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lunge plumbers, lay some pipe knowledge on me.
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lunge plumbers, lay some pipe knowledge on me.


Jul 25, 2022, 2:41 PM

Leak is fixed. Took about 10 min. But we have polybutylene water lines, so the question is do we repipe, or leave as is? House was built in 1988.

Today's plumber took a rather...passive...approach to it. "If it hasn't leaked for 34 years, seems like it is good stuff to me."

That, however, seems to go against the industry recommendation to repipe CB with PEX.

Any experience/knowledge on this issue.

2024 purple level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

drunk at the putt putt.


Re: lunge plumbers, lay some pipe knowledge on me.


Jul 25, 2022, 2:43 PM

.

badge-donor-05yr.jpgbadge-ringofhonor-conservativealex.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Nothing a little duct tape can't fix


Jul 25, 2022, 2:48 PM

Leave it

2024 white level memberbadge-donor-05yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

I like your funny words magic man


^^cant pronounce polybutylene***


Jul 25, 2022, 3:06 PM



badge-donor-05yr.jpgringofhonor-clemsonrulez08.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Please forgive me, @IneligibleUser


Pay a few extra bucks and get the Flex Seal***


Jul 25, 2022, 7:06 PM [ in reply to Nothing a little duct tape can't fix ]



2024 white level memberbadge-donor-10yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Go with the one that is firmer and has more girth***


Jul 25, 2022, 2:54 PM



2024 orange level memberbadge-donor-15yr.jpgringofhonor-cu85tiger.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov
Panta Rhei Heraclitus


And veiny***


Jul 25, 2022, 2:55 PM



2024 white level memberbadge-donor-05yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

I like your funny words magic man


If it ain't broke ...


Jul 25, 2022, 2:59 PM

don't go broke fixing it.

2024 white level memberbadge-donor-05yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

I mean, I don’t know your budget or anything, so


Jul 25, 2022, 3:00 PM

I can only offer a personal anecdote. When we bought our house here in MD, inspectors saw it was poly piping…I told the sellers to give a credit on closing cost that would cover immediate repiping or I was walking. They did, and it was gone the first week I was in the house.

But, it is one way to get insurance to pay for a new kitchen when they eventually let go, so depends on how much aggravation you want to deal with.

badge-donor-05yr.jpgmilitary_donation.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Most insurance companies have a clause in the contract


Jul 25, 2022, 3:07 PM

about polybutylene pipes. We loved a house, but it was built in 1995 and everything was polybutylene. Looked it up at the time, and I remember seeing that new policies had clauses about it.

Could be wrong, tho.

badge-donor-05yr.jpgringofhonor-clemsonrulez08.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Please forgive me, @IneligibleUser


Yeah. At this point my limit of paying to avoid having to go


Jul 25, 2022, 3:37 PM [ in reply to I mean, I don’t know your budget or anything, so ]

through displacement again is pretty high.

2024 purple level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

drunk at the putt putt.


Seems to me that environmentally sound option in piping is


Jul 25, 2022, 3:06 PM

cardboard.

ringofhonor-rhtig.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Re: Seems to me that environmentally sound option in piping is


Jul 25, 2022, 3:18 PM

Cardboard home and a moped. Again, with enough alcohol, we could make this happen.

2024 orange level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

It's not easy being an activist trying to save our planet


Jul 25, 2022, 3:19 PM

and our species...but I try.

ringofhonor-rhtig.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up


Unless you have a stack of money laying around,


Jul 25, 2022, 3:53 PM

I wouldn't worry about it. Not all PEX is the same...thanks China, but PEX-A is generally accepted as the gold standard. There are way too many knockoff sharkbite fittings out there, too. If you're current pipe isn't leaking, leave it. As for insurance, I know Allstate and USAA would cover you. I mean, neither is paying for the pipe and the plumber, but they'll cover everything effed up by the leak.

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Amen. If you can get USAA, you best get it.


Jul 25, 2022, 3:56 PM

When the contractors talk about how much they like it, you know you're going to be taken care of.

2024 purple level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

drunk at the putt putt.


Normally they're about as good as you can do. But I've seen


Jul 25, 2022, 4:04 PM

them do plenty of sketchy shid, too. I spent some unfortunate years in the industry and they're still an insurance company. Worst I've seen is Allstate, cheapest insurance company out there. They make sort of funny commercials, buy catch nets with their name on it for college football, and generally pay out as little as possible to their policy holders. If anything is questionable, you usually have to lawyer up to make them pay. Horrible company.

flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Re: Normally they're about as good as you can do. But I've seen


Jul 25, 2022, 5:09 PM

Who do you consider to be the best overall insurance company?

flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

There is a very noticeable sliding scale in the industry.


