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Epoxy Internal Coating For Stopping House Pinhole Leaks, & A Few Other Questions

Epoxy Internal Coating For Stopping House Pinhole Leaks, & A Few Other Questions


  #1  
Old 01-27-11, 05:00 AM
R
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Epoxy Internal Coating For Stopping House Pinhole Leaks, & A Few Other Questions

Hello,

Have had a few pinhole leaks in house Copper water pipes.
House is 35 yrs old, and was apparently built with the thin wall Type M Copper pipe.

Hope to avoid re-plumbing the entire house.

Anyone know anything about those epoxy internal coating applications for house pipes? Apparently there are a few outfits that do it, as shown in:
Epoxy Pipe Lining

Is this a "popular" or "common" approach ?
Is it safe, in that your drinking water would be in contact with the epoxy ?
Haven't checked, but is it Approved by most Towns ?

How do they handle the 90 deg. bends, and the faucets, etc.

What are the negatives, caveats, etc. ?

Just curious: is Type M, the thin wall stuff, still "Legal" ?
Still used much ? Where ?

In 35 yr old houses, are pinhole leaks fairly common ?
What (usually) causes ?

Thanks,
B.
 
  #2  
Old 01-27-11, 09:03 AM
Z
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Hi Robert -

Originally Posted by Robert111
Hello,

In 35 yr old houses, are pinhole leaks fairly common ?
What (usually) causes ?

Thanks,
B.
I’m not a plumber or any kind of expert. You’ll probably hear from those folks. But I have well water with a very low ph, which means the water is very acidic. My house is about 45 years old and I have copper pipe. I sprung a pinhole leak, not in the copper, but in a galvanized nipple?

What I understand is that a low ph is one of the common causes for pinhole leaks in copper pipe. Don’t know if you are on well water. But if you are you could get your ph tested. There are ways to raise your ph if it’s low. (I’m working on that now).That would help prevent pinhole leaks in the future.

If you are on municipal water I think your ph would be OK, because I believe they make sure of that when they treat the water, but I’m not absolutely sure.

But as you indicate type M is pretty thin, and maybe after 35 years you just start to spring pinhole leaks with type M – low ph or not? I’m sure the experts will help.

Good luck!

p.s. another thing I think about those pinhole leaks is that you can get them inside the wall, and I guess you maybe wouldn’t know it for a long time, after some damage. That’s what scares me, tearing the walls apart. But guess you know all that and that’s why you are working the problem now.
 
  #3  
Old 01-27-11, 10:08 AM
P
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It's a fairly common practice with municipal sewer systems though I have never heard it being used on water supply lines inside a home. Have you gotten any pricing? In my area for residential sewer lines it is cheaper to dig up and replace the lines but our city recently had a large number of their sewer lines lined. At least in that application (sewer drain lines) it's a pretty mature technology with a proven track record.
 
 

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