# Pex connections failing



## II Weeks (Jan 6, 2009)

Is this freeze related? I wonder what kind of fittings were used? Any chance of you posting a picture? 

And not for nothing but three in less than two years, Im shutting off the water, draining the pipes and calling a pro to come in and check it out. So far Ive tried three different types of Pex fittings and like only one.

Some crimp fittings IMHO, are garbage, some are better.


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## jerryh3 (Dec 10, 2007)

What kind of fittings were they? Copper crimp rings?


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## zosoplumber (Nov 21, 2008)

There are no copper pex fittings, there are plastic or brass, you probrably have brass. As for under the slab leaks, there should be no connection under the slab because the copper crimp rings are not rated for instalation in dirt(unless you ment you have a crawl space), if there are fitings under the dirt they should not have been there. The tool plumbers use (a crimper) has to be calabrated to ensure a complete crimp of the ring, after many uses the crimpers tend to lose its calabration, its a quick fix for the crimpers, but not for your house. There is a calabrater they sell(very cheap) to check if the rings are being crimped full, one side has slots for "GO"wich means the rings are fine or slots with "NO GO", wich means the crimper is not calabrated correctly, its a simple tool, you simply try to slide the slots over the ring that are on the pipe , if it slides over the ring the ring is fully compressed over the barbs on the fitting. I would buy this tool and check as many fittings that are exposed.


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## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

Fortunately, there should not be too many, if any, fittings in the walls. I wonder if this is a case of mismatching the brands of fittings vs. tubing. In any case pictures would be helpful.


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## zosoplumber (Nov 21, 2008)

Right, the beauty of pex is the ability to use less fittings, there should be some exposed, like the supply lines might have a crimped pipe at the shut off valve, unless they stubed out with copper. Or the supply to the heater, if these locations do have crimped fittings I would check there


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## mainstreetprod (Jan 16, 2009)

Sorry - I failed to mention that the house is off grade, the leak underneath
was easy to fix. I'm not at the house to look at the piping right now- but I know the fitting under the house was brass. I don't recall any type of crimp ring. Do all Pex systems use crimp rings?
The water is shut off right now due to the house being vacant. I didn't drain the system - furnace is on and under the house, so should be OK.

The problem is definitely not freeze related, happened in the summer.


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## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

There is one system that uses an expanding tool and a collar also made out of pex that simply stretches over the fittings. Since pex has memory, it supposedly keeps a tight connection. I don't know, I think I would rather use a cinch clamp or crimp ring system.


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## II Weeks (Jan 6, 2009)

> There is one system that uses an expanding tool and a collar also made out of pex that simply stretches over the fittings.


Thats system uses the everloc and slides a brass ring over the expanded pex. Huge advantage to this system is that the fittings are true to the size of the pipe. The typical pex fitting reduces the size of the pipe at the fitting by about 1/3rd. add on the 90's and want not and you have restricted flow and volume.


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## Gary_602z (Nov 15, 2008)

Umm.. didn't this site have and add at the top of it about a class action suit on a pex fitting manufacturer?

Found it http://www.zurnclassaction.com/

Gary


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## jerryh3 (Dec 10, 2007)

Gary_602z said:


> Umm.. didn't this site have and add at the top of it about a class action suit on a pex fitting manufacturer?
> 
> Found it http://www.zurnclassaction.com/
> 
> Gary


I think Zurn had a bad batch of fittings that had a few failures. This sounds like more of an installation problem.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Gary_602z said:


> Umm.. didn't this site have and add at the top of it about a class action suit on a pex fitting manufacturer?
> 
> Found it http://www.zurnclassaction.com/
> 
> Gary


That issue is old news. The problems with Zurn's fittings were rectified years ago, although some of the old ones are still out there...So there are still people dealing with it. Any leaks in a new PEX system can almost certainly be attributed to poor installation practices.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Here's a picture of the aforementioned expansion PEX fitting. A tool is inserted into the tubing that expands it and allows for insertion of the fitting. The tubing's memory causes it to grab the barb very hard. Awesome setup, but less common due to the cost of the tool and fittings. The crimp-type are much more common, and in my opinion are just as solid. I've installed a heck of a lot of PEX and have 100% faith in the product.


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## mainstreetprod (Jan 16, 2009)

All the connections under the house are definitely the system pictured above, except the fitting the pex goes on is brass. 
I don't recall the connection under the sink looking like that but will check today.

How should I , or the plumber, check for proper work on this type fitting? I assume a "Go, no go" tool won't work.


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## mainstreetprod (Jan 16, 2009)

I checked the other line that blew off, under the sink, and the small pex line
went inside a fitting that looked just like that used with a brass ferrul with copper.
Why would that type fitting fail? not tightened enough (plumbers did that in other places)


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## zosoplumber (Nov 21, 2008)

I'm pretty sure there are no pex fitings or connection that use ferrels, I've only worked with crimp rings, and have seen a demonstration on the memory pex, are you sure it is a ferrell and not a crimp ring, the ring would look just like it sounds, and about 1/4 " in width, the ring is copper but would look darker, almost black.


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

I've never seen any sort of PEX that uses ferrules or any sort of threaded/compression connection. 

Would you be able to post a picture of this? 

For an easy DIYer-friendly tool-less fix, take a look at the "Sharkbite" fittings. They're great for PEX as long as the connections are accessible.


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