Polybutylene Pipes: Problems? Help!

[disney junky]

This is the grey flexible piping used in homes built between 75-95.

We put an offer on a house and had it inspected. The inspector came back and said it has polybutylene pipes. So does ours. We built in the early 90's and the home we want to buy was built in 96. I asked the realtor what this means and he said it can burst because it corrodes from the inside.

I called two local plumbers and they said that they have never had problems with these. (These are people who would make money replacing them) I did a web search and got information similar to what my realtor is stating, there was a class action suit in the 80's but manufacturers continued to produce the piping into the 90's. One site links to people who will replace piping...

I can't find anyone who can tell me of an instance of pipe failure. OK Dis'ers. Help. Can anyone tell me of problems you've had or know of anyone who has had with pipe failures?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

So are you trying to lower the cost of the house with this information or rescind the offer?

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

http://www.pbpipe.com/

we had them when we bought.

we came back from WDW one year and DW was unpacking, and asked WHY she was getting dripped on in the closet. turns out the PB pipe had split at a copper junction.

had a plumber fix it(temporaty) a couple of weeks later, had the entire house re-piped with copper. some of the stuff would crumble in your fingers it wa so brittle.

the web site above showed a national lawsuit over the stuff.

one of the master plumbers working on my house was telling me that the pipe was never really intended for residential use (hence the lawsuit)

good luck!

my suggestion is that you consult with several local plumbers and get an estimate of the cost to repipe. either hve it done befor escrow closes, or deduct it from the cost of the house (allowence to repipe)

Most of the houses in our community have been repiped, and those that have not been, well, I see a plumbers truck visiting them every once in a while.

 

[Zandy595]

We had polybutylene pipes in our old house. There was leaking under our kitchen sink that warped the bottom of the wood cabinets. The plumber who replaced it said we were lucky that was the only damage we had. We got it all replaced for free because of the class action lawsuit. This was around 1997. It's bad stuff. I would not buy the house, unless they replaced all the pb pipes.

Unrelated - We also had masonite siding on that house and got it re-sided for free because of another class action lawsuit.

 

[jaminmd]

We replaced ours but we only had it from the street to the house. We have copper pipe inside the house.

We replaced ours before it burst & the plumbers here charge by the foot. We have had numerous pipes burst in our neighborhood, flooding basements & yards. None of us were ever able to collect on that suit because of the restrictions of it. We spent $2K to replace ours. The neigbors next door just replaced theirs last month & it was $3K. They flooded out my yard because of it.

 

[kellydizfan]

We had it in a Trailer we owned that was built in 87. We purchased the mobile home in 91 and sold it in 99. We were part of that class action suit and we had ours replaced for free. I remember having leaks but never really paid much attention to it. We also had pipes freeze one year from the cold prior to the replacement. The contractor they hired to replace it actually messed up the hook-up to our toilet - the hot was crossed with the cold water and we had hot water running to the toilet - it was nice while it was switched like that.