There’s nothing more relaxing than radiant heating this winter, especially when it’s placed in your flooring or used for high-end goodies like hot towel racks. Some insurance companies will not insure your clients’ homes if they employed a device called Kitec in the radiant heat installation. This problem was recently discovered during a home inspection, and it threw everyone off guard.
Is this the UFFI (urea-formaldehyde foam insulation) of the future? The plumbers who installed Kitec appear to have come to believe that if you have Kitec in your home, it will ultimately cause a problem not if, but when.
Kitec was a piping system that was sold between 1995 and 2007 and was used for both conveying water throughout a residence and supplying water to radiant heating systems. Brass fittings and blue and orange flexible pipe consisting of a blend of polyurethane and aluminum were used in the Kitec system. Because Kitec pipes are more flexible, quicker to install, and less expensive than copper, this system was previously deemed to be superior than copper piping. Before it was discovered that the product was defective, many plumbers campaigned for the use of Kitec over copper piping.
If your clients purchase a home and discover that it contains Kitec, they may have difficulty insuring it it all depends on the insurance carrier. “Insurance companies analyze risks based on their own claims experience, and some larger organizations have not had enough bad experiences with Kitec to deny insurance,” according to a 2013 article from the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors concerning the dangers of Kitec. However, some organizations are denying insurance, most likely because they are avoiding all conceivable risks rather than relying exclusively on their own claims expertise.”
Even if home insurance has not been refused as a result of the Kitec, clients should be able to receive compensation from Kitec’s maker, IPEX, to help them replace the Kitec.
In 2011, three class-action lawsuits were filed against IPEX on behalf of anyone who owns or had owned a property with Kitec in it, one in the United States, one in Québec, and one in the rest of Canada. In 2012, the parties negotiated an agreement under which IPEX was required to set up a $125 million settlement account to compensate the claimants.
Do insurance companies cover kitec?
Home insurers are particularly interested in learning about the type of plumbing you have in your home, especially if you want to purchase a home with Kitec plumbing. They may refuse to cover you if your plumbing is prone to leaks.
Otherwise, they may insure your home but raise your deductible or refuse to pay for losses caused by a plumbing system failure. Determine the type of plumbing in your home and tell your insurance agent the truth. You don’t want your coverage to be refused in the case of a loss because you provided false information when you applied.
Most homes with Kitec plumbing can be insured by Square One, especially if the system has never leaked before. Any damages caused by the Kitec system, however, will be subject to a higher deductible. If you ever replace your Kitec plumbing, you can get rid of this particular deduction.
Will my home insurance cover water damage from burst plumbing?
Home insurance policies typically cover any sudden or accidental water escape in your home, such as burst water lines or overflowing appliances.
That’s why insurance companies inquire about your home’s plumbing system. To charge the proper rates and offer you with the right coverage, they must accurately analyze the risk. A firm may not be able to insure you at all depending on your plumbing condition, so you’ll have to search aroundand possibly pay a higher rateif you can get coverage at all.
Don’t allow this tempt you to tell your insurance broker a white lie. When such misrepresentation is detected, your insurance may be voided. Always be truthful! If you realize that replacing your plumbing is the only option, the cost will be much less than discovering after a loss that you have no insurance coverage.
When creating a policy, keep in mind that there will always be exceptions and limitations. Always read the fine print of your policy, paying special attention to any water exclusions. If you have any questions, contact your insurance agent or broker.
If you’re going to be gone for more than a few days during the winter, you’ll almost certainly need to shut off your main water supply or arrange for your home to be checked daily.
Damage caused by frozen or burst plumbing may not be covered if you neglect to do so. Because the criteria change from one organization to the next, phone your broker before you leave on vacation to make sure you understand what is expected of you.
Does insurance cover kitec plumbing?
If you have Kitec installed in your home (or had it installed before it was replaced), you may be eligible for compensation to assist cover the cost of replacing your Kitec pipes if you act quickly.
Please keep in mind that the following material is offered solely for educational reasons and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Any specific legal difficulties should be discussed with your legal counsel, and the Kitec plumbing in your home should be discussed with a licensed and certified plumber.
Join the Kitec Class Action Lawsuit
IPEX Inc., the manufacturer of Kitec plumbing, settled a class action lawsuit for $125 million in 2012.
IPEX contributed to a monetary fund that would be used to reimburse homeowners and others who had Kitec installations as part of the settlement.
Canadian homeowners who file a claim before January 2020 will be reimbursed 50% of the average cost of repairing or replacing Kitec pipes and fittings.
- The Kitec Settlement’s webpage can be found here. The law company representing the claims maintains this website.
Unfortunately, even if you qualify, there’s no way of knowing how much money you’ll get from this settlement. Because the settlement fund is limited, the amount each claimant receives will be determined by the total number of claimants.
