Hi All,
I am sure this has been covered in the past, but i think i have a fairly interesting situation on my hands. The situation is this, pinhole leaks are a wide spread issue in the domestic hot water and heating hot water lines at a small apartment building in the Northeast. The pinhole leak issue is expansive and pinholes can be found approximately every 2 feet on the above mentioned hot water lines. All water lines in the building are copper. It was noted that the city water main (galvanized steel) inside the building is piped directly to the copper water lines of the property, also no dielectric unions appear to be installed on the hot water leaving the natural gas boiler. In addition it appears pipe hangers are another source of corrosion on the hot water lines, as they appear to be lacking a rubber or plastic seat. What is confusing about all of this is that the domestic cold water lines are not experiencing the same pinhole leak issue. All of the corrosion is taking place on the DHW and HW piping.
My first assumption is that we have galvanized corrosion happening due to the lack of dielectric unions. But since we have two dissimilar metals in contact and corroding at the entrance of the city water into the building, i would assume the cold water lines would also be affected.
Does anyone have any bright ideas as to what is going on here? If pictures will help, i can get some uploaded. Thanks for the help.
I am sure this has been covered in the past, but i think i have a fairly interesting situation on my hands. The situation is this, pinhole leaks are a wide spread issue in the domestic hot water and heating hot water lines at a small apartment building in the Northeast. The pinhole leak issue is expansive and pinholes can be found approximately every 2 feet on the above mentioned hot water lines. All water lines in the building are copper. It was noted that the city water main (galvanized steel) inside the building is piped directly to the copper water lines of the property, also no dielectric unions appear to be installed on the hot water leaving the natural gas boiler. In addition it appears pipe hangers are another source of corrosion on the hot water lines, as they appear to be lacking a rubber or plastic seat. What is confusing about all of this is that the domestic cold water lines are not experiencing the same pinhole leak issue. All of the corrosion is taking place on the DHW and HW piping.
My first assumption is that we have galvanized corrosion happening due to the lack of dielectric unions. But since we have two dissimilar metals in contact and corroding at the entrance of the city water into the building, i would assume the cold water lines would also be affected.
Does anyone have any bright ideas as to what is going on here? If pictures will help, i can get some uploaded. Thanks for the help.