Epoxy coating Copper piping rather than re-piping

A. Hi Frank,

I am SURPRISED that any insurance Company would accept claims for copper pipe water damage.

W H Y ? The copper could have been a sub-grade (more likely) or the brazing done incorrectly or the supporting structure was inadequate.

We did have a problem with sub-standard Copper piping in Canada in past years, i.e., too thin a wall ... and I was never, ever involved with this at all. And if it happened in Canada, then surely it could have/would have happened in other countries, too.

As to lining the inside, ah, that sounds NICE doesn't it? But what about the connections? If brazed, then you'd have to remove the liner material and with epoxy that would be difficult & expensive ... and still no guarantee at those brazed points. The only connection that would work would be an expensive compression fitting.

I think that you are being led up the proverbial garden path!

I thank you for your response to my inquiry. I understand your skepticism. However, on their web site they appear to have a credible story and some solid references.

A. Hi Frank,

What they say is that they'd force some aluminum oxide down the copper piping to remove, THEY SAY, any oxides etc ... and then pump in the epoxy. They say, too, that this is a practice in Europe and Japan for the last 30 years ... goodness, gracious me .... to think that all these other countries also have suspect copper piping for decades ... I just don't believe it...

I'm not saying that their epoxy injection system won't protect the piping ... but if it hit any valves at all, ah, then it would cause them seize up, wouldn't it? They sure would!

My background has been mainly in the (corrosion resistant) thermoplastics ... and I know nothing about this epoxy idea but it sounds GOOD, especially to the Tyro ...but I doubt that it is practical at all if one had to do any later rework, i.e., the joints would have to be re-soldered ... and how then, unless one had again to pump the epoxy through the piping, could one protect the connections?

Copper piping containing water could well fail in winter if exposed to subzero temperatures. So would any other pipe except Polyethylene. For the copper to fail is surely not the plumbers' fault but due to a poor quality copper, But what about a wet exterior condition, the presence of other metals or even electricity. That's galvanic attack and copper is a pretty good metal, corrosion-wise.

I'd suggest you contact Anaconda Copper and Brass ... and like Companies before you ponder any insurance. OK?

I know that epoxy pipe restoration works and works well. I am an owner of a similar coating business here in Orange County. We have now coated over 10,000 copper lines and have now still never had one failure. It is true that we cannot coat through a valve or any moving parts, we use adapters to fit on the inside of shower valves, when the process is done, we replace the old working parts.

I manage a co-op in Washington DC and we have SUCCESSFULLY used the epoxy coating on all five of our buildings with a company based in Canada.

The process is relatively simple and the results have been fantastic. We started the process in 2006 and are just finishing our 5 building this summer.

A. Yes we believe epoxy coating can do wonders if formulated properly can withstand any type of corrosion effecting copper coils.

A. Hi Frank. There are many youtube videos on "epoxy pipe lining" but I did not find any that were by an industry association rather than directed towards the commercial benefit of a particular company, so I don't want to put one on this page (allowing commercial benefit from a posting has proven again & again to turn the site into a spam magnet). You will see that it is a multi-step process involving thoroughly drying the pipe, then sandblasting it, then slowly advancing the epoxy through it so it unfolds without any missed spots. Time is money, exotic equipment is money, so it's certainly not cheap, but I'm pretty confident that it's the right answer for many homeowners and landlords.

Regards,

A. The coating that we use is NSF 61 approved and certified annually; it's odorless and tasteless. There should be no oily smell. Occasionally we get some white pipe dope on the inside of some new fittings, this could be the source of a smell. The dope should wash out in a week or two.
We have now coated over 100,000 copper lines in Orange County and still very good results. The process and product is good yet not perfect -- nothing is. Yet with less than 1% call back rate we have proved this product is a viable solution to the copper pinhole leak problem.