Help! 4” Sch80 PvC failed on 2 pumps?!
I run a plumbing company in Western PA and we installed two new commercial three phase grinder Pumps in a large pit approximately eight years ago. Everything was installed to spec using schedule80 PVC pipes and valves. Everything tested fine and hasn’t made a peep in eight years… Until now!!
The one pump blew the union and the valve apart so bad it needed cut and capped until we could order the right fittings to fix, schedule 80 fittings are nowhere to be found from any of my suppliers so they have to be mail ordered.
But here’s the interesting part, a day later after that failed the 4 inch line coming from the second pump developed several splits in it and is gushing water out. It is now an emergency since it’s in a personal care Care Home. Plumber’s luck that this would happen on Memorial Day weekend lol!!
I’m just asking if anybody knows what would cause those pipes to both split like that in two separate spots, only two days apart? Will a clog in the discharge line further down cause a water hammer effect so hard that it would blow the pipe like that? I know every time they turn on they have a little bit of torque, but it seems a little too coincidental that both sides would independently go bad within a day of each other from torque. Just looking for wisdom to make this as painless as possible.🤦🏻♂️
Thanks!