CPVC shower valve pipes bent

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FinsMagic

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I'm in the process of getting a bathroom rebuilt and the company I'm working with installed some new 1/2" CPVC pipes into the new shower valve. The plumber initially hooked up the CPVC pipes just fine, but after a mishap during the rebuild, the rebuilders had to detach and reattach the shower valve. Upon doing so, 2 of the CPVC pipes are now slightly bent. Since I wasn't able to get a picture before they put up the cement board, I drew a picture (yes, MS Paint). The pex piping in the picture is our existing plumbing. Here's what it looks like:

bent cpvc.jpg

Should I have the bathroom rebuild company remove the cement board and replace with straight CPVC before the rebuild gets any further along?
 

FinsMagic

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But slight bends in flexible water lines - come on.
JW

But how flexible is CPVC? You'll have to excuse me, for I'm a first time homeowner and an amateur on these issues. The joints are all glued properly and the bends are not sharp. So these slight bends in the CPVC could be perfectly fine. But when I took a CPVC pipe and tried to bend it, it didn't seem like it should be bending much at all. On the other hand, I can bend a pex pipe all over the place. In fact, the plumber who repiped my house has the pex piping bent all over the place in the attic and it never concerned me much because I knew it was made to flex (the way it limited the crawl space up there even further did bother me though).
 
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Jadnashua

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CPVC is designed as a rigid copper substitute and thus, is not designed to be bent - there are fittings for that. PEX on the other hand, IS designed to be bent. If the CPVC is anchored and bent, since it expands and contracts a fair amount with changes in temp, my gut feeling says it may become a problem as it moves against the restraints and flexes. The best thing is to verify with the manufacturer, and, you may find a FAQ page on their website that covers that without any further direct contact.
 

FinsMagic

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I took you guys advice and found some writing on one of the sink pipes sticking out of the wall. Looking the numbers up, the CPVC appears to be the FlowGuard Gold 1/2" CPVC. The technical manual states:

Do not bend FlowGuard Gold® and ReUze® 1/2” and 3/4” pipe
in a radius tighter than 18”; 1” pipe should not be bent in a
radius tighter than 24”.


I drew out an 18" radius, and if I had to guess I would say the bends are around 18", give or take a few inches. The tiling starts tomorrow and I'm faced with a dilemma: Have them go through the trouble of taking down part of the cement board and having the plumber straighten the pipes, or just let it go. I don't want this to be a problem years down the road, with the tile having to be knocked down to fix it. At the same time I don't want to piss off the builders, for they did tell me via e-mail the bent pipes won't be a problem.
 

hj

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quote; sleep better at night knowing the work has hit the 200PSI mark for an hour.
.

200 psi? The working pressure for almost ALL plumbing items is 150 psi, so at 200 psi it could be a PERFECT installation and still fail.

Much of the US does not require this inspection either self inspected or city inspected

Where in Canada does it say that? Is this an attempt to ameliorate some insecurity? EVERY installation that is inspected IS subjected to a pressure test, INCLUDING drain and vent lines.

As for the original question, the reason most plumbers use CPVC and PEX is because they do NOT have to install it "straight", meaning they can be sloppy and still do an acceptable installation. Who did the 'repair piping'? If it was NOT the plumbing contractor, you lost his guarantee for the job, because someone else has "tampered" with his work.
 
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hj

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quote; With the pressure inflated we have seen countless fittings and fixtures fail

Exactly. It is a "ridiculous" test designed to "damage" plumbing items which were NEVER meant to operate at more than 150 psi, even though their individual "test pressures" are 300 psi.
 
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