Plumbing Info

courtesy of The Washington Post, Saturday, July 1, 2000; Page G01
Sandra Fleishman – Washington Post Staff Writer

The first time water poured through the ceiling of Margaret Rudy’s 50-year-old house in Chevy Chase, she and her husband, Peter Weiss, were away for Christmas.

The flood last December–accumulated water from a pinhole leak in a copper water pipe above–was at least caught four days after they left by a friend checking on the house. But when the couple returned the following week: “It was the worst sight I’d ever seen,” Rudy recalled. The foyer floor was buckled, the plaster ceiling ruined and other parts of the house damaged.

Since January there have been five more surprise pinhole eruptions. Now the couple is taking estimates on re-piping the house, at an expected cost of $6,000 to $8,500. Their insurance company, which has paid for the water damage four times, has indicated it intends to not renew their policy.

In Rockville, retirees Bill and Donna Hickman have lived through the same nightmare. After six pinholes in four years, the couple decided last month “to bite the bullet” and rip out the walls of their 30-year-old Colonial to re-plumb.

In Prince George’s County, computer analyst Michelle Mullins has twice paid to patch pipe and replace drywall in a 40-year-old split-level. But after enduring a third leak in two years, searching in vain for a solution and staring at gaping holes in a lower-level bedroom and kitchen, she expects to pay about $3,000 for new pipes. And that doesn’t include the cost of fixing walls and ceilings.

“This entire experience has been exasperating,” said the first-time homeowner, who thought she had protected her pocketbook and her sanity by hiring experts to inspect the home and plumbing before she bought the Temple Hills house in 1993.

Unfortunately, the three families are not alone. From Silver Spring to Chevy Chase, Laurel to Bethesda, there have been about 300 complaints of pinhole leaks, mostly in cold-water pipes, to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) over the past two years. The commission supplies water to about 400,000 homes in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

While there have always been copper pipe failures for a variety of reasons, area plumbers say they have never seen such a flood of calls. John Leahy of Leahy Plumbing Inc. in Bethesda says he gets as many as five calls a day–often regarding houses on the same street, and houses both old and new.

“It used to be something that happened once in a blue moon,” said Billy Silk of Master Plumbing and Mechanical Inc. in Silver Spring, the president of the Washington Suburban Master Plumbers Association. “But recently it’s really been coming on strong” and “once you get one, you get another one and another one. It seems like you have the plague.”

Odd. But even odder is the fact that officials at the other water suppliers in the area say they aren’t getting complaints. The Fairfax County Water Authority, the Rockville Water Authority (which serves all but a few pockets of Rockville) and the Army Corps of Engineers (which serves the District, Arlington County and Falls Church) have similar water treatments and serve similar housing stock.

What’s going on? The theories include:

  • Copper, the gold standard of the plumbing industry for 70 years, can be counted on for only 25 years to 50 years.
  • The WSSC has done something to its water treatment process.
  • Bad copper was installed, or the installation was improper. For example, the copper may be wearing because it’s rubbing against a wall, or the soldering flux may not have been properly flushed out.
  • Copper pipes that are used to ground electrical wiring are picking up stray and corrosive electrostatic charges from the recent installation of cable, computer and other high-tech wiring in houses.
  • A theory considered bizarre but attributed to a WSSC expert, that electrons from cell phones, TV remote controls, computers and even microwave towers are simply bombarding the pipes.

But they’re all just theories.

And with reports of copper pipe failures in recent years in other cities–corroding underground pipe in Phoenix and Jacksonville, Fla.; pinhole leaks indoors in Andover, Mass., and elsewhere–the mystery deepens.

The WSSC, the 82-year-old water and sewer agency, stands by its water and treatment process, but has decided the wave of complaints and concerns about its role merit action. Although less than 0.1 percent of WSSC customers “have reported pinhole leaks over the past 24 months to us, it’s an important issue to our customers and therefore an important issue to us,” WSSC spokesman Chuck Brown said.

The WSSC, the Washington master plumbers group and the Copper Development Association, the manufacturers’ trade group, are collecting data on the problem.

This week the water agency distributed a questionnaire to its consumer representatives for callers with pinholes. An earlier questionnaire was sent to area plumbers last August.

