new pex plumping

Repair help for the do-it-yourselfer.
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Moderators: Greg, Mark, mhrAJ333, JD

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Greg
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Location: Weedsport, NY

It sounds like SOMETHING happened, without crawling under and taking a close look anything would be just a guess.

Is the underbelly intact with no holes? Are you running the furnace or using an auxiliary heat source? If the heat ducts are not warm, the pipes WILL freeze, I don't use our furnace to heat the house, but when it drops below 0 I have to run it just to warm the pipes.

I would contact the contractor that did the work and get his thoughts.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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JD
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If he used the old plumbing like fish wire for the PEx, he could have drug some insulation out of place. I usually find a hanger or attachment every 3' or less. Since I do belly repairs a lot, I have no qualms about cutting access as needed.
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All information and advice given is for entertainment and informational purposes only. The person doing the work is solely responsible to insure that their work complies with their local building code and OSHA safety regulations.
AbbottsManor
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Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:12 pm
Location: Abbottstown, Pa

We had the same thing done on our 1990 Skyline. I had the "Mobile Home only" professionals replace gray pipe with Pex. They used old water lines to pull new lines through, then cut the underbelly to make connections at junctions. I had them back twice to repair underbelly. I repaired several areas myself where they had ripped out the insulation and put nothing back in after making the connections. Thankfully we have no freezing issues, but there is some extremely cold water in the one bath, so I know the insulation there is thin or non existent. You probably have anything from lack of insulation to a wide open underbelly. You will need to replace missing insulation and the secure belly material at each and every junction. Make sure insulation is under pipes so heat can get to them from the top.

Chris
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Yanita
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HI,

I can't hurt to open all your lower cabinet doors and allow heat to circulate in there as well. Batts is the best insualtion to use for your underbelly. This is not the end of repairs...something always happens. Your pipes need to be up next to your duct work, and the insulation below that then a snug and secure under belly material. You need to allow for air to circulate around the water lines.

Not sure what you mean by wanting to dump hot water down the drain...that will not thaw your water lines. as much as you may not want to you might need to turn your heat a few more degrees to help get this thawed. Hopefully you have looked at your underbelly to make sure there are no gapping holes.

Yanita
The difference between success and failure is who gives up first!
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Greg
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You need to get some heat UNDER your home, A salamander or Nibco (same heater different name depending on where in the US you are) type heater will get warm air under your home to help thaw things out. DO NOT LEAVE THE HEATER UNATTENDED!!

The one GOOD part, if there is one is that PEX is very forgiving to freeze ups.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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Brenda (OH)
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Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:57 am

a local community charity has blown insulation into the under belly of homes in the park.. it works ok until you have a repair.

it was a mess when I hired someone to do a total home replumb.

It landed on the ground, and we had to use regular insulation to repair the areas

... unless you qualify to get it done free or low cost, I would not consider the blown in insulation a permanent repair... .now, if you can rent the machine yourself, and just do the areas that were disturbed... it might get you through a couple of winters, like I said, it was good until a plumbing issue came up... I think it would also be bad if critters got into it...

Brenda (OH)
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