# Another cpvc sucks thread



## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Just got done with a call about a water leak at a microbrewery we (our company) remodeled about a year ago. An exposed CPVC 1/2" water line was split at a coupling behind a 6" thick walk in cooler. Will get some pics tomorrow of the repair process. Today it was agreeable with the owners of the brewery just to isolate the line


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

Copper is better but has it's own downfalls )(corrosion in my area form chlorine particulates).

The biggest problems I saw with CPVC was installation, connections at fittings, installer not checking ends for splits. This way before PEX was around.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

GAN said:


> Copper is better but has it's own downfalls )(corrosion in my area form chlorine particulates).
> 
> The biggest problems I saw with CPVC was installation, connections at fittings, installer not checking ends for splits. This way before PEX was around.


Ours is really bad here from chlorine also. But damn split coupling after less that one year.


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## AlbacoreShuffle (Aug 28, 2011)

PlumberJ90 said:


> Ours is really bad here from chlorine also. But damn split coupling after less that one year.


Is your company going to be on the hook for a warranty repair ?


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

AlbacoreShuffle said:


> Is your company going to be on the hook for a warranty repair ?


Yep. As soon as I got there guy was already talking about his attorney. Offered him the owners cell #. Gonna have to cut open a 6" walk in cooler to repair. That's tomorrow though.


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## Best Darn Sewer (Dec 23, 2012)

PlumberJ90 said:


> Yep. As soon as I got there guy was already talking about his attorney. Offered him the owners cell #. Gonna have to cut open a 6" walk in cooler to repair. That's tomorrow though.


You can't come through the outside wall to get to the broken line? You have to go through the cooler?


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

The other side is a 3ft thick brick wall and the backside of the wall is custom cabinetry,bar taps , and custom woodwork.


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## Best Darn Sewer (Dec 23, 2012)

PlumberJ90 said:


> The other side is a 3ft thick brick wall and the backside of the wall is custom cabinetry,bar taps , and custom woodwork.


Ugh. Sounds like a nightmare. I'm shocked that a CPVC line was approved in that location. Good luck. Take photos.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Oh yea of course (unless I get sent to different job). Bringing the cooler guys in to cut& repair the cooler. So it will just be a "simple" repair. This is all for a "glass rinser" for the bar tenders.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

PlumberJ90 said:


> Oh yea of course (unless I get sent to different job). Bringing the cooler guys in to cut& repair the cooler. So it will just be a "simple" repair. This is all for a "glass rinser" for the bar tenders.


If you can isolate it...

You can't fish pex down the wall to save cutting into the freezer?


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

It's already isolated but sadly no. The CPVC goes through the brick wall into a cabinet.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

That's no good.

Hope those freezer guys do a jam up job resealing their hole, if not it will always be a problem.

Good luck


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

PlumberJ90 said:


> It's already isolated but sadly no. The CPVC goes through the brick wall into a cabinet.


Not a CPVC fanboy, I would have not ran it through brick or concrete without a sleeve, of course same thing with copper.

Good luck


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Quick on the job update. Cooler guys are cutting it open now. I'm attaching some self explanatory pics.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

First picture is on the problem coupling. 

Second pic is of the repair. REALLY not how I wanted to do it but wasn't my decision. 

Last picture is the other side of the brick wall and all the woodwork and taps.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

That's one of those things that can haunt you. Makes ya kinda worry about the rest of the piping, no?


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

plbgbiz said:


> That's one of those things that can haunt you. Makes ya kinda worry about the rest of the piping, no?


Oh yea. The worst part is is that there never should've been a coupling there. Should've only been one glue joint behind the cooler (the 90 to go through the brick) as the cooler is only about 12' tall. Never would have had the problem. But oh well. My company did the install I was not on the job during the rough/top.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2008)

That's one of those that will make you cringe for years whenever you hear that bar's name.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Cal said:


> That's one of those that will make you cringe for years whenever you hear that bar's name.


Luckily it's in an uppity part of town that I don't frequent. And the company I work for is closing the last day of September


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## Best Darn Sewer (Dec 23, 2012)

If you continue to work in Jacksonville then you may very well see that place again and that pipe again. Glad to see you got it fixed and everything went as smooth as it could.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

I thought about that after your last post. Thought itd be funny. And thanks. It went as perfect as it could really. Was somewhat concerned about glue set up times with 70+ lbs of pressure, a hot water line, and it being as cold as the cooler (beer kegs are stored in it) gave it about 30 min to set up and was good to go


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*what???*



PlumberJ90 said:


> Luckily it's in an uppity part of town that I don't frequent. And the company I work for is closing the last day of September


 
I have to ask, so why is the company you are working for closing at the end of september?? 

Have they got a lot of other cpvc commercial messes hanging out there that they are trying to run away from before they get sued or something???



Inquireing minds want to know...


