Leaking water hoses

Pangaea Ron wrote:
It looks like polybutylene pipe from the pre-early 90's which is no longer used for domestic water piping.

I would agree with mleekamp that you should replace the pipe and fittings with PEX. Some hardware stores will loan/rent you the equipment.

isn't that the grey stuff that was the subject of failures and law suits years ago? as stated, tear as much of it out as you can and replace with PEX.
bumpy

John Wayne wrote:
Are you sure it it's not just one of the screw on fittings that's leaking and just needs to be tightened. Find what's leaking first.

A close look at his picture makes me wonder if the leak is actually from the water heater rather that one of the fittings? Again - just wondering! Water heaters have been known to develop leaks when old!

Are you sure it it's not just one of the screw on fittings that's leaking and just needs to be tightened. Find what's leaking first.

You can get the pex in different colors for hot and cold. If you are replacing it all you might want to look at adding a hotwater heater bypass system to make winterizing easier. Basically you add a valve close to the hotwater heater on the line in and the line out. Then add a connector line with a valve in the middle of it between the line in and the line out. The 2 valves on the lines in and out will be closer to the hotwater heater than the connector line. During normal operation the connector line valve is closed and the other 2 are open. When you want to winterize you close off the 2 valves close to the hotwater heater and open the valve in the connector/bypass. This keeps the antifreeze out of the hotwater heater.

Before taking anything apart, take a pair of end cutters or even side cutters and tighten the clamps.

I looked at shark bite connectors when I was fixing some PEX issues and elected to use the type that use a copper compression ring. I had shark bites leak because the outside of the pipe wasn't perfect. Compression fitting only care about the inside.

My suggestion would be to cut the PB pipe back, us PB to PEX adapters and then use PEX pipe and fittings.

It is in fact a pre 90 Rv.. 1985 to be exact. Thanks for for the suggestions, this will be my weekend project.

It looks like polybutylene pipe from the pre-early 90's which is no longer used for domestic water piping.

I would agree with mleekamp that you should replace the pipe and fittings with PEX. Some hardware stores will loan/rent you the equipment.

Ultimately, you will need to buy PEX line (about $6 for 4 feet from Lowes or Mernards), a PEX line cutter (about $30 for generic brand), and I would reccomend "shark bite" type fittings...the line slips in, bites it, and does not leak. The shark bite type fittings (again, at local home improvement store) come in unions, 90 degree, T's, etc. The shark bite type are, to me, a bit expensive, maybe $5-6 per piece. You can invest in more expensive fittings and tools, but I've not seen the need. I