Both forms ask for the name of the owner, the address of the house, the plumber’s name, the age of the plumbing, when and where the leaks occurred and the size and type of pipe involved.

For consumers, the WSSC also has a fact sheet on pinhole leaks and a report from an independent analyst on the reasons pipes fail. The commission’s Web site (www.wssc.dst.md.us) is expected to post the materials soon, and pinhole leaks can be reported to the WSSC at 301-206-4001, although the agency says homeowners should call a registered plumber first.

Brad Fisher, head of the WSSC’s laboratory services, is confident about his product. Water treatment has “changed very little in the past 10 years,” he said, and water quality has only improved as computer controls have become more accurate and the filtration process has taken more impurities out.

The process, he added, has become “less corrosive” and is monitored not only by the WSSC, but also by the Environmental Protection Agency.

All of the area water suppliers have “basically the same treatment process,” and all basically draw from the same water sources, Fisher said, the Potomac and Patuxent rivers.

Pitting, which leads to pinhole leaks, is generally “not the result of corrosive water,” but of dissimilar metals interacting and “starting a battery of reactions that just consumes the pipe,” Fisher said. “If the water were corrosive, we’d have a general dissolving of the copper.”

Pipe failures, he said, can come from “any number of reasons,” including age–“pipes start failing after 25 to 50 years”; improper installation; and plumbing left fallow for a long time. People with well water that is not treated often are victims because such water can be acidic.

But Fisher acknowledged that copper pipe has proved reliable for years, citing those in the WSSC’s own Potomac River water filtration plant that “have been running continuously” since 1961.

Plumbers such as John Leahy in Bethesda, though, are convinced the water treatment process is to blame.

“I’d be shocked if it turned out to be something other than the water treatment,” Leahy said. “They’ve increased the levels of [chlorination] or made other changes,” he surmised, despite the WSSC’s insistence to the contrary. “That’s the only thing I can put my finger on.”

The Copper Development Association also points to the water supply or delivery system rather than its pipe. “To say that it’s a mystery is completely wrong,” said Andy Kireta, a copper association vice president who has been working with the WSSC. “We know what causes copper to fail, and failures are rare. We think it’s a water-chemistry problem.”

Copper has been the material of choice for 70 years, is being installed in about 85 percent of new houses and has been used in about 90 percent of all homes. Piping manufacturers confirmed their trust two years ago when they began offering 50-year warranties, copper association spokesman Ken Geremia said.

“If there were a major rash of problems, it would have shown up long before this,” he said. “The characteristics of copper have not changed in a million years, but the things that can attack it, I couldn’t even presume to identify.”

Kireta said failures in underground pipes in Florida and elsewhere are linked to soil chemistry, poor installation or to water treatment changes made to control materials in the water, not to the copper. He also rejects theories about copper failing because of “galvanic corrosion” caused by interaction with other metals or stray currents. If theories about stray electrons “were the case, we would have these failures all over the U.S., and urban areas would fail at an unbelievable rate,” Kireta said.

Dick Morris, a senior adviser on construction standards at the National Association of Home Builders, said he has no reason to believe copper’s reputation is tarnished. “I can’t remember when we’ve had a [phone] call on copper piping,” he said.

Plastic pipe manufacturers, meanwhile, are watching to see how the debate may influence their sales. A type of plastic pipe called polybutylene that was considered a universal failure in the late 1980s and 1990s has helped taint the market for chlorinated polyvinyl chloride pipe developed by B.F. Goodrich Co. and another alternative called PEX.

In ads for FlowGuard Gold Pipe and Fittings, B.F. Goodrich states “copper pipe is showing its age. Contrary to the belief of some, it’s not able to withstand corrosion or pitting which can result from aggressive water and other sources.” B.F. Goodrich spokesman Mike Vaughn attributed the allegiance to copper to “people who want it because their granddad had copper.”

Marc Edwards, a leading copper pitting corrosion expert at Virginia Tech, also suspects the water treatment process, while making clear that there are many reasons pipe can fail and little to no understanding of how pitting corrosion occurs.

“One extreme is that copper installed 1,500 years ago is still functioning, but in other places the pipes fail within two months,” Edwards said.

