Our FlowGuard pipe sprung a tiny spray leak within a wall behind the shower head. Soaked the wall and had to break in and get plumber to replace section of defective pipe. Home built in 1997 in Scottsdale, AZ. I too am concerned about how much pipe we have within the walls and what a disaster it would be to have similar leaks. My understanding is that there are a lot of homes that were built with FlowGuard pipe that have had such problems. I saved the piece of the defective pipe that developed a spray leak. Would like to compare notes with people with similar issues and see if we can get pipe manufacturer to replace defective pipe.
Bad FlowGuard Gold pipe
A piece of "Thompson FlowGuard Gold CPVC 4120 SDR 11 Potable Water" pipe developed a pinhole leak in an interior wall. When the sheetrock showed obvious signs of water damage I removed the sheetrock and exposed the leak. The licensed plumber I had in to repair the leak - he replaced the section with copper - said that the pipe is brittle like potato chips and crushed an end to show me how it shatters. The professional plumber version of the listserv has a posting by "ProTech" out of FL complaining about this "defective" pipe:
"Default Defective FlowGuard Gold cpvc pipe
I've been getting a lot of leak calls on clvc lately where the pipe splits down the center no where near a fitting. I decided to cross section the pipe and found extrusion defects on the inside wall of the pipe. The defects are little valleys that run the whole length of the pipe.
So why has this not resulted in law suits?
Pictures and video to follow."
Our house was built in 1997 by a large homebuilder Centex (now absorbed into another builder) in a mass tract building project (143 homes, Castle Chase subdivision in McDowell Mountain Ranch in Scottsdale, AZ. The plumber named 3 other nearby subdivisions by that builder that uses FlowGuard Gold plumbing pipe. The fact that this house was built as part of a mass-built tract would discount any claim by the manufacturer of FlowGuard that the pipe must have sat out in the sun and deteriorated. Would welcome getting in touch with others who have had problems with this pipe.
Thanks,
Craig
"Default Defective FlowGuard Gold cpvc pipe
I've been getting a lot of leak calls on clvc lately where the pipe splits down the center no where near a fitting. I decided to cross section the pipe and found extrusion defects on the inside wall of the pipe. The defects are little valleys that run the whole length of the pipe.
So why has this not resulted in law suits?
Pictures and video to follow."
Our house was built in 1997 by a large homebuilder Centex (now absorbed into another builder) in a mass tract building project (143 homes, Castle Chase subdivision in McDowell Mountain Ranch in Scottsdale, AZ. The plumber named 3 other nearby subdivisions by that builder that uses FlowGuard Gold plumbing pipe. The fact that this house was built as part of a mass-built tract would discount any claim by the manufacturer of FlowGuard that the pipe must have sat out in the sun and deteriorated. Would welcome getting in touch with others who have had problems with this pipe.
Thanks,
Craig
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Hi, I'll keep your contact info. I wonder if there is any possibility of a class-action lawsuit on this? Replacing the in-wall pipe would be incredibly expensive. We don't have basements here in AZ, so that's not an issue. The carpet got soaked, but we're just about to replace flooring, and will use porcelain wood-look tile that wouldn't be ruined by moisture, like wood flooring would. Let me know if you hear anything and I'll do the same.
Thanks, Craig Hutton
Thanks, Craig Hutton
1 - 3 of 8 Posts
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