Is there a class action lawsuit against Kitec piping?

[Gary Slusser]

How did I know you was going to post your quarterly reports for me?

FYI, I don't own nor have any financial stakes in any forum website; just admin and moderate. I left the site you speak of months ago because the owner refused to switch to Vbulletin like I asked for.

Do a check on your member list on your site...along with any other phpbb forum base and you'll see that you have tons of spammers just dying to get on your boards and link out their product.

If it works in your head that you "think" I called the shots on your removal, go ahead. Still can't figure out why you think sites I wasn't even a member at (2 of them) had anything to do with me.

I gotta go,

I got other issues right now, issues about my new $59 microwave NOT cooking my corndogs fast enough. Priorities folks.......priorities.

Steve, it's all due to your superb smarts.

Along that topic, quarterly is three months, not monthly.

So you don't own and/or operate, you just admin and moderate.... and pretend to be imporant. LOL The fact is that you set up a new forum and there has been not one post by anyone but you (admin).
http://stemdoctor.com/cs/forums/thread/57.aspx

I think you pretend to be a service plumber too but at least you don't call yourself a Master plumber like you used to. It's guys like you that give plumbing a bad rap. Here's a sample of your plumbing and it took you FIVE HOURS!!! You owe those people a refund. Use the Next and Prev buttons to see all of it.
http://tinyurl.com/zrym3

[Dunbar Plumbing]

you would quit bringing up my hooked on phonics education. Shame on you~!

Thanks for putting that filter system picture up, I get a lot of site traffic when you do that. That was a hard job too since the customer had me installing that filter to a tee by the mfg. specs. He called them 4 times throughout the job.....part of the reason it took so long.

He even went as far as having a $500 high powered microscope taking samples of the outgoing water from the filter when I prewashed (mfg. specs) initially to remove debri.

I added some bells and whistles (valves and drains) so he could backwash that system as per required by the mfg.

Since you make me feel so warm and tingly with our ongoing love/hate relationship online,

I added some more pictures of water treatment installations. Please be my hunk of burning love hairy chest online inspector would you?

[Gary Slusser]

I'm glad to help. You know, you don't see all the help I've been giving you and if you became a bit better listener and got rid of the attitude, I know you'd pick right up on it.

I see you wiped your joints on that filter install, they look simply marvelous.

[Plumb or Die]

You seem to have a bunch of people dicking you around, and hoping you will just go away and eat all this expense yourself. You're problems are due to an improper install of a perfectly good piping product. I assume the plumbers that came over were hired by your insurance person or your realtor. Get a licenced plumbing contractor over to check this stuff out. A properly worded letter from him describing the improper installation will go a long way in court should you go down that road. And it will certainly get your insurane people or whoever to take notice. Don't take this laying down.
I personally helped out a fellow with a problem with a plumbing contractor that froze and burst a bunch of slab heating pipes. The letter I wrote for him helped out a lot when he sued the plumber for negligence. He had to jackhammer out and replace the whole slab in a 2000 sq/ft rancher he was building. Get the sleezebags!

[PLC]

I too have been receiving information by mail regarding this lawsuit. What I don't know is whether or not my home actually has this defect or how to find out.

I can vouch for the fact that there is a class action lawsuit against Clark County plumbers, IPEX, KITEC, etc. Copies of the suit are posted at "www.plumbingdefect.com", where you can sign up for an inspection by the law firm. At this site there is also information which will allow you to determine whether or not your house has KITEC fittings. Ours apparently does.

We have had a preliminary inspection and accepted an offer by Pulte to replumb the house. We are on the waiting list to get replumbed. It remains to be see whether that was a wise decision, but the alternative of waiting to see if the fittings ruptured is too much of a gamble.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

If you type in the words

PEX
LAWSUITS
MTBE
KITEC

These threads are showing up in all the search engines....pulling discussions from web forums like these and others with all the lawsuits of these products coming to light. That is why this thread is generating new members of those "chiming in" to give info to others of what is going on. :teamwork: :thumbsup:

Back in 2005 I commented on this site about the "train wreck coming"...

The forums I've moderated over the years are showing that this product is making its way into peoples homes in leaps and bounds.

Those who are cheerleaders of these plastic piping systems:


What do you say to the victims of these different brands of PEX that are failing?

Don't talk about copper pinhole stories, talk about the facts......the subject of plastic pipe failures.

It's turning into property damage, insurance rate increases, people losing their homes to this stuff because "it's fast and easy" and you can make more money.

There are so many brands/styles/flavors of PEX that when someone gloats about a certain kind.....how do you expect the average homeowner going to buy a home what to look out for?

PEX LAWSUITS is becoming a popular search engine word phrase these days thanks to the failures associated with the fittings and pipe.

Isn't it true that Europe doesn't use chlorine levels similar to ours in the USA and THAT is the reason for some of the problems tied to this piping?

This thread alone is making some waves in the www so if you are going to defend its quality...

speak up and explain to all these homeowners (victims) why they should eat a hamburger from mcdonalds,

but definitely not a hamburger from wendy's.



http://www.lieffcabraser.com/hydronic-pipes.htm

http://contractormag.com/articles/ne...cfm?newsid=221

http://www.forbestlaw.com/articles/k...e-defects.html

http://www.kirotv.com/money/1954263/detail.html

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/comsi...=0286-22861792




In the mind of many, a hamburger is a hamburger and until one makes you sick, you just keep on eating them. < vegetarians need not to reply to this.

