Yes, Virginia, it freezes in CTZ FL. Pipes froze in a couple of areas and when the thaw came, water was spraying from my outdoor hose bib. I wasn't too surprised that it froze, but was perplexed that anything busted. The piping in my house is plastic with copper fittings, and the only damage I have ever had was the damnable sprinkler back-flow preventer. The last two mornings were hell on my back and knees. Crawl under house into wet mud, crawl out, go to Ace.

Repeat

Repeat

Repeat

Repeat

5 trips to Ace. Here is a pic of the culprit: a 6" nipple that appears to have been hit with a side grinder on both sides. IF I had not cut the plastic pipes first, I wouldn't have had to replace anything except the nipple. One trip to Ace, three hours tops. I HATE plumbing. Anybody want to buy my house? Seriously. I'm ready to bail.

Galvanized nipples seem to take a real hit. On meter spreads it is brass nipples only.

The 1950s homes around here still have some threaded galvanized distribution piping, a few risers and whatnot, but most of it has broken and been replaced.

The cost to replace 6" of ½" galvanized pipe within a wet-bed bathroom floor after it goes is a few bucks. Getting to it plus repairing the ceiling, that is where the insurance company pays.

Freezing had nothing to do with that.

I'm on the local BOD of our community water system. Every year we get a leak or two. 2 years ago we had a leak, ~100,000 gallons per month. We could spot where it was, after the curb stop. We told the homeowner he had a few days to fix it. Same exact thing you have. Black iron pipe nipple (or galvanized for that matter) are not supposed to be used in plumbing situations...you now see why.

I agree, the freeze had nothing to do with that. I've seen more frozen pipes than I can remember for what it's worth.

each type of plumbing has a lifespan...

(guesstimates and YMMV because of ph, cold, etc)

copper ~100 years

galvanized ~80 years

PVC-still undetermined

PEX- still undetermined

My bro, Dirty Chuck, just had all his plumbing replaced (bypassed) and replaced with PEX. He lives in Fla (Tampa) and it probably will never freeze.

He did that because his neighbor had a water leak (galvanized-built in the 50's) and her insurance dropped her due to the age of the plumbing. Dirty Chuck called his insurance guy who said they would not over damages from plumbing that old....

If my pipes looked like you nippel in the photo, I'd replace all of it tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Freezing had nothing to do with that.

This. That is galvanic corrosion that ate that fitting away from the inside out. Who the hell uses galvanized plumbing fittings on a house and not copper anyways?

PEX is garbage, just google pex plumbing failures.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
Black iron pipe nipple (or galvanized for that matter) are not supposed to be used in plumbing situations...you now see why.

Black pipe is a no-no.

Galvanized Pipe is approved for plumbing.

Hey Jimmy, There are probably more older homes with galvanized pipe than copper.

as far as I can tell, this outdoor hose nipple is the ONLY galvanized pipe in the 30 YO house. The rest is butyrate with coppper, brass and bronze fittings. Never a leak from butyrate or the junctions/terminals. Other plumbing fixtures have leaked but not the supply lines.

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmnut:
Hey Jimmy, There are probably more older homes with galvanized pipe than copper.

I've never seen it here in South Florida. Here it wouldn't last very long as most of our soil is a bit salty.

Looks like someone didn't have a pipe wrench, so they ground it down on opposite sides to use a standard wrench. Go figure!

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Freezing had nothing to do with that.

This. That is galvanic corrosion that ate that fitting away from the inside out. Who the hell uses galvanized plumbing fittings on a house and not copper anyways?

PEX is garbage, just google pex plumbing failures.

PEX is fantastic. The failures you’re Googling are from the first installations back in the 80’s, and the failures were in the fittings. Once the fittings were updated, PEX became the preferred system around here. I have taken apart some PEX that I installed 20 years ago, and it looks as good as the day it was installed.

There have been some problems with zincafication in some of the brass fittings, but that had more to do with the brass formulations, not the PEX. I’m suspicious that the brass problems were caused by government interference via lead standards in the brass formulas.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

PEX is fantastic. The failures you’re Googling are from the first installations back in the 80’s, and the failures were in the fittings.

Anyone know where this is going... ?

**Yes, Pex is GTG.

Not a plumber, but every plumber I call to a job site or see on a site is using PEX. Doesn't matter if it was PEX to start with, copper, PVC or CPVC. They make the repair with PEX. The only time I've seen a PEX line fail in person is when one of my minions hit it with a sawzall. For the record, copper fails when hit with a sawz all too. There's a strong chance I was the minion with the sawzall that day

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Freezing had nothing to do with that.

This. That is galvanic corrosion that ate that fitting away from the inside out. Who the hell uses galvanized plumbing fittings on a house and not copper anyways?

PEX is garbage, just google pex plumbing failures.

PEX is fantastic. The failures you’re Googling are from the first installations back in the 80’s, and the failures were in the fittings. Once the fittings were updated, PEX became the preferred system around here. I have taken apart some PEX that I installed 20 years ago, and it looks as good as the day it was installed.

There have been some problems with zincafication in some of the brass fittings, but that had more to do with the brass formulations, not the PEX. I’m suspicious that the brass problems were caused by government interference via lead standards in the brass formulas.

You are incorrect. There are still many failures with dezincification of fittings. This is not caused by lead standards in brass. It is caused by the water traveling through the City's copper pipes before it gets to the homes pex and is galvanic corrosion and will happen in all installations with City Water.

I have dealt with PEX and currently deal with Pex from the 1980's to currently. Chlorinated water (ie. City Water) does a real number on it and makes it very stiff and brittle within 10-15 years. In another thread I posted numerous examples of MODERN pex.

Jobsites use it because it's cheap and unskilled labor can run it.

Pex does fine with well water, it does horribly with Chlorinated City Water. All brands of Pex have had major issues.

https://failures.wikispaces.com/PEX+Plumbing+Failures

https://www.pexuniverse.com/pr...prevent-and-fix-them

https://www.classaction.org/pex-plumbing-lawsuit

https://www.buzzle.com/article...tubing-problems.html

My parent's house was built in 2000 with PEX and a ManaBlock so every run is a home run. Except the one with a T in it feeding the front and rear hose bibs. The T fitting made it 10 years before it leaked.

Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHnXIBHq73w