Plastic pipes used for water, and impact after a wildfire

[ATCclears]

Plastic pipes are polluting drinking water systems after wildfires

And it’s a risk in urban fires, too.

arstechnica.com

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[Stomper]

Plastic pipes are polluting drinking water systems after wildfires

And it’s a risk in urban fires, too.

arstechnica.com

It can't be any worse than all those chemicals people copiously gulp down in energy drinks and artificial sweeteners on a daily basis...


I personally re-piped my entire house with PEX piping and fittings (UPONOR wirsbo commercial grade, not the big-box DIY store versions). If your house catches fire.... think of it as a heat activated fail safe "sprinkler system" if the piping melts.

 

[Mikej]

California

 

[Andy54Hawken]

It can't be any worse than all those chemicals people copiously gulp down in energy drinks and artificial sweeteners on a daily basis...

This deserves to be repeated.

Also consider that the folks who do imbibe in such drinks , "pay" for the privilege for doing so...
Andy

 

[cigars]

The Romans used lead in their aqueducts. So now we've come full circle via modern technology?

 

[BigDog67]

This deserves to be repeated.

Also consider that the folks who do imbibe in such drinks , "pay" for the privilege for doing so...
Andy

The last First Aid class I took, the instructor said that "kids" 35 and under were the leading demographic for strokes due to those things. I'll stick with my coffee.

 

[CoastRange57]

This is a water is wet revelation. Heating pretty much any elemental structure or manufactured conveyance is going to release unstable (when heated) elements of the construction materials. 6th grade science probably teaches that.

 

[Provincial]

The linked article indicated that the plastic started releasing the toxic particles at nearly 400 degrees F. If you heat any plastic to almost 400 degrees F, you had better replace it anyway. If you heat a galvanized steel pipe to 400 degrees F, it likely will shed Zinc and probably other, more toxic, particles.

It takes a pretty hot fire to heat the ground to 400 degrees F a foot deep.

 

[ROC]

Roots burn underground, even days after the fire above ground is gone they can still be burning.

 

[albin25]

Just a wild guess here, but after all, lawyers gotta lawyer ....
.... Tee up the massive class action lawsuits against PEX and others in , 3...2....1...

 

[Member 34319]

It was funny reading that article.

They act as if it was entirely new information that piping is made of plastic.

I kept thinking, WTF did they think it was made of!

 

[Provincial]

Roots burn underground, even days after the fire above ground is gone they can still be burning.

I don't know where your pipes run, but the ones that feed my house are not exposed to tree roots. The roots burning underground do generate heat, but if you have ever dug out a burning root, you are aware that the heat effects do not extend over a large area.

Yet another reason for burying pipes deep!

 

[Provincial]

I notice that the authors of the article made no inquiry as to clearing the toxic emissions except flushing the pipe with water. No experiments with chemicals that might neutralize the reaction or pumping an abrasive slurry through the pipes to abrade the offending material from the surface.

The fact that flushing the pipe with water eventually cleans up the toxins means that they are not released out of the remaining structure of the pipe over time. This is an important fact, and implies that with the proper technique, the overheated pipes can be returned to service.

 

[CoastRange57]

The fact that flushing the pipe with water eventually cleans up the toxins means that they are not released out of the remaining structure of the pipe over time.

Help a poor boy out here and explain in laymen's terms how this happens?

 

[Enginerd]

Help a poor boy out here and explain in laymen's terms how this happens?

The solution to pollution is dilution. Is a favorite phrase in environmental engineering. He is hypothesizing that a fire creates an acute pollution event that can be "washed" out.

 

[gmerkt]

My own thoughts are thus. The benefits of having running water delivered effortlessly to your home far outweigh the very much lower order of probability of being affected by the toxins mentioned.

First of all, the number of homes possibly exposed to high enough temperatures to do this damage yet remain themselves unburned seems apt to be low. Buried water mains are deeper than laterals. The fire over a main would have to be very hot for a protracted time to heat the ground to 392 degrees, you'd think. Residential structure fires of a complete nature usually don't burn all that long. And the mains are out in the street where fire is not directly present in most cases.

Secondly, I wonder if there isn't some level of contamination absent the presence of excessive heat. New plastics give off odors for a long time, such as the interior of a new car. That makes me think those fumes themselves, without heat, contain toxins. Do we know how long this process persists post time of manufacture?

I'd think that anyone with worries about toxins from this source might be well advised to use bottled drinking water until they think or it's demonstrated that the problem is past. Bottled water from the store is relatively cheap these days. And this is the real issue, isn't it, drinking water? Most of that lovely, convenient water you have in the home goes to other purposes. Such as aquatically evacuated toilets, bathing, clothes washing and so forth. Only a small fraction is used for actual drinking and food preparation.

We've got copper lines here. I've been but am not presently a bullet caster. I've been tested for lead exposure and was found to be within normal limits. If it's not one thing, it's another that they give us to worry about.

One phrase the "experts" like to use is, "lifetime exposure." I guess if you are young, this may be something to pay attention to. However, now that I'm old, things like this don't worry me overly. It's been my experience that potentially lethal threats exist of a higher order of likelihood.

 

[BigDog67]

My delivery pipes are 4 feet down. No fear of freezing, no fear of fire.

 

[nehalemguy]

Start drinking from local creeks and surface waters again if it worries you. I'm sure you will be fine. What's a little typhoid among friends.

-E-

 

[clearconscience]

What about all the house materials that burned up? Household chemicals, fuel and oil from vehicles?
Old houses burning up asbestos.

I'd be least worried about plastic pipes.

I'd rather have once burned plastic pipes than lead.

 

[Provincial]

If the pipe was permanently changed and became chemically unstable, flushing it would not result in reduced emissions. The success of flushing indicated that the pipe was, therefore, stable.