Do we want a repeat of the 80’s when all NZ pipework poped?

If you know anything about recent plumbing history here in New Zealand, you will have heard of DUX Qest. If you haven’t heard of DUX Qest, you are one of the lucky ones. DUX Qest is an early form of Polybutylene (PB) pipework that was introduced in the late 1970’s and used well into the 1980’s. It is still fairly common to DUX Qest today and, to be fair, it is not a bad product aside from its one flaw – it pops.

Time have shown that the newer versions of PB that we have been using since then become brittle over time and have a weakness to chlorine. Notwithstanding this, standard PB pipework is still found everywhere in New Zealand due to this being the only pipe we had available 10 years ago. However it is no longer for sale in North America and is being phased out in Australia.

In the last year, I have attended two jobs with cracked PB pipework but it doesn’t appear that New Zealand has taken any steps to phase out this dated product.

PEX is made from cross linked polyethylene (PE-X) as opposed to polybutylene (PB). PEX has a thicker wall and is able to bend on a much tighter radius making it far superior for pipework.

Given the innovations of PEX systems, I now primarily use the AUSPEX brand of PEX pipework. I appreciate that AUSPEX has a fitting to connect on to any pipe in New Zealand without needing the existing pipes crimping tool. This means that when attending to leaks, I will always have the fittings on hand to replace sections of pipework as required.

If you suspect that you have a leak or would like advice in relation to pipework, give me a call on 022 026 1798