Having said that, he added: “If I was a homeowner [with pinholes], one of the first things I would do is check on the kind of water treatment changes made in the last 10 years. I’d be surprised if they haven’t changed treatment” to meet EPA regulations.

Edwards last December was cited in an article in the Journal of Light Construction, titled “When Copper Goes Bad,” on the mystery of leaks throughout the country. But in an interview last week, he said he predicted in 1994 that some changes made to meet Safe Drinking Water Act requirements might “eventually cause pitting problems” or “change the water’s corrosivity in ways that we don’t understand.”

Edwards speculates, for example, that in trying to improve the treatment process–by removing more natural organic material thought to be a carcinogen–the WSSC could also be removing part of what protects the pipe from corroding.

Removing that material “is a good thing, but at the same time you can be making it worse for corrosion,” Edwards said. “There is a fine line all utilities have to walk.”

The WSSC’s Fisher reiterates that filtration chemicals and the process have changed very little in the past 25 years. The agency has changed the coagulants used to filter the water several times, going from alum to ferric chloride to aluminum chloride. “But the chemistry of the final product is the same,” Fisher said.

While the debate swirls, Michelle Mullins in Temple Hills is sick of leaks and is preparing to pay the piper.

After contacting as many experts as she could and getting the WSSC’s assurance that the water is “healthy,” she is going along with plumbers who contend the corrosion is from metal hangers holding the pipes or some other metal touching the copper, even though the leaks are not near the hangers.

“It has calmed me a bit knowing that it’s happened to other people, but the money is not an easy thing to swallow,” Mullins said.

In Chevy Chase, Margaret Rudy doesn’t wish the pinhole problem on anyone, including herself again. “You can’t see them and you can’t hear them, and when you do see them, it’s too late, they’ve been spouting water for two weeks or more” behind the walls or ceilings, she said.

While they wait to re-plumb, Rudy and Weiss are depending on a cold-water shutoff valve to deal with leaks beyond the kitchen, which already had been re-plumbed. At one time she “reached a point at which I just said, ‘I’m moving, I can’t take it anymore.’ But the reality is you can’t do that.”

For those who think re-plumbing is the answer, though, Laurel plumber Kevin Black has some potentially terrifying information.

Black, who owns Arthur M. Black Inc. and claims to have alerted the suburban plumbers association to the pinhole problem, said he installed new pipes nine years ago in his own house in Laurel. Now he is re-plumbing because of pinholes.

Black says he was luckier than most because he won’t have to pay someone else, “but there are a lot of elderly people in Laurel who can’t afford this kind of surprise.”

PINPOINTING POTENTIAL PLUMBING PINHOLES

What can a homeowner do to anticipate a pinhole leak or figure out whether to replumb?

Not much, according to the experts.

Kevin Black, owner of Arthur M. Black Inc. in Laurel, said if a homeowner discovers a “very greenish-blue corrosion” that’s not near the pipe joints–the solder flux there typically leaves a green stain, and that’s normal–it could be the beginning of a pinhole.

Black and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) recommend that homeowners consult with a licensed plumber about concerns. In the event of a leak, the first priority is to stop the water and repair the pipe.

A report WSSC offers homeowners on the principal causes of pipe failure, by Richard O. Lewis of Lewis Engineering and Consulting Co. in Gainesville, Fla., includes “some tell-tale signs” of potential problems:

  • Rattling of the pipes when a faucet or tap is closed.
  • Green stains on porcelain fixtures.
  • Sediment buildup in toilet tanks.
  • A persistent strong, noticeable smell of chlorine in the water.

But local plumbers disagree, saying those conditions are generally linked to problems other than pinholes.

John Leahy of Leahy Plumbing Inc. in Bethesda says this is his rule of thumb: “If you have three leaks within six or eight months, I suggest you replace all of your pipes.”

Black, the Laurel plumber, agrees that multiple breaks are the kiss of death.

Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards said that the best indicator of problems “is the people living around you: If they have leaks, you’ll have a higher likelihood of getting leaks.”

The cost of replumbing typically runs from $3,000 to $6,000 for replacing all the pipes and $1,000 to $2,000 for a partial replumbing, Leahy said.