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

PlumberJ90 said:


> I thought about that after your last post. Thought itd be funny. And thanks. It went as perfect as it could really. Was somewhat concerned about glue set up times with 70+ lbs of pressure, a hot water line, and it being as cold as the cooler (beer kegs are stored in it) gave it about 30 min to set up and was good to go


 

I think I would have used sharkbites over trusting 
the cpvc glue to hold up

... but that is just me:laughing:


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Lmao. The owner is going back to being a city inspector


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Master Mark said:


> I think I would have used sharkbites over trusting
> the cpvc glue to hold up
> 
> ... but that is just me:laughing:


Seriously?


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

PlumberJ90 said:


> Seriously?


 
yes, it cant be any worse than hoping that the glue holds


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Master Mark said:


> yes, it cant be any worse than hoping that the glue holds


I was thinking about doing shark bites. When the backflow was hooked up ( 1 1/2) we let it set for 4 hours and it blew off of the 90s. So we redid it and ended up waiting over night. Working pressure is 70 after it's been through a backflow and a softening system.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Friends don't let friends use CPVC...
Yea it still sux...


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Redwood said:


> Friends don't let friends use CPVC...
> Yea it still sux...


Almost ALL new work down here is CPVC. Residential commercial and I don't know about industrial. And it's not just my (small) company either


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## Cajunhiker (Dec 14, 2009)

Architects sometimes purposely design new buildings completely with CPVC.
Plumbed in a 4-story 110-room Marriot Springhill Suites hotel 2 years ago with 100% CPVC, including 3" grey schedule 80 CPVC water supply pipe. Only had one leak on a 2" CPVC valve. Used Oatey Flowguard Gold glue on entire job. Glue had days/weeks to set up before pipes pressurized. Jus sayin', as the kids say nowadays.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

All pipe has its flaws. We could just as easily have threads stating the same thing about galvo, copper, pex, or poly. I think each has its place In our industry(other than poly). If I were to build me a house today it would be cpvc through out before copper or pex.


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

Depends of where your at. I've installed miles of CPVC (flow guard) in apartments all over Texas working for another outfit. Seemed to his up well with hardly zero issues. The company I was working for had been using CPVC exclusively in apartments since the 80s and the owner sweared by it. 

Me Id use PEX (Uponor or Veiga) before any other piping, and that includes copper


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

PlumberJ90 said:


> I was thinking about doing shark bites. When the backflow was hooked up ( 1 1/2) we let it set for 4 hours and it blew off of the 90s. So we redid it and ended up waiting over night. Working pressure is 70 after it's been through a backflow and a softening system.


 
that story scares the hell out of me..... it blows off the cpvc 90s off after setting up for 4 hours.....

I would much rather trust sharkbite fittings with the cpvc pipe than the crappy cpvc fittings.... especially if my insurance is the one that will pay for the damages.... 

Those crappy cpvc fittings have to last a year before you are out from under the liability...


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Master Mark said:


> that story scares the hell out of me..... it blows off the cpvc 90s off after setting up for 4 hours..... I would much rather trust sharkbite fittings with the cpvc pipe than the crappy cpvc fittings.... especially if my insurance is the one that will pay for the damages.... Those crappy cpvc fittings have to last a year before you are out from under the liability...


That was 1 1/2 sch 40 PVC that blew off. It was at the backflow. I was using it to explain how much pressure is coming off of the city main. It's ridiculous


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

It looked like the pipe was strapped to the brick wall. I would have used minis, not 2 holes. With high pressures, cpvc needs expansion loops. CPVC isn't my normal first choice, but I repiped a house I owned in it, because the crawl was only about 16" high.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

422 plumber said:


> It looked like the pipe was strapped to the brick wall. I would have used minis, not 2 holes. With high pressures, cpvc needs expansion loops. CPVC isn't my normal first choice, but I repiped a house I owned in it, because the crawl was only about 16" high.


Would've used what?!? Sorry my experience is very limited outside of how my company does things.


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

We call them minis, they hold the pipe off the surface, but then again, they stick you out about an inch more.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

422 plumber said:


> We call them minis, they hold the pipe off the surface, but then again, they stick you out about an inch more.


Oh ok. As soon as I got there the owner of the building was talkin about his attorney and all the damage it has done so I called the owner of my co and told him he needed to come down there. (20 min from where he was @ home mind you) and he wouldn't come. Refused. So I just used 2 couplings and put it back together and left.


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## Richard Hilliard (Apr 10, 2010)

I would question whether the cooler installation smacked the coupling when they pushed it in with a fork truck. That wall should have been framed to protect the pipe.

I am surprised your owner did not know that or request it being he was an inspector at 1 time.


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## PlumberJ90 (Oct 10, 2012)

Richard Hilliard said:


> I would question whether the cooler installation smacked the coupling when they pushed it in with a fork truck. That wall should have been framed to protect the pipe. I am surprised your owner did not know that or request it being he was an inspector at 1 time.


And is going back to being an inspector October 1st. We think it was hit but who knows.


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