Make a Home Insurance Claim
You may be insured in the event of a flood caused by burst or leaking Kitec pipe in your home, depending on the conditions of your home insurance policy.
To avoid having to pay out a claim for water damage, several house insurers have agreed to cover all or part of the cost of replacing Kitec piping.
When your insurer learns that your home contains Kitec, they may compel you to repair it in order to preserve your coverage…but they may not pay for it. Others will raise your insurance rates if you don’t replace your Kitec plumbing yourself.
In any case, it’s critical to understand what your house insurance covers and what it doesn’t when it comes to water damage.
Reach Out to Your Plumbing Contractor
When Kitec was recalled in 2005, contractors who had installed the product were required to notify customers.
If your contractor failed to notify you, they may be responsible for the expense of replacement.
However, because many Kitec homes were acquired and sold prior to the recall, locating the contractor and holding them accountable is not always easy.
Does kitec need to be disclosed?
Kitec pipes have apparently caused problems in certain homes, including corrosion of the fittings and, in rare cases, disintegration of the pipes themselves. Kitec’s faults were so severe and widespread that the manufacturer, IPEX, was sued in a class action lawsuit by a group of end customers from the United States, Ontario, and Quebec. These lawsuits were subsequently settled for $125 million by IPEX.
As a result of these issues and the accompanying barrage of corporate lawsuits, there appears to be a stigma attached to homes with Kitec pipes in the resale market, similar to the stigma attached to homes with urea formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI) in the 1970s and 1980s. That stigma persists today, which is why all Purchase and Sale Agreements have a UFFI clause. A representation and warranty that the property does not contain Kitec should also be included in the agreement.
As a result of the insurers’ liability risk assessments, some insurance firms are now refusing to provide insurance for premises containing Kitec. Many financing lenders want proof that the property is free of Kitec. This reduces the appeal of these houses to potential buyers.
The problem isn’t limited to single-family homes with Kitec installed; it also affects numerous condominium structures that have or have had Kitec installed. The cost and inconvenience of having it removed and replaced is becoming a serious concern for these condominiums. Because of the high cost of fixing this problem, several condominiums have had to levy special assessments against their owners to pay for the removal of the Kitec and the installation of suitable plumbing. If Kitec is found in the common features of the condominium and/or the units itself, owners and property managers must declare its presence.
These large-scale remediation projects may potentially result in expensive litigation. For example, in a recent Ontario court judgment, the court was asked to rule on the fairness of the condominium corporation’s tender procedure for soliciting bids from contractors to participate in a particularly large-scale Kitec replacement project involving 209 units in a 10-story building. The dispute in that case was between the corporation and one of the unsuccessful contractors, who had assumed based on certain verbal dealings with the condo board that he would be hired as the sole contractor to replace all of the heating piping, including the pipes located inside individual units.
In fact, he and at least two other bids were the subject of an informal solicitation by the condo corporation. This led to considerable confusion over whether or not a contract had ever been reached with him, as well as his level of commitment to the remedial plan he proposed. There were also some protests from unit owners who did not want the renovation done in their apartments by a certain contractor.
In light of this issue, the condominium company was required to employ a formal tender process to acquire bids from a larger pool of contractors. Even though the contractor had past experience working in the building and the condo company itself seemed to want to hire him, the process resulted in his exclusion. Regardless, the Kitec cleanup contract was allocated to someone else by the corporation.
The contractor’s motion for summary judgment, which requested that the court acknowledge the existence of a contract and pay him damages, was denied. The case was put to trial, but not before the condo company spent a large amount of money on legal bills to have the case rejected by the court early on. (The main trial is still ongoing in this case.)
The case demonstrates how Kitec remediations can be complicated, involving unanticipated parties and resulting in costly and unnecessary litigation.
If you own, or suspect you own, a property with Kitec installed, here are some suggestions.
If you have a home with radiant heating and a water heating system that was installed between 1995 and 2007, it’s worth hiring a trained plumber to evaluate it to see if Kitec was used in the installation and, if so, if there’s any deterioration or damage.
If it is discovered that Kitec was used in your home, it is important to have it replaced right away. However, the decision may be influenced by a number of factors, including the plumber’s appraisal of any damage vs the expected replacement cost, as well as if you plan to sell the house in the future.
If your home has Kitec and you decide to sell without changing it first, the presence of the Kitec should be mentioned, either on a Seller Property Information Sheet (if one is used) or as part of the general disclosure responsibility that sellers have to all possible buyers.
While it may be tempting to remain silent and rely on the concept of forgiveness, this is not a good idea “buyer beware,” the decision to provide up-front disclosure prevents the successful buyer from pursuing a legal claim for damages against you if the previously unknown Kitec is discovered after the sale, requiring costly repairs or replacement. It also eliminates any charges that you knowingly misrepresented the state of the property or deliberately disguised Kitec’s existence; such assertions are legally actionable and can result in costly litigation. If the claims are shown to be genuine, you could be held accountable for damages, including punitive penalties, as well as legal fees.
