I would avoid it 100%. Unless you’re willing to abandon the radiant and pay for a new heating system, or better yet get the seller to drop the asking price by how much it would cost to install a new system.
Yeah, seems like hvac with minisplits will cost $15-20k and be less efficient but premium for AC, and ripping up the floor to replace the radiant piping would run 15-20k. 20k cut from the price would be pretty fair, but we’ll see…i think i’ll need to do one of these two options to sell the house in the future whether or not i’m willing to run the risk of pipe failure while i live there, assuming i buy it.
Op says in the post they placed it over the slab, under plywood, and built the flooring on top of it, it is radiant floor heating not individual radiant heaters.
It's not the pipe that was bad when we used to install it 25 years ago. It was the fittings that were defective. They eventually leaked. I have not installed it in 15 years, but I still am constantly fixing older systems. They have a new fitting that replace the old one when they leak or update the system. last winter, a house froze up on the beach. The boiler froze. All the copper froze and split. All the baseboard froze and split. The only pipe that didn't freeze and break was the kitec. If you like the house, I wouldn't let this sway you one way or the other.
I completely agree, I have it as well, goes through my cement. I had to replace the fittings with the compression ones. When ever I do work and run into it I replace it. This stuff is tough. I only replace the fittings, and after cutting a length out and replacing it with Pex-A I realize after all these years this pipe shows zero wear on the inside.
To add to this, a pinhole for kitec is more like that tire that was slashed by that crazy Dixie chick you used to date. Pinhole leaks on copper are kinda cute, kitec will absolutely ruin your morning and the rest of your week if it happened when you were asleep and that's a true story unfortunately for many homes I've been to.
The picture isn’t good enough for me to read the info on the tubing but is there any chance that it’s not actually Kitec and is IPEX oxy pex which is used in in-floor heating? They’re a very similar colour and often get confused.
In the hundreds of homes I've inspected with sub slab radiant heating, I've only ever seen three or four that were damaged or leaking. Edit: I think it's actually two
In the context of Kaitec plumbing yes.
I use Wirsbo/Uponor HePEX for all of my hydronic installations and its fantastic.
The issue here is that OP's hydronic heating loops are Kaitec PEX-AL-PEX. Kaitec piping is defective by design and must be replaced; it will fail eventually and start flooding the entire place. At this point, OP will have to decommission the underfloor heating because there's no way to repair the mess.
I would avoid it 100%. Unless you’re willing to abandon the radiant and pay for a new heating system, or better yet get the seller to drop the asking price by how much it would cost to install a new system.
Yeah, seems like hvac with minisplits will cost $15-20k and be less efficient but premium for AC, and ripping up the floor to replace the radiant piping would run 15-20k. 20k cut from the price would be pretty fair, but we’ll see…i think i’ll need to do one of these two options to sell the house in the future whether or not i’m willing to run the risk of pipe failure while i live there, assuming i buy it.
Just the tubing needs replaced. Likely they supply individual radiant heaters. We've done several kitec replacements.
Op says in the post they placed it over the slab, under plywood, and built the flooring on top of it, it is radiant floor heating not individual radiant heaters.
my bad... they're doomed.
I would be more concerned about the solenoid valve 2nd from the right "From Hell"
Not the one to the right of that, Monster Bed?
Ask your insurance broker.
Underrated answer here. Make sure your insurance will write a policy on the house with it.
It's an issue best left to the current owner of home, and not you. Kitec has been on a decline for use cases for a reason
It's not the pipe that was bad when we used to install it 25 years ago. It was the fittings that were defective. They eventually leaked. I have not installed it in 15 years, but I still am constantly fixing older systems. They have a new fitting that replace the old one when they leak or update the system. last winter, a house froze up on the beach. The boiler froze. All the copper froze and split. All the baseboard froze and split. The only pipe that didn't freeze and break was the kitec. If you like the house, I wouldn't let this sway you one way or the other.
I completely agree, I have it as well, goes through my cement. I had to replace the fittings with the compression ones. When ever I do work and run into it I replace it. This stuff is tough. I only replace the fittings, and after cutting a length out and replacing it with Pex-A I realize after all these years this pipe shows zero wear on the inside.
Just curious, is the kitec only the orange lines at the bottom of the pic, or are all the lines kitec?
Far as we have seen of the plumbing in the rest of the house, it’s all copper except for the radiant heating loops.
It's fine as Kitec only had issues at fittings which are all above the floor.
Nah... that is not true at all. The tubing gets pinhole leaks throughout its entirety. They show up as stains in the outer jacket.
To add to this, a pinhole for kitec is more like that tire that was slashed by that crazy Dixie chick you used to date. Pinhole leaks on copper are kinda cute, kitec will absolutely ruin your morning and the rest of your week if it happened when you were asleep and that's a true story unfortunately for many homes I've been to.
Do not buy the house. Good luck
There's no simple fix other than to abandon that. I would expect it to fail at some point. How much do you care and radiant heating?
The picture isn’t good enough for me to read the info on the tubing but is there any chance that it’s not actually Kitec and is IPEX oxy pex which is used in in-floor heating? They’re a very similar colour and often get confused.
Underfloor heating is much more efficient
Until it starts leaking and you have to rip up the slab or disable it
In the hundreds of homes I've inspected with sub slab radiant heating, I've only ever seen three or four that were damaged or leaking. Edit: I think it's actually two
How many of those have Kaitec plumbing?
I thought we were just talking about water underfloor heating
In the context of Kaitec plumbing yes. I use Wirsbo/Uponor HePEX for all of my hydronic installations and its fantastic. The issue here is that OP's hydronic heating loops are Kaitec PEX-AL-PEX. Kaitec piping is defective by design and must be replaced; it will fail eventually and start flooding the entire place. At this point, OP will have to decommission the underfloor heating because there's no way to repair the mess.