Pulled up a section of pad and found flex pipe buried under the concrete

Started by plumberdave · · 2 replies
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#1
Look, had a slow leak I couldn't pin down for weeks, finally broke out a chunk of the deck near the pad to get at the suction line and whoever plumbed this place back in the 90s ran flex pipe underground instead of rigid schedule 40. Thing was collapsed in on itself in two spots, basically choking the suction. No wonder the pump's been cavitating every spring.

Re-did it in 2 inch rigid with a proper union on each side so next time somebody doesn't have to jackhammer the whole pad to get a wrench on it. Used to be guys took pride in getting under a pad and doing it right, now it's whatever's cheapest and buries the problem for the next guy, literally in this case. Anyway didn't expect to find that this week. Dave

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#2
Dave's point about the union on each side is the real takeaway here, not just the flex pipe swap. My pad's small enough that I don't have much buried run at all but whoever did mine put unions both sides of the heat pump too and it's saved me from fighting a glued fitting every time I pull it to check the coils. Flex collapsing under a pad is bad enough, flex collapsing under a pad with zero access points is the nightmare version.
#3
I'm above ground so no pad to jackhammer thank god, but I did have a guy lay my pump lines a little too shallow before I knew better and one winter a cold snap got under the deck boards near it and I had the same cavitating pump thing Dave's describing every spring for two years before I figured out it was a kinked spot, not the pump dying. Never buried, just pinched under a deck joist. Pulled two boards, found it, swapped that short run to rigid and threw a union right there so I never have to pull boards again. The union thing is the real lesson here buddy, doesn't matter if its under concrete or under lumber, whoever plumbs it should assume a future version of themselves or some other poor guy is gonna need to get a wrench in there without destroying something to do it.