About 6 years ago we installed the new plastic Pex pipes in our cellar, as we have very very acidic well water, and the old copper pipes were constantly having holes and tiny leaks. Installed a 'rust and particle' type filter when we did the new pipe. Now we notice the copper elbows in the entire installation are corroding badly, and one let go this morning. Nice mess. I see a lot about this corrosion on the web with Pex installations? Is there a fix to this? Thanks.

Was just talking to my son in law, he is a plumber and he suggested replacing the entire house with CPVC, but I see problems with this also.
My husband said why not use all stainless steel elbows and fittings, replace all the copper with that?

If the water attacks copper water lines, it will do the same to copper PEX fittings. You will probably have to change to brass or "poly" fittings.

Thank you, we will have to do something soon, as I found a few more corroded and they are starting to seep.
The boys are upstairs now, and said that the fittings are brass. So that means our water is really really acidic.
We should go with the plastic ones, or stainless if that is available?

I looked to see if the Watts pex have stainless fittings, and looks like they do.
Or anything that is non corrosive, my husband is feeding me info as we go along, thats why my questions are a bit fragmented.

Or even a compatible plastic fitting type instead of stainless could work too.

Also looking at the Sharkbite fittings, as from what the site said that they are compatible with Pex?

I see Ive got tons and tons of info on the web, like a bit of information overload on the web.
So we wont do anything till we get info from you people here, as you know so much!

I did see that Pex has this problem in many areas of USA with acidic well water and there have been a lot of insurance claims. We want to fix it before it comes to that.

stainless steel fittings for sure

pricey

but then you are done once and for all

brass is merely an alloy of/using copper

plastic is susceptible to 'cracking' at some point

naval bronze is not available for PEX fittings

ergo: stainless

or repipe entire house using ????? CPVC !!!!!

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

Uponor pex. Plastic pro pex fittings. Pipe has 100% memory and shrinks on the fitting. No wimpy crimps and crap brass fittings. The other types of pex are cheaper. Uponor will not leak.

I think you would be better served by getting the water treated and neutralized in the long run.



Edited 1 times.

KC hit the nail right on the head. address the problem, not the symptoms.
also change any brass fittings that are suspect. replace with poly.

Option number one,,,,,,, Replace all fittings with poly or stainless steel, looking at that option, as we could replace all of them easily in less than a day, at a small expense.

Option number two,,,,,,To investigate the treatment systems, costs, and their success in this area.


Tho the shallow wells here on Cape Cod seem OK, and test safe for drinking. We have been on this system(several new points) for about 50 years. When we took out the copper, we thought we had addressed the problem, pinholes in copper are not that difficult to deal with. I could always hear them, or see them.
But with a failed Pex fitting blowing out, like we had yesterday morning, could be a disaster if we were not home!

Found this, and it sure describes what these problems are caused by.
[soiltesting.tamu.edu]

Option 1, we will go for the stainless or poly fittings first, and ask around to see what other people have used for treatments and their success rate.

Thank you for all this great advice!



Edited 1 times.

Pictures,
first one is a collage of 4:





THere are a couple more closeups, back up the link and you can see them.

Now to start researching the best stainless or plastic fittings,,,,,,,

Good News!, I just called www.watts.com, where we got everything, here in Andover MA,
and the tech support rep was familiar with the problem, and said to go with these,
[www.watts.com]
And there is a 25 year guarantee on their products.

Glad this is going to be solved!
And we thank you very very much for all this great advice.



Edited 2 times.

You will still have the problem with the water eating the valves, hot water tank, faucets, etc. until you get something installed to neutralize the acid in the water.

? are you sure it is the fitting leaking and not the 'side crimp' rings ?

IMO (let the debate begin): side crimp is class II

a copper 'solid' crimp ring would be I class


(note the PEX brand)


(note the go/no go gauge)

==============================================

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

No, look at the pictures I posted, the rings are OK.
Its the fittings.

Yes, I realize that, and this is the next research project.
What would be the best system to do this?

I am not familiar with the water treatment side of the industry, but just searching the net gave a couple options. I would contact a reputable company, and get at least 2 different proposals. There may be different methods that they would suggest, so my suggestion is to just be an informed buyer before you decide.

Ive spoken to a couple of local plumbers about this. And once I get several recommendations for what locals like us do for our acidic wells, then I will start to research the details, for cost, ease of installation, how long it lasts, and ratings.

There is a lot of info out there! And will take time to sort thru it all. But once we get all the new fittings in, then we will have some time for this.

Come to find out, our oldest daughter plumbed the family camp in Maine with Pex, and she used the poly fittings, after we had used the brass fittings here. The water up there is spring water, very different from our shallow wells here on Cape Cod.

Im learning a lot, thanks again,,,,,



Edited 1 times.

White is usually not a color of copper corrosion. IN all of the pictures there appears to be a similar fitting not corroded. (the valves only one side is corroded) elbows one is corroded and one is perfect. Where are the leaks occuring? at the crimp pipe interface?

Yes, its odd that not all of them are corroded, they are very light green, tho in the flash they seem white.
Some are newer, as the outside shower was added later on. They all seem a bit different, I should photo some more,,,,,
The guys are going to take a closer look this weekend or next, and decide whether to replace every single fitting and all the valves also. We might as well do everything that we can all at once.

the side crimp rings are notorious for leaking SLIGHTLY as they do NOT tighten evenly

==============================================

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

Yes, they are not particularly 'user friendly'.

I dont want them to POP the way the other one did and spray water all over the cellar. Lucky we were in the cellar when that happened.

Hopefully we will get the new fittings and get to work on this soon. Did get info from where we bought the copper fittings, that they are guaranteed and we will get reimbursed for the cost.
Sure wish we had used them in the first place.

This is a typical case for plastic pex fittings and make sure they have NO scratches on the fittings