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Author:
chrisracine (SC)
Hello, any one else having or had issues with Flowguard Gold 90deg elbows?
House is about 12 years old and was plumbed using flowguard Gold. Over the past 2 to 3 years I have been having to replace quite a few (3 to 5 so far...) 90deg elbows because of hairline cracks either on the inside of the elbow bend and maybe one that was located more towards the outer curve of the elbow. From tiny pinholes (just replaced one TODAY...) to more of a split causing more of a misting spray. All have been on hot water lines and I am baffled as to why this is happening when none of my neighbors have had any issues with their homes built about the same time using the same materials.
Water pressure is no wheres near what it could be....about 56 to 60 lbs. We have a pressure regulator on the main from the city between the meter and the house as all do in our area. I was warned not to crank it up all the way open and man after seeing that my house was plumbed by Moe, Larry and Curly, I keep it about as low as it can go (much to my wife's disappointment having to deal with less than desirable water pressure!) and my hot water tank (gas) stays on its lowest setting (A....instead of B or C temp ranges).
My neighbor has same pipes in his house and has his water pressure turned all the way up/full on...and no issues for years.
Pipes under house (crawlspace) seem to look ok and none appear to be strained at any weird angles or bending in odd directions that would put a stress load on any joints.
All leaks have been in the elbows and not the straight pipes ever. When I replace I use a mini hack saw to cut off the bad section instead of my pipe cutters because I know cpvc is brittle now and have seen my cutters more like shatter an older pipe instead of a smooth cut like on new cpvc.
I live in South Carolina and we RARELY have below freezing temperatures during the winter times and when it does happen I let water drip in multiple faucets to keep water flowing. The houses here are NOT built for cold temps AT ALL....
So anyway my question is, is this an unusual case for so many elbows to be failing the same way? Someone suggested to me once that possibly the plumbers that were contracted used a bad batch of elbows from the manufacturer? I'm no expert plumber but I guess it's possible....I've seen bad batches of car parts before and other products so maybe plumbing pipes are not immune to that happening either...who knows.
Now I have to keep an on hand supply of cpvc piping, cement and soforth on hand always in my garage because it seems to be happening more frequently. I do the repairs myself thankfully because we cannot afford a plumber by any means to keep coming every month or few times a year just for simple fixes like this. If we had the funds I would just have the whole house replumbed with Pex but after my wifes open heart surgery in January and the mega hospital bills that have piled up (after insurance...) it's just no in the checkbook.
I guess it's replace as they fail until most or all are done? Anyone else have similar issues? Oh and not replacing with flowguard gold products.....using the Silver Line CPVC from Lowe's because I don't even see flowguard gold in their stores anymore. (hmmm....wonder why??)
Thanks in advance for any info or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Chris Racine
Irmo, SC
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Author:
m & m (MD)
I have had a similar experience on a few occassions. The only common denominator in each case: municipal/chlorinated water, hot water side. Other than that, I remain clueless.
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Author:
steve_g (CA)
Is there an expansion tank anywhere, preferably on the cold side near the water heater? If not, the pressure could spike quite a bit when heating a tank of cold water in a closed system. I don't know if that could be causing your problem, but it might exacerbate it.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
Do you have a hot water circulation system, because that can cause deterioration of CPVC pipe and fittings.
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Author:
John Davis (TX)
I'm not sure of the date of the original posting of this issue, but I live in SE Texas and we recently had an unusually bad freeze with multiple problems. My 15 year old house was plumbed with CPVC. After the freeze, I had 5 separate leaks and all of them were the inside corner of a 90 degree elbow. Very fine crack that sprayed out. The master plumber that made the repairs knew of no specific reason. This is the first site that I found any mention of the problem. Is this a common problem. posted: 3/13/21
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