UPDATE: Home Owner Alert – Plumbing Leaks

Details of Technical Issues relevant to Homeowners

A series of recent incidents of plumbing leaks in the community are the reason for this alert.

  • Plumbers who responded to these incidents blamed the leaks on faulty couplings that join fixtures to the plastic supply lines in our homes.
  • They cited inferior quality clamps (see arrows) and/or faulty installation as the causes for the failures.
  • In all instances these plumbers replaced the defective couplings and supply lines with couplings and supply lines of completely different design and quality.
  • Some of these leaks occurred in homes occupied for at least two years.

    The following are two examples of the types of leaks that have occurred:

  • One home owner discovered two of the water supply lines for his toilets were leaking into his basement.
  • The leaks were occurring at the floor level where the metal supply line joins with the plastic lines that run throughout your house (see photo of actual parts below).

    IMG_0683

    (Actual faulty parts)

  • Another home owner who returned home after a weekend away discovered that a joint on a water supply line under his bathroom sink had burst. (See photo below.)
  • Because this leak occurred above the level of the floor, the resulting water soaked the floors in the master bedroom, walk-in closet and part of the great room. All floors needed to be replaced and he lost use of his home for nearly two months.
  • As a precaution this owner had all similar couplings in his home replaced.
    IMG_0686
    (This is not the actual leak. It only illustrates where the leak occurred.)

    UPDATE

    Based on the advice of the above homeowner, I had a plumber in to look at possible trouble areas in my own home.

    The plumber advised that the plastic water supply lines pictured above sometimes fail at the connection to the shut off valves. (A plastic ferrule which holds the connection together slips off.) This is what happened to the above homeowner.

    Accordingly, I had the plumber replace the following plastic water supply lines with braided stainless steel connections.
    – 3 bathroom sinks
    – dishwasher
    (kitchen sink already had a braided stainless connection)

    He also checked the toilet connections, but he saw no reason to replace them. Also, the toilets have metal supply tubes which leak slowly into your basement when a problem starts. They don’t destroy your house without warning.

    Suggested Best Practice

    Shut off the main water valve when leaving home for an extended period of time.

    The photos below show the main shut off valve.
    The first one shows the shut off lever vertical in line with the water pipe (this is the “ON” position).
    The second picture shows the shut off lever horizontal to the right (this is the “OFF” position).
    on-off
    To turn “OFF” turn lever clockwise until it stops (only turns to the position shown in the picture).
    To turn back “ON” turn lever counter clockwise to vertical position.

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