Polybutylene piping
Flexible grey or blue plastic water supply piping installed in many homes from roughly 1978 to 1995, associated with a high rate of failure at fittings.
What is Polybutylene piping?
What is Polybutylene piping?
Polybutylene was inexpensive and easy to install and was used extensively for both service lines and interior supply piping. Failures were widespread enough to produce major class action litigation, and the mechanism is generally attributed to oxidative degradation from chlorinated water attacking the pipe and the acetal fittings originally used. Failures are often sudden. Many insurers decline to write policies on homes that still have it, which makes identifying it consequential beyond the plumbing itself. Inspectors should distinguish it from PEX, which it superficially resembles — polybutylene is usually dull grey with a printed PB2110 designation.