Orange County Register, September 2003

Pipe Dreams

New process can heal leaks without requiring major replumbing

Earl Kelley had just paid $2,500 to fix a water pipe leaking within his home’s slab foundation when he got hit with a similar bill to repipe another section of his plumbing.

“I figured there had to be a better way, one that would not let this happen again,” said an exasperated Kelley. “Not only are you looking at paying out a lot of money, but you also have to face having your house pretty much torn apart to get it repiped. That’s when I turned to these folks.”

“These folks” are the people at ACE DuraFlo®, a pipe restoration company headquartered in Santa Ana. Rather than tearing up a house to replace water pipes, the company blows in epoxy to create a pipe within a pipe.

Essentially, this is the process:

• A home’s pipes are drained of water, heated and air-dried.

• They are burst-sanded, a cleaning techniques, using a corundum – a mineral device that cleans and polishes.

• An epoxy barrier coating is pressure applied inside the existing pipes, in essence creating a pipe within the pipe.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls from homes and businesses, particularly those built within the past 15 years or so,” said Steve Wann, President of ACE DuraFlo.

Kelley’s house was built about 13 years ago. It was about that time that most of the drinking water throughout America was changed, Wann said. Changes in what it included and didn’t include seemed to make copper pipes more subject to corrosion, which can create pinhole-size leaks, Wann said.

“Copper piping in a home has been the standard for more than a century,” Wann said, “but it began to be more susceptible to corrosion.”

What causes the pinhole leaks in copper pipe is up for debate. Some say it’s the additives in municipal drinking water, others say it’s the composition of the materials used in the pipes. Others blame soil acidity, occasional poor workmanship or microbiological corrosion. Sometimes leaks are easily and quickly seen; Water flooding your kitchen, for example. Still other leaks are so small that they can go undetected for many months.

One of the more publicized problems arising from these leaks is mold and mildew, particularly in the walls of a home. This increasing problem has caused insurance companies to dole out millions of dollars and stop insuring many homeowners. Any way you look at it, a leak can cost homeowners a lot of money.

“A great many homeowners had to pay a lot of money and leave their homes sometimes for days while their homes were repiped,” Wann said in explaining the advantage of his company’s system.

Kelly hasn’t had to leave his home despite a three-day process of restoring his pipes. On the first day, precautions such as laying protective material on the floors were taken. On the second day, long hoses were threaded throughout the first floor and outside to hose bibs from a giant portable air compressor. The third day is devoted to the restoration of the home.

“It’s a lot better than being out for weeks at a time and having the home torn apart if it were repiped,” Kelley said.

How long will the restoration last? The folks at ACE DuraFlo® think it could last 75 years, but they warrant it for 10.

• The price? It will run Kelley about $13,500.

How does that compare with repiping a house of similar size? Usually, it’s a lot cheaper, especially when you add the cost of restoring the walls and floors that were ripped up to put in the new pipe. Of course, with new pipe you also run the risk of it happening again.

How does this approach sit with the copper industry? Ken Geremia, manager of communications for the Copper Development Association, says: “We cannot comment directly on the performance of ACE DuraFlo® materials or methods. It would appear that it may be a reasonable solution for those experiencing severe problems for which other remedies (such as appropriate water treatment) have not been effective. However, as with any product, only time can confirm its long-term performance.”

But Kelley has his own opinion now about the pipe restoration system, “It’s not just plugging a leak, waiting for another leak to happen,” Kelley said. “Another thing I like about this process is that once this is done, it’s done; I won’t have to worry about a leak again.”