So I was planning on installing a new water line for sprinklers and yard hydrants when I ran into this.
Turns out our house has a polybutylene pipe as the main supply line. There was apparently one contractor who was installing these in the late 70's early 80's. After talking with a few plumbers and excavators, it seems that decision has resulted in a bit of an economic stimulus to the local excavating industry in recent years as they have started to fail with alarming regularity. The wife and I decided that it would be financially irresponsible to spend the money we would need to replace the line if it should fail on a "convenience" line. So we are considering having the line replaced now rather than wait for it to fail. What are your thoughts? Have any of you seen these lines fail or attempted any work on them? Do you think we are overreacting? Everything I know about PB I learned on the internet http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=polybutylene+piping
Turns out our house has a polybutylene pipe as the main supply line. There was apparently one contractor who was installing these in the late 70's early 80's. After talking with a few plumbers and excavators, it seems that decision has resulted in a bit of an economic stimulus to the local excavating industry in recent years as they have started to fail with alarming regularity. The wife and I decided that it would be financially irresponsible to spend the money we would need to replace the line if it should fail on a "convenience" line. So we are considering having the line replaced now rather than wait for it to fail. What are your thoughts? Have any of you seen these lines fail or attempted any work on them? Do you think we are overreacting? Everything I know about PB I learned on the internet http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=polybutylene+piping