[mickeymouse1205]

Okay, need opinions.According to Pulte and the Attorneys, Pulte is offering to replace the fittings and repipe the whole house, can be up to a 2 year waiting list for this mind you. The class action law suit is offering you have your options of 1) a 7800.00 check and get your own contractor and Pulte is no longer liable from there on out or 2) Pulte will put you on their 2 yr (so far) list and they will do the repairs.Here is what concerns me, 1st if you go with Pulte and no damage has been done yet it sure the heck may within the 2 years and what a nightmare that could be 2) almost every NV state plumbing contractor I've contacted said the cost total of repiping, new fittings, re sheet-rocking, paint, some people will need stucco repair etc is over the 7800 the lawsuit is willing to give you.(Apparently the judge ruled the fittings are the defect and the there is no need for any repiping) You also have to remember everyone does not have the same model house, some have 2 baths, 3 baths 4 baths, some have island kitchen with sinks, etc. What a mess. Also in order to recieve any help you need to have someone come over, cut a hole and take a picture of the KITECH in your house. The sticker in the electrical panel is not good enough What would you do, with these options??????

[Gary Slusser]

Personally I feel bad for anyone with water damage etc. from leaking water lines. But getting emotional isn't going to solve anything and usually causes more problems. The fact is that in this thread, the pictures do not show failed tubing/pipe, they show failed fittings; there is nothing wrong with the tubing.

Also, I believe the AL type PEX is not to be used for potable water lines, it is for hydronic heating. Potable water lines do not need/require an oxygen barrier or whatever the barrier is for. So in reality, the plumbers/builders etc. may have specked the wrong material, which caused the corrosion to cause the brass fittings to fail. All of which has nothing to do with the material.

Did you know there are three separate manufacturing processes used to make PEX? They all relate to differences in the finished product, so lumping them together is incorrect.

Another fact is that copper, galvanized, CPVC, PVC etc., including SS, all have problems/disadvantages; there is no perfect potable water line material but... overall, studying actual research rather than listening to gossip shows that you can't beat plastics.

MTBE? That happens to be a gasoline additive, I think you have a typo or are confusing it with something else.

[Rancher]

Also, I believe the AL type PEX is not to be used for potable water lines, it is for hydronic heating. Potable water lines do not need/require an oxygen barrier or whatever the barrier is for.

Gary, Soooo... this begs the question, when I plumb my next slab with PEX-AL-PEX what do I use for connectors? And bear in mind that my last slab was plumbed with PB, with no problems after 12 years.

Rancher

[geniescience]

permit me to ask whether this thing in Nevada is about PEX pipe or Pex-AL-Pex pipe.

Although i might be able to answer this myself, with enough searching, i'm posting my query here.

david

[Rancher]

I believe it's about the connectors failing, I haven't seen the reason why, Gary is guessing corrision due to dis-similar metals.

Rancher

[Phil H2]

The website for the lawsuit claims dezincification is the cause of the fitting failure. It seems like a lab could easily determine the brass alloy used in the suspect fittings and tell if it is prone to dezincification. I wonder if the contact with copper pipe accelerates dezincification. By the way, dezincifation happens in brass alloys with a high zinc content and a low copper content. The zinc leaches from the alloy leaving a weak copper skeleton.

As far as MTBE, there are claims that some PEX has problems leaching MTBE and TBA which are by-products of the manufacturing process.

[Gary Slusser]

Nah Rancher, actually I've read every word in all the posts in this entire thread, so no guessing on my part.

It is Pex-AL-Pex used to plumb the house (Post #23 ON PAGE 2). The fittings are brass insert x threaded. The failure is supposed to be dissimilar metals corrosion between the aluminium and brass but, there may be a misformulation of the brass (too much zinc someone said), causing the insert end of the fitting to break off the rest of the fitting.

IMO the break might be due to stress on the tubing connection and/or no support of the tubing. IOWs the break may not have happened as soon if ever as it did had only corrosion been involved; now I'm guessing.

Actually, IIRC, the class action law suit lawyers guesstimate 25000 or 30000 to 50000 houses involved (read B I G M O N E Y).

Oh, I've also read most of everything on their site concerning this. They have the pictures of the corrosion in cut-away plumbing.

[Gary Slusser]

Phil, we were posting at the same time.

Yes, there are many "claims" and most are eventally proven untrue but never correctable; like all gossip. IMO most unfounded claims are agenda driven by those with a monetary interest in the use of copper.

[Gary Slusser]

I see that yesterday Mickey and I were posting at the same time. I missed this until now.

ATTENTION rugged: (Apparently the judge ruled the fittings are the defect and the there is no need for any repiping).

Rancher, if your PB has lasted this long in a slab, it probably won't be leaking any time soon. If it does leak, I'd use homerun PE or PEX to replace it with, and I probably would put it in conduit like larger ID PE or sch 40 PVC for easy replacement if needed. Personally I think all slabs should have been plumbed that way from day one and given a blueprint of ther slab plumbing (in an ideal world)...

Just make sure you and/or the plumber strictly follow the instructions for storage, handling, installation and insure the fittings are done right while paying attention to the water quality that is going to be run through it meets the manufacturers' min/max guidelines.