Bathroom Valve
 

Has anyone ever had the bathroom wall valve break within the wall and explode? The pipe blew completely out of the wall and allowed water to blast out almost to the level of a fire hose. With luck we were home and able to immediately shut water off to the house and get a plumber to fix the problem. Checked this with 4 plumbers and none had ever heard of this happening? :ohdear:

I have not heard of that, but the standard push-pull plastic valves TV uses at toilets, sinks, etc., must be the absolute cheapest junk made in China. I replaced one of mine due to a slow leak when I first moved in.

There are varying opinions on that issue including plumbers, some of who would agree with you and some that would not????????????

Was it the pipe or the valve screw on base? It the pipe blew out it could be several reasons. Improper gluing, fatigue, small crack that finely gave up. The on/off valve just screws on to the pipe, not glued. The water coming out is direct pressure from the water incoming line. 1/2" pipe under 60 psi or higher can push lots of water as you found out.

I would guess the pumbers that like them are charging 900% mark up on the 2 dollar trailer park parts :faint:

Is this true? Are they using the plastic push/pull valves in TV? If they are, is it across the board, low end to high end homes?

If this is the case I'm very disappointed. Coming from a long line of general contractors that would NEVER use these type valves. Failure is a matter of when, not if.

If I build there I guess I'm going to have to spend $1-2k to replace all the valves in the house. Do you have a choice of plumbing subs?

No.

I haven't ever heard of a pipe blowing out of a wall and having the pressure of a fire hose. I haven't heard of a refrigerator blowing up either until one did here in The Villages. It is hard sometimes to know what to believe.

Retiring. You are welcome to visit us and see our home. We think this one and the Camellia we had in Hadley were built just fine. We are not new to home building. All of our homes were new except two. We have lived in ten homes and two were not new. We were part of helping our daughter and son in law build two homes as a nibby parent/consultant.

We had the push/pull valves in our 2011 built masonry CYV. I had Riley & Sons Plumbers replace 2 of them in both bathroom toilets, I think it cost about $150. I need to have the sinks done next time, which I've got 4 of those.

What did you replace the valves with?

Common plumbing parts. Valves that screw on and off, hoses that can be replaced.

You never had main water line in the house break then, water line pressure usually 60 plus psi which is the same at the fire hydrant except the fire hydrant has more volume so to the size of the pipe connection 3 inches or more vs 1/2 inch in the wall.

Possible answer
 

I spoke to the Water Dept. and they provided what may be the source of the problem and I am passing it on in case there are others with the same issue. The possibility is that in Sept.when they replaced the Water Meter for our house and at the same time they installed a "Check Valve" which is now a state requirement. When they install this valve they should also tell the customer that they [customer] must install an "extension on the water heater"!! This provides some controls on the water pressure. It is possible that the valve in the bathroom blew out because this extension was not installed to control the water pressure. I am sure this is not a real complete technical explanation but it should cause some to look into the exposure. We have also noted the water pressure in the house will fluxuate at times and this may be one of the causes? It is interesting that when the plumber came and repaired the "blow out" we had on the valve in the bathroom he looked at the water heater, noted no "extension" and said when he came back (which is be end of week) he will have to look at that! I was told that Customer's should be notified of need for "Extension" on older homes when meter is replaced and check valve installed but IT IS NOT BEING DONE!!! We are having a Water Dept. tech. look at it today. Hope this alerts some to a potential exposure.:shrug:

Additional
 

We were told that the responsibility for the extension on the water heater is the responsibility of the home owner since it is between the meter and the home on the home side. :shrug:

When you say extension? Are you taking about the bladder pressure tank on top of the water heater ( usually blue and about the size of basketball ).

I honestly think they're talking about an expansion tank---not an "extension"