Pex Busted Before Copper-frozen

mrmike

Got a call for our church hall yesterday with flooding on the main floor from a broken pipe. I found it out in the hallway entrance. It was the hot water baseboard Took the covers off & found that 3/4 pex tubing blown out from freezing on the return line which copper was piped on top of the finned radiator & then exited & adapted to pex & that was where it was blown out from freezing. Why didn't the copper supply line at the bottom freeze & bust first?? I thought the pex would allow more expansion.This Kind of Baffled me. The pex was more of a white color. Is it the right stuff? I had them call the guy that installed it to come and fix it.
I later found the reason for the freeze-up- an 1/8 " to 1/4" gap on the bottom of a new door someone installed.

Jake Stevens

I'm sure they got the door for a great price.

Ron The Plumber

Post a picture of the pex that burst.

mrmike

Ron, I didn't get a picture of it before the guy fixed it, but I think he left it on the window sill there so I will look for it when I go down there to check on the place. It looked the same as a copper pipe would when it freezes & busts. Blown out with a big split horizontal on the pipe about 2" long.............Mike
P.S. I am not against pex, as I use it myself, but not in all situations so this one has got me with my thinking cap on & would like some other insight on it !

Ron The Plumber

Yea please post a picture if at all possible. Too this date I have not encountered pex pipe burst, Pex pipe should be seamless so a seam split can be ruled out.

nhmaster3015

Ron, I have a piece of 3\4" heat pex with about an 1 1/2" smile in it. Also have a piece of 1/2" Viega with a nice little smile in it also. The 1/2" was inside a mobile home feeding the shower hot. The home had been without power for about two weeks. The 3/4 was run next to a large gap in the sill. At my apprentice class this evening we were discussing this very subject and several of my students have run across broken pex in the last couple of weeks.

KillerToiletSpider

I thought PEX was the wonder pipe that was light years better than copper?

__________________
A flush is better than a full house.

Hersheyplumbing

I do see pex get very hard/brittle acting in extreme cold, its the wersbo/heat type.