Even if you decide not to replace the Kitec before offering it for sale, it’s still a good idea to have a reliable replacement quote on hand. This way, you can use the data as a guide “When it undoubtedly comes up in response to your disclosure or on his or her own initiative, it can be used as a “bargaining chip” in price talks with the buyer.
Even if you’re inclined not to reveal the presence of unremedied Kitec, any cautious potential buyer will almost certainly engage a home inspector, who will most likely point it out. This will return you to square one in terms of needing to replace or account for the expense of replacing the Kitec in your house, with the added aspect of possible buyer skepticism when it comes time to negotiate a favorable sale.
Will homeowners insurance cover Repipe?
No, in most cases. Whole-home repiping is usually considered a preventative measure that you’ll have to pay for out of pocket by most homeowners insurance policies.
However, the good news is that most insurance policies will cover any damage caused by corroded or malfunctioning pipes. However, you may have to show that the damage was caused by a “sudden and inadvertent” leak. For example, if a burst pipe produced water damage as the first indicator of failing pipes, most policies will cover the cost of the water damage as well as the cost of repairing that specific pipe.
A word of caution: most homeowner insurance companies will cover the cost of repairing a water leak and water damage twice. However, if it happens a third time, your insurance carrier may drop you.
Again, it depends on how your policy is worded, but most homeowner’s insurance policies only cover the cost of repairing a broken pipe and water damage, not whole-home replumbing.
Can you sell a house with Kitec?
If you have already purchased a home with Kitec plumbing, there are various options available to you.
- You can try to sell the house and find a new one that does not have this type of plumbing system.
- The complete plumbing system can be replaced. This may be costly at first, but it will save you a lot of money in the long run.
- In an emergency, just switch off the mains water supply for the time being and hire a plumber to temporarily remedy the problem.
- You can set up a system to track and detect leaks and issues for you so that you can respond quickly to prevent more damage.
Does Kitec plumbing need to be replaced?
Yes. There are various reasons why replacing your Kitec plumbing is a wise option. These are some of them:
Premature Pipe Failure: Pipes in Kitec-equipped homes may fail prematurely.
Pipes Burst Open: Kitec pipes may not just leak, but also burst open, which can be dangerous, especially since the damage usually occurs in the hot water pipes.
Water Damage: If your pipes burst, you may be faced with floods and costly water damage.
Excessive water pressure or utilizing water that is hotter than the manufacturer’s recommended temperature of 82 degrees Celsius might cause Kitec pipes to deteriorate.
The only way to fix this is to replace all of the pipes and fittings with copper ones. If you have a problem with your Kitec plumbing, you should have a licensed plumber inspect it and replace any damaged pipes or fittings.
What do you replace Kitec with?
Between 1995 and 2007, Kitec plumbing was widely employed as a copper-free option for drinking water pipes. It was touted as being more corrosion-resistant than copper when it was first developed, but it was quickly discovered that the opposite was true. Kitec plumbing and fittings not only corroded significantly faster than copper, but industry experts now fear that all Kitec plumbing and fittings will fail prematurely. When Kitec pipes fail, they may not just leak; there’s a good risk they’ll explode, resulting in flooding.
For people who have Kitec plumbing, the only long-term remedy is to have it replaced with copper pipes. This will almost always necessitate access behind walls.
When was Kitec plumbing discontinued?
KITECtype plumbing in condominium buildings has received a lot of attention. The following are the fundamentals of KITEC-style plumbing for those who are unfamiliar:
- KITEC (also known by other names) is a flexible polyethylene pipe system that was utilized to replace copper piping in a number of condominium buildings between 1995 and 2007.
- In some cases, hot water lines made of KITEC pipe have been found to fail. Unlike the more common “pinhole” leaks, KITEC pipe failure frequently results in a burst and high-volume flooding.
- On January 9, 2012, a $100 million class action settlement for replacement claims in the United States and Canada went into effect. While condominium corporations are encouraged to file claims, the vast number of claims that will be paid pro rata will likely result in only a little amount of money being recovered per corporation. These figures will not be finalized until the end of the claims period in 2020, and buildings that have had leaks will be compensated first.
It’s worth emphasizing that, despite the fact that KITEC has been in operation for 20 years, numerous corporations have had it in their buildings without issue. This raises the question of whether some batches of piping or installation methods were more prone to failure than others. We may never be able to provide a definitive answer to that issue. Many property managers of buildings built with KITEC plumbing will tell you that alternative piping has caused significantly more leaks than KITEC piping, at least anecdotally.
