For thousands of Canadian homeowners, it's a nightmare that's come true: a leak in the plumbing, somewhere behind the drywall, under the new and expensive tiles. This is a story that's caused untold headaches for homeowners, millions of dollars in lawsuits south of the border and now it's a story the Canadian Standards Association doesn't want you to hear.

Pierre Laflamme

Pierre Laflamme is a Quebec City businessman. In 1985 he had a new home built in the suburbs. The first problems showed up in 1992.

That year, his plumbing sprang not one but three leaks. Laflamme ripped out walls, replaced the pipe, and covered it up. But in 1994 it happened again, just one leak this time, and again last fall, four more leaks.

Several renovations and several thousand dollars later, Laflamme was fed up. He went to see a lawyer.

"It's simple," he says. "I want to change all the pipes."

In Quebec, more than 100 homeowners have complained about the leaky pipes

Laflamme is not the only one to complain about the pipes.

In Quebec, more than 100 homeowners with similar problems have contacted lawyer Denis Borgias.

The Quebeckers have joined 3,000 other consumers in a Vancouver-based class action law suit. The suit is aimed at three big U.S. companies -- it charges that they've known about the problems for years.

"I think it's deplorable that certain manufacturers would dare put such a product on the market knowing it was defective," Laflamme says.

The plumbing in Laflamme's home is a polybutylene system. That's "PolyB," or "PB" for short: lengths of grey polybutylene pipe linked with acetal fittings. The U.S. companies named in the law suit make the raw materials.

PolyB systems were introduced in the late 1970's for home plumbing and for hot water heating. They were easier to install than traditional copper and cheaper too -- at least in the short term.

Pierre Laflamme is angry with the manufacturers of the PolyB pipes

But, as Pierre Laflamme has discovered, there can serious long-term costs with PolyB plumbing and that's left him, in his words, "very angry, very shocked and frustrated."

Laflamme is angry with the manufacturers. But he's very angry with the Canadian regulators for allowing the defective product on the market. "What really strikes me is the CSA logo," Laflamme says, pointing out that the pipe in his house was approved by the Canadian Standards Association.

It was the CSA that certified PolyB for use in this country, so where are they now that it's starting to leak? CSA refused speak to us on camera. They wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Their records show only two cases in all of Canada where the CSA approved product failed. But Pierre Laflamme's case isn't on their list.

The Atkinson's list of leaks

Don and Barb Atkinson count themselves unfortunate colleagues of Pierre Laflamme. They're afraid to travel, and they don't leave their Vancouver home without shutting off the water for fear of leaks.

They moved into the house in 1986 and it was a couple of years later that the leaks started to occur.

"To date we have had 22 leaks that are documented since 1991, and I can break it down by date," Don says. The Atkinson's list continues to grow; the most recent tally is $1,946.82 over the eight years.

A look at their pipes reveals cracks which could have started as small pinhole leaks that ruptured. They have water marks on their ceiling and to fix that problem, plumbers have to cut holes in the ceiling.

And the Atkinsons, too, note the CSA stamp on the pipes.

The Atkinsons probably aren't on the CSA list either, but it's not for lack of trying. Don Atkinson sent CSA a piece of defective pipe in 1996 and called the agency a dozen times. "I did try contacting them but they didn't return my calls," he says.

CSA was no help, so next the Atkinsons called a lawyer. Jim Poyner is the Vancouver lawyer leading the Canadian class action suit.

"We made inquiries of different plumbers, and one thing led to another and we determined that there were a number of people with the same kind of problem," says Poyner.

Jim Poyner

He is collecting samples of defective pipe and the names of consumers who have PolyB systems. He says there's no shortage of either, noting "our studies indicate that there are some 700,000 homes across Canada that have been affected."

What exactly is wrong with polybutylene plumbing systems? We asked Vancouver plumber Kirk Snowden who's making a good living fixing PolyB plumbing. He says there are three distinct problems.

The most expensive problem happens when PolyB pipe is connected to a home heating system. Strangely, it's oxygen getting into the water through the walls of the pipe that causes the damage, not water leaking out.

Kirk Snowden

Snowden says the oxygenated water circulates through the system and can rust out the boiler, the heat exchanger and the pump in just two or three years. Normally such components can last up to 40 years.

The raw material for PolyB pipe is made by Shell in the US. Snowden says that newer pipes are coated to stop oxygen from getting in. But that only solves one problem. The second problem is the joints. Simply put, they can leak.

Snowden knows from experience that the joints can leak. To find out why they leak, we talked to Steve Reiber, an engineer and water quality specialist in Bellevue, Washington.

Steve Reiber

"It's fairly well understood now that there was in fact a problem with the polybutylene piping system, at least in terms of a drinking water application," says Reiber.

"Not specifically the polybutylene pipe, but rather some of the fittings that were used in the polybutylene system."

Reiber wrote the book on plastic pipe failures in 1993. He found that the acetal fittings are attacked by the chlorine in water. That means that the T connectors and elbows in a PolyB system can crack and flake after several years. And when that happens, the joints leak.

The raw material for those joints was made by DuPont and Hoechst