We know 5 home owners in the Baxter Village and Tega Cay Lake Shore subdivision that have had water pipe leaks in their homes recently. Some of the home owners have had significant water damage to their home. If you think you may have CPI brand Dura Pex water pipe tubing installed in your home, please listen.
The information we have been able to gather about the water tube leaks are linked to Consolidated Plumbing Industries (CPI) Dura Pex tubing manufactured between 2001 and 2004. NIBCO purchased CPI in 2006 and performed tests on CPI manufactured Dura Pex tubing because of higher than normal reports of water tube failures in the Charlotte metro area.
NIBCO claims the tubing tests showed low gel content and poor oxidative stability. In addition, they claim the water especially in York County SC and Union County NC is considered to be “aggressive” and coupled with high pressures are accelerating material degradation and causing the failures. I am not sure what aggressive water means but several of the reported leaks are occurring near the hot water heater which see higher pressures because of the expanding hot water.
So what should you do if have the terra cotta flex tubing manufactured between 2001 and 2004 installed in your home? I would first inspect the tubing to see if you can see if the CPI manufacture stamp on the tubing especially near your hot water tank. If you’re not able to determine the manufecturer you can always call your home builder or plumber and speak to them about the type of plumbing pipes installed in your home.
Price Brothers, Inc. is a local plumbing company that many of the builders used in new construction, especially in the Tega Cay Lake Shore subdivision in the early 2000’s. Price Brothers recommend replacing approx 20 foot of pipe leading to your water heater if your home has the CPI made defective tubing. We have found the CPI tubing installed in our DR Horton built home and are having Price Brothers replace the pipe near our water heater as a preventive measure.
I found the following online forum conversation about CPI manufactured tube failures with other home owners in the area if you want to read more.