The WSSC suggests that new-home buyers review their warranty papers to see if copper pipe is covered by the warranty and advises those buying resale homes to inquire about a house’s plumbing history and to inspect visible pipe. If anything looks suspect, WSSC spokesman Chuck Brown suggested that the buyer try to negotiate an agreement on repairs or replacement.

Insurance companies do not cover replacement or repairs of pipes, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

WHEN PLASTIC PIPES WERE THE PROBLEM

The last time homeowners en masse were pained over plumbing was after polybutylene plastic pipes and fittings, widely installed in houses in the 1980s, started failing.

Chlorine commonly found in drinking water reportedly caused the pipes to corrode and leak or burst.

PB pipe was installed in about 40,000 homes in the Washington area and 6 million homes nationwide.

By 1991 the leaks and extensive damage led to a class-action suit against Shell Oil Co. and Hoechst Celanese Corp., which provided the raw materials to make the pipes, and to other smaller lawsuits. In 1995 a Tennessee judge approved a $950 million settlement in the biggest lawsuit to reimburse homeowners for property damage associated with pipes installed between 1978 and 1995. Later that year the Consumer Plumbing Recovery Center (1-800-876-4698; Web site www.pbpipe.com) was set up to assist homeowners in obtaining money to replace pipes that leaked and to pay for repairs.

The Consumer Plumbing Recovery Center this week said 47,736 claims have been filed by people from Washington, Maryland and Virginia. About 29,200 of those houses have been replumbed at a cost of $77.4 million. Nationally there have been 522,649 claims, of which 332,403 houses have been repiped at a cost of almost $542 million. The settlement is supposed to run until 2009.

According to the center, homeowners do not have to prove the pipes failed or the home builder installed them incorrectly. They must demonstrate only that leaks occurred and that PB pipes were used. If the system is not leaking, a claim cannot be filed.

PB pipe is outlawed in new construction by many jurisdictions.

The pipes are easy to detect. Interior pipes are usually battleship gray or black with black or red markings; the exterior yard service line is typically blue. The markings often include the words “potable tubing.”

– 2000 The Washington Post Company

23 Comments

  1. Nash Lindsay

    Thanks for this comprehensive report. I hand just experienced my first pinhole leak in the home that I built 30 years ago. For what it is worth the leak was located at the lower side of a hot water pipe installed horizontally. My fingers are crossed that I don’t run into this problem again any time soon!

    Reply
    • plumbergirl

      Hi Nash,

      We’re sorry to hear you’ve had any leak – they are always a hassle to deal with! We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you too.

      Thanks for reading! :)

      Reply
  2. Helaine

    We had a pinhole leak and had to rip up the carpeting in our basement. The plumber replaced a 2′ piece of copper pipe. Last night we found a wet spot on the floor; the source is a pinhole in the other end of the same pipe. We’re going to ask our plumber to replace the entire length of pipe. We are afraid to replace the carpet.

    Reply
  3. Thomas

    I’ve got a pinhole leak (or maybe more than one.. hard to isolate) in a 10-foot horizontal cold water pipe on the 2nd floor of my home. I’ve managed to cut open the entire floor (fortunately the pipe runs under a closet, for the most part) and have fairly good access to the pipe, but I’m wondering if I should go ahead and replace the entire pipe or just the section with the leaks Which is near the elbow joint on one end, about ten inches away.)? I’m a bit afraid that if I just replace a section, and create an extra joint with a straight 3/4-3/4 connector that I will increase my chance for leaks later, and also that if there is something corroding the pipe I probably will be replacing the old section some day anyway. Anything wrong, or right, with this thinking? My one concern is that both elbow joints are somewhat inaccessible for sweating.. I could do it, but it would be a pain in the arse, and I’m wondering whether it’s worth the effort. Thanks.

    Reply
    • plumbergirl

      Hi Thomas, pinhole leaks in copper can be indicative of a water problem – which may require more replacements down the line if more leaks develop. As to the merits or demerits of what you’re currently trying to do in replacing the single section, we recommend consulting the professional plumbers over at Plbg.com. You can post pictures there and get some free advice about your unique situation and what they would recommend. Thanks for reading!

