PEX leak

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ThomPlumb

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Hello, Everyone

I was visiting my parents today and found a very small puddle of water in the basement. It appears some kind of reaction is taking place where the PEX is touching a PVC drain. It is right next to a connector but no primer or cement is touching the cross. Both pipes are eaten into. In the picture you can see where the pipes have degraded. The PEX is sweating enough to make a small drip. The house is almost a year old and the PEX was installed about three weeks after the PVC. Could the primer on the outside of the pipe caused this if the PEX touched it while being installed?

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Dj2

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I agree, there is some stain on the PVC, but it's not so clear from the picture. Could definitely be a leak in the coupling.
 

ThomPlumb

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It is not coming from the coupling, the drain slopes away from the PEX. The stains you see are from hard water. In the first picture I was pulling the PEX down off the PVC so you can see where they were touching. Rubbing the surface of the PEX you can feel it is rough and wet. If you wipe the pipe dry you can see it start sweating from the rough part. Here is a zoomed in picture of the rough spot.1.jpg
 
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Kerry Gilbertson

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I don't think that there is any kind of reaction taking place.It might be the roughness of water which is creating stains in the PEX and some leakage of water.
 

ThomPlumb

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I dont think the hardness of the water would cause the pipe to sweat or break down. Something happened and the PEX is deteriorating I just dont know what is causing it. Has anyone seen this happen before? I'm concerned because I'm remodeling my bathroom and replacing all the CPVC with PEX. I've done my best to keep the PEX away from any joints in the PVC.

At my parents we installed a manifold and every fixture has its own solid line with no connectors. We did this to prevent any leaks or loss in pressure. I will most likely be replacing the entire line its around 75'. What would you guys say is the best brand of PEX? At my parents we used Rifeng brand.
 

Reach4

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Suppose you put some tape around the area that you suspect is leaking. If you are right about the water coming through the PEX, then the water will come around the tape. If the water is coming from elsewhere, the water will appear outside of the tape.

Unless you are really really sure that the PEX is leaking....
 
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