Jul 25, 2022, 5:33 PM

If you are wealthy, any of them will jump through hoops to take care of you. Generally, though, if you can be marginalized in a loss situation, they will take advantage of this in some way. USAA was mostly straight forward and easy to deal with, but, as I said, I saw them do plenty of sketchy shid too. USAA members can be disadvantaged by lack of a local agent; as in there is no one to fight for you. Even Allstate, if you've bought your policies from a high volume agent that makes a lot of money for them...the agent can rattle some cages. Upper mgt hates those calls and wants their top earners to be happy.

As for who is best...for everyday Jimmies and Joes, USAA if you can get it. If you live in a disaster prone area (hurricane, hail, tornados) I would say avoid Allstate. I've seen more lawsuits than I can shake a stick at over roof replacements, where State Farm, USAA, Farmers would just pay for the roof. My rec, though, would be buy from a top agent in your area...who is pulling in the bucks? Buy your policy from that guy or gal. Buy'em lunch every now and then, put them on the christmas list...normal business relationship kind of stuff. That way, if you ever really need them, they won't hesitate to go to bat for you.

flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

What are some things to watch for?***


Jul 25, 2022, 6:26 PM



2024 purple level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

drunk at the putt putt.


What do you mean?***


Jul 25, 2022, 7:05 PM



flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

I guess, in terms of the shadier stuff you've seen (from


Jul 25, 2017, 2:48 AM

USAA or otherwise), is there anything in particular they do, or cite you as doing, to get out of something?

2024 purple level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

drunk at the putt putt.


I’ll answer this tomorrow. It got late.***


Jul 4, 2023, 11:59 PM



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Ahhite Jimmy.


Jul 26, 2022, 11:41 AM [ in reply to I guess, in terms of the shadier stuff you've seen (from ]

Shady ins. co practices. I'm going to keep this on the property side for simplicity, but auto has it's own list of unethical practices.

-claims of previous damage w/o sending anyone to inspect. Ins claims are based on sudden and accidental damages, if they say that damage was not sudden and accidental but ongoing and they won't send someone to inspect, what do you do? What documentation do you send? How do you combat this? Most people don't know and ins. co's take advantage of this. Often.

-Blanket denials to a group defined by geography (think ghetto), age group (think old people), property value (think poor people). Insurance companies are by nature some of the wealthiest companies in the world and they are driven by numbers. If middle exec mgr needs to reduce his payout numbers, what do? Let's deny everybody in this category to see what percentage will fight it. There is no memo (can't leave a paper or e-trail), just one guy making a decision that has nothing to do with the fact that Hurricane Ida ripped your roof off. To the customer this can be catastrophic in terms of finance and sheer mental health. To the ins. co it's just an experiment that costs them nothing when they go back and revisit these claims and say, "oops, our mistake, we'll make it right". Exec mgt has no incentive to discourage this practice unless they get caught, then, plausibly deniability...I didn't know, fire the middle guy that did it.

Conversely, middle exec mgr wants to boost his/her customer service numbers. Cherrypick claims in an area where prop values are high, or where lots of 30-60 yr old white people live. Manage the heck out of this claim group, Customer service score for your group and you goes up. If your claim is in this group, lucky you.

Time-delaying claim approval. Insurance co's have all the time in the world. You don't and they're betting you're not gonna hire a lawyer.

Construction costs-most insurance companies use a Verisk product to calculate repair costs on their property claims. If you're not in the industry, you've prolly never heard of them, but they are one of the largest ins. analytics firms out there. They sell data, analysis, and software products to the insurance companies. Their software can tell you down to the cost of a single coat of paint, what a repair will cost specific to your zip code based on material costs and dept of labor. They will tell you these numbers are updated every month for every zip code and they are....with raw data that is often out of date and may not be applicable. They don't care. So?

Insurers know this, and will use these numbers to underpay the claim while telling customer, this is what the average cost of this repair is in your neighborhood this month. Verisk's data doesn't show the last hurricane that went through and doesn't show that contractors are charging 80% higher on average to victims of the storm in this zip code. So insurance co says your repair is 10K, but the lowest bid from one of your contractors is 25K because they can pick and choose the jobs they take. Insurer's will lean on the Verisk data to underpay, while knowing that the contractors available are charging more. And, as a customer, you have to go pretty far up the food chain to get mgt to approve the higher cost in this situation.

Property insurance business is rife with fraud and I have no problems with insurance companies protecting themselves, by doing so, they can keep your premiums low...in theory. The purpose is to show a few examples of how insurers operate...it's not every insurer, not every situation, there is never an absolute. These are practices that take advantage of customers who don't know better, can't afford to fight it, or don't have the will to continue. And silly me for taking the position that you and I pay insurance companies to keep us whole when shid goes sideways.

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World-class response. Much appreciated.***


Jul 26, 2022, 11:55 AM



2024 purple level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

drunk at the putt putt.


Re: lunge plumbers, lay some pipe knowledge on me.


Jul 25, 2022, 7:43 PM



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