      Reply
  4. Ellis

    We are being plagued with pinhole leaks in multiple spots in hot and cold water horizontal pipes in the basement. There are numerous additional green spots on the same pipes which have not yet sprung leaks. The water company acknowledges that there is a problem with pinhole leaks, but takes no responsibility, citing their water quality reports and the neutral ph of the water. Neighbors are experiencing the same problem. Pipes that were replaced less than 15 years ago are leaking, but 60-year old pipes are intact. Plumber advises a partial replacement of pipes that are accessible in the basement with PEX, at a cost of about $3,000. We don’t like the idea, but we can’t be replacing all the copper every few years, either.

    Reply
  5. Charlie

    I have the same problem and decided to try and find a answer today when I found this post. Two different houses I own have pin hole leaks, the lake house, I was writing that problem off to well water and have just over the years quit using copper for any rework. The city house is 14 years old and has developed several pin hole leaks in the copper, always around the hot water heaters, seems like every couple of months I get another one. They are in the garage so it is never any real damage. Most of the city house plumbing is the modern bulk roll hose with crimp on fittings that has never leaked, they run all over the attic, red and blue. I have always worried a squirrel could chew through them and create a mess, but thank god not yet. I do have a recirculate pump in the hot water line and most of the pin hole leaks are within two feet of the pump. A builder told me he has seen similar failures around the recirculate pumps several times and on very new homes. He did not have a good theory about why. It all makes me wonder if the production quality of copper has declined over the last 20 years, not as pure as it used to be.

    Reply
  6. Larry

    Count your blessings..kinda…I have lived in my house for 4 years and have had…ready?…49! pinhole leaks..sadly that’s not an exaggeration either. All in cold water pipes, and I have well water. No idea why the leaks, no one does, but I’m re-doing the house with PEX.

    Reply
  7. Jack Kenndy

    ahhh sooo ……..chinese made copper………..thanks zero

    Reply
  8. Rod

    Apparently thin wall copper pipe should only be used above ground but has been used underground at my house in Sydney Australia. Pin holes appearing and causing bedlum!

    Reply
    • Steve

      That’s right, the problem is not only in the U.S. Here in Perth West Australia, I am now on my fourth pinhole in six months. Waiting this morning for the plumber to arrive and quote on a complete pipe changeover. I fear the real expense is going to be the re-concreting, re-paving, and re-tiling etc. During his previous visits, the plumber suggested that the probable cause is electrolysis. Therefore I contacted both the local water authority and our electricity supplier. Water Authority didn’t want to know, elec. co. sent a tech who tested for ‘electrical leakage’ and found none, citing that if there were, we would more than likely feel a tingling sensation when showering. So on we go!

      Reply
      • Katheryn

        I cannot determine if I have a pinhole leak in the bathroom behind the commode. The tile floor is dry when I touch it or use a paper towel on it. But I am concerned about a pinhole leak because the grout behind the commode has a different color from the rest of the tile in the bathroom. The copper pipe that goes into the wall is green
        The house is at least 40 years old. I have a handyman that says it is a pinhole leak. I have called 3 plummets out to inspect for a leak snd they say I don’t have a leak. What shall I do?

        Reply
  9. Willie Bell

    Do anyone know anything about Chinese Copper Piping installed during 2001 to 2005? I have numerous pinhole leaks in my 3/4″ water line in my attic. In the process of having plumbing companies provide me with estimates.

    Reply
    • Stephen Paraski

      Even in 1980s there were warnings about cheap Chinese Black Iron pipe and fittings used for Gas Piping. Take a piece of your Chinese Copper pipe and have a Laboratory compare to same diameter, same type, L or M, of a US Manufacturer such as Cerro or Mueller. Former Master Plumber of DWSD, started Apprenticeship in 1979, past member of ASME.

      Reply
  10. Stephen Paraski

    The change of Flocculant is most likely to blame.

    Reply
  11. brian a mack

    i have been a plumber for 40 years and have quite a bit of experience, we have pushed for type k and L since i was an apprentice with my father in the 70s, we have had only 2 pinhole leaks out of hundreds of homes that we repiped that we know of. In the past ten years I have repaired about 100 pinhole leaks. 97% was type m copper, Im happy i avoided getting pushed in to being the cheapest guy. being a small stable company allowed us to insist on type L at minimum
    . my only advice is to only install domestic pipe and fittings, type L or k and use a silver bearing solder, also i like everflux . When we repiped we always found the ground connection and made sure to replace the steel one to brass.

