year old zurn qest pex piping in the last 2 years. What do you think the reason could be? chlorine interacting with the pipe lining? hot water recirculator (that was only an issue with copper pipes right?). ANY input would be sooo helpful. is this common?

leaks from fittings, joints or pipe itself?

the pipe itself. no leaks from fittings or joints.

If I'm not mistaken, Zurn states not to use their pex in recirculation systems.
Is it both hot + cold developing leaks?

W/T/F

? is this a joke ?

if it is not, I stand vindicated in my opinion that PEX is, per se, garbage


sorry for your problems with "piping" installed by someone calling themselves a plumber



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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

it is not a joke. we have had 5 water leaks in our home and i suspect they are all hot water. we do have a recirculation system. was it known in 2002 that zurn qest pex should not be used with recirculation systems?

i am just trying to learn as much as i can about why we are having these leaks so that i will know what is best to do at this point. where does it say that zurn qest pex pipes should not be used with hot water recirculators? i would love to read that literature. you all are so amazing and smart!

Just did a quick check on Uponor PEX since I will be using that soon on a recirc. job. It is approved for HWRe provided that flow rates are maintained at 2 fps or less.

standard old school plumbing design was 3-6 fps

'best practice' was 3-4 fps


evidently "PEX" will not withstand continuous flow ?????????????


like I always thought: GARBAGE

perhaps I am a dinosaur

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

Check this out. [www.2hsc.com]
It says zurn qest pex does work with recirculators. Comments?

There it states:

"...chlorine levels up to 2 ppm. (Most municipalities are between 0.5 and 1.4 ppm.)"

also:

"Resistance to UV degradation (up to 6 months of direct exposure)."

Interesting stuff.

Possibly when installed your closed system had higher than 2.0 ppm levels of chlorine or it was stored outside for a while where uv could have damaged it. Note the "up to" 6 months and not "at least 6 months."

--

Looking back at polybutylene pipe (fittings was a different issue) failures in many cases that was due to high chlorine content.

if the zurn qest pex piping has failed (5 leaks in one house over two years) due to high chlorine content (our water company said that the average chlorine content is 1.0 ppm (range, 0.5-1.9 ppm), then would think that there were be many more water leaks in houses in our neighborhood but there is only one other house that we know of built by the same builder as ours but they had a different plumber!

so reasons for 5 intrinisic pipe leaks in our house could be:
1. chlorine interacting with the pipe lining?
2. hot water recirculator----but that shouldn't be a cause based on zurn qest info?
3. just plain ole bad product ----- shouldn't piping be made to withstand many scenarios.

has anyone heard of others with a similar problem? Zurn said that this is not a normal occurrence and are asking about chlorine content and about hot water recirculator and whether there is a timer on it etc. why would they be asking that?

imo: because they are twisting and squirming in an ill wind

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638