It could be a case of perception trumps reality, with the notion that KITEC pipe is more prone to damage. We’ve seen this phenomenon before in the context of other construction materials (such as urea formaldehyde foam installation (UFFI)), where an issue is raised about a construction material issue and, once it reaches the public consciousness, it can be blown out of proportion, resulting in a stigma that is disproportionate to the risk.
Indeed, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), the province’s regulating body for real estate brokers, has said publicly that the presence of KITEC plumbing is a “material fact” that a realtor’s failure to disclose might be considered a violation of RECO’s Code of Ethics.
So, how does a condominium corporation handle all of this information, as well as the worries that it may engender? How does a condominium company deal with KITEC disclosure in a status certificate, in particular? Consider the following two scenarios:
1) The Corporation “Imminent Danger”
While regrettable, the organization that has experienced a KITEC failure or where competent plumbing/engineering advise warns that failure is imminent is the simpler scenario to cope with. There is reasonable evidence to suggest that the KITEC in both the common elements and the units in these corporations should be replaced, preferably by a single contractor hired by the business, to maintain uniformity. The unit owners would be charged for the repairs. Until the replacement project is completed, the existence of KITEC and replacement attempts shall be noted in paragraph 12 of any status certificates.
2) The Corporation of “Wait-and-See”
What about situations in which a company learns that its building has KITEC plumbing but has no reason to believe it is at danger (apart from general understanding of KITEC’s flaws)? This is the more challenging scenario. The Board must now weigh the contrasting goals of avoiding culpability for an event resulting from a KITEC-related leak versus raising excessive anxiety (and the resulting fear of lower saleability) by reporting KITEC on a status certificate despite the fact that no leak has occurred.
In failing to disclose conditions that may result in an increase in common expenses, a company cannot prioritize resale prices over compliance with the Condominium Act. As a result, in most cases, a building with KITEC plumbing should declare this information in its status certifications. Alternatively, if sufficient support is available, a building in this scenario may choose to replace its KITEC prophylactically in order to have any mention of its status certificate removed. There are no easy answers.
When business owners discover their company has KITEC, one of the first questions they ask is, “Who can we sue?” Frequently, the developer is the first to be targeted. After all, argue the owners, the developer must have been aware of the situation! While this is conceivable, it is crucial to keep in mind that each project is unique. It’s also worth remembering that KITEC was an approved construction product at the time it was installed.
In 2007, KITEC was no longer available for purchase.
The most recent structures in which it was placed are approaching a decade old. It would be difficult to prosecute a declarant who is likely to have no remaining assets unless there is hard evidence that he or she deliberately installed a faulty product, especially if important evidence is lost to time. The easiest defense in buildings where no incidents have occurred is that the KITEC plumbing is in good working order, as evidenced by a decade of trouble-free service.
In many circumstances, legal fees might be better spent maintaining the Corporation well-maintained and competitive in a crowded condominium market.
How long does it take to replace Kitec plumbing?
For an entire building, the projected duration ranges from 9 to 12 months, or up to 3 full days for larger homes. During the piping replacement, residents will not be compelled to vacate their homes. Furniture may need to be relocated away from work areas where the plumbers will be working.
How do you identify Kitec?
Kitec plumbing was first introduced in Canada and the United States in 1995. It was put in freshly built residences as well as homes that had been significantly modified. It’s also been used in in-floor and hot-water baseboard systems, as well as piping for drinking water. The majority of plumbers thought this was a suitable plumbing system since it was less expensive than copper, easier to install, and the material was both flexible and corrosion resistant. Kitec plumbing has been recalled by 2005 due to its rapid corrosion rate. Kitec plumbing has been phased out and is no longer produced.
Homes using Kitec plumbing, according to experts, have a high risk of premature pipe failure. Unfortunately, the pipes may not only LEAK, but also BURST, resulting in a home flood. The Kitec pipes deteriorate when the water temperature exceeds the manufacturer’s recommended temperature of 77oC (180oF) or when the water pressure is too high. Replacing your plumbing with a product that meets today’s accepted ASTM requirements is usually the most cost-effective way to fix this faulty pipe.
Kitec plumbing is distinguished by its bright orange (hot water) and bright blue (cold water) pipes, which were also available in red, blue, black, and gray.
Kitec was the most frequent brand name for the pipes, but they were also sold under the following names:
Kitec systems are typically found near the hot water tank or in the mechanical room, where the pipes connect to or leave from the walls. Under kitchen sinks and bathroom vanities, pipes can also be found.
In 2011, a large case was settled across Canada and the United States, with a settlement fund of $125 million dollars (USD) and legal fees of $25 million dollars (USD). Due to the expected 87,600 claims, exact amounts will not be determined until the claims period expires in 2020. Check your plumbing and protect your most valuable asset: your home!