    Reply
  12. Joan

    Thank you for your extensive report regarding pinhole leaks from copper pipes. I thought I was the only person with this overwhelming problem.
    I have had six pinhole leaks since January 2017.
    1. Powder room 2
    2. second floor full bathroom 1
    3. Kitchen 3
    Fighting with my homeowners insurance company is simply crazy. Each area required the drywall to be removed and replaced. I have not started the fight with the homeowners insurance yet for the last 3 pinhole leaks in the kitchen. I am going to bite the bullet to have PEX installed.

    Reply
  13. Carol Atchison

    I live in Florida, built my home in 1995 since then I have had pinhole leaks in the master bath linen closet, (which we repaired ourselves) recently had a bad leak in the master bedroom. We found it walking barefoot across the carpeting. Called our insurance company, they sent out a company that took out half the carpeting in the room, left large dryers for three days to take the moisture out of the concrete, and cut almost the entire sheetrock wall away.
    Repaired, replaced and repainted the entire room. Couldn’t ask for better service then this construction company performed. I just pray that this won’t happen again.

    Reply
  14. Elizabeta Manna

    This was constantly happening to our duplex and we kept fixing the issues or so we thought and all of the sudden in 2015 our pipes burst and we lost 44,000 gals of water along with everything in the house . Insurance only wanted to pay $5000 in the process my mother became so upset she had a massive heart attack and passed away due to her passing the attorney said we were on a time limit and only received $28,000 for $60,000 worth of damages . We deal with some sort of bacteria or bugs that we do not know where they were coming from and still remain and do not know how to fix the issue . Is there any recovery that we can receive considering that the insurance only gave us so much and we cannot fix everything that this final blow did to the house and considering we are still getting effected from it . I have scares all over my body and things that attach to my husband and I . We feel as if we are being bit but it doesn’t look like bugs and pest control said they were not bugs . The insurance did not give us enough to truly take care of what the burst did to all the water under the house and inside . In order to get any funds because we had to flush our toilets and take showers outside with our neighbors water for 2 yrs . Then in order to get any funds to get just the plumbing fixed we had to settled with what the insurance offered or we would loose any chance of fixing the plumbing . We had to sign that we would not sue the insurance company for all they did in order to just get this small amount in order to have a place to live . We still cannot use the living room and are still reacting to something in the house from the day the final blow happened . Is there any way around this to receive any kind of help considering they took advantage of my mother death because they did not react quickly ?

    Reply
  15. Tom

    Built my home in 1978. About 3 years later had a water leak under my slab. Fixed the pin hole leak and next day had 2 more of the same type leaks. Had plummer to disconnect the pipes and run new pipe from the water heater area through the attic area to my kitchen. 5 years laterm had the same type leak in master bath room. Had to break up concrete and remove some of the copper tubing. Same type pin holes. This week same type pin hole problem under floor at water heater. $4300 dollars to replace all coper with some type plastic tubing.

    Reply
  16. Steve

    After pinhole leak number three after 5 years in new house in CA, applied epoxy costing to every copper pipe in house. Lifetime warranty. Check out Ace Dura Flow.

    Reply
  17. Rich Vance

    Hello, Plumber for 25 years here ! Water quality is an issue, but copper pipe and copper fitting are the deeper problem. poor manufacturing and impurities in the material itself is a major problem. Also our friends to the east (China) basically own the copper fitting manufacturing business, which is I’d say is the number one cause of leaks these days !! If you can and I have, compare a U.S. made fitting from lets say 40 years ago and a fitting commonly purchased in the last several years. I use type A Pex piping today. Its chemically inert and quick and easy to work with !! Have good day !

    Reply
    • AL Bhatia

      Hi Mr. Vance: Please point us in the right direction and recommend a plumbing company that can help us with our problem. We have a home in Atlanta built in 2002 which we purchased in 2009. We had our first pinhole leak about 3 years ago (2015) We thought it was random and we fixed it to find that in the past 18 months we have now had 5 additional pinhole leaks. All have been on the Cold water side of the plumbing and except the first one in our basement utility room, we have had to tear out sheetrock to reveal the leak. Most have been in horizontal copper pipes with only one in an upright pipe.

      Reply

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