Fresh Water pipe - where to buy

[bufbooth]

Hello All,

I noticed that I had a water leak near my Hot Water heater so over the weekend I

pulled the water heater out and discovered that the problem was past fix that I did

to a cracked water line a few years ago. The water lines in my 1990 Toyota are

blue/gray in color and some what flexiable, are 1/2 I.D. - 5/8 O.D. and they have

what appears to be a band of aluminum crimped at each of the connections.

The fix that I did was to use white PVP pipe to patch a cracked T-connection

while traveling out west. At the time I was not too sure if the patch would work

but it held at the time.

Does anyone know what this blue/gray water line is called, where to buy it and

what is needed to crimp the aluminum connecting bands? Or is there a way

to replace / patch into the existing lines?

Thanks,

Dennis B.

[Bob C]

I found out that you can use the push in connections, such as Shark-Bite, on the polybutyl pipe. For replacement connectors and pipe I switched to PEX which you can buy at any home improvement store. Replacement parts are available for polybutyl but they are hard to find. After I was told about the Shark-Bite connectors, my project was done with one trip to Menards. I forgot to say that I took the Toyhouse to Menards and went back inside about a dozen times to get all the right parts.

I have been using the system with the PEX parts all summer without any problems.

You are lucky to have the larger size pipes. Mine were 3/8" and the connections are more rare.

Hope this helps.

Bob

[waiter]

As Bob said, its called PEX,

Check with Home Depot, Lowes, Minards or any plumbing hardware store. They carry the tubing and also push on connectors.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[90toydolphin]

ditto on the push on connectors. my local ace had a pretty good selection as well as the tubing. supposedly chlorine rotted the original connectors that were used, most city water has some in it and we use it to sterelize the tanks and lines. the new stuff is supposed to hold up to chlorine.

[Maineah]

The gray stuff is smaller then pex and not compatible but the shark bites do work fine if you need to join them. A lot of larger rv outfits have fittings for the gray stuff for repairs.

[bufbooth]

I stopped by my local ACE Hardware and they had the shark bite connectors, the PEX connectors, and even the original metal crimps but

I think they were steel instead of aluminum...about $3 for a bag of 20...but the crimp tool was $94! My leak is in a tight spot right

next to another water line, not sure if I can get the shark bite or PEX connectors to work without moving/cutting some existing pipe.

After talking to one of the workers they recommended an All purpose pipe cement instead of the PVC cement. According to the can it

is used for ABS, CPVC, and PVC pipe. I gave it a try tonight joining a PVC connector to the polybutyl pipe. The can stated 2 hours to set,

going to give it about 20 hours. I will give it a test tomorrow after work. Has anyone tried doing this? Thanks, Dennis...

[bufbooth]

^{The cement did not hold so I went to Lowes and picked up a push on reusable T-connector. After one pushes the}

^{pipe in you turn the large nut until a blue gasket is no longer seen. Two of the holes in the T-connector I had the old}

^{gray pipe in and the third hole I used new PEX pipe and put a 1/2 inch connector on the end to attach to the water heater.}

^{I plugged the ends and connected city water to the system and watched it for 10 minutes and moved the pipes a little,}

^{all looked good, but the T-Connector might be pushing a second existing pipe too far out and as a result the water heater}

^{might not fit. Looks like I need to open the wall up behind the T-connector to allow it to move over an inch.}

^{Thanks all for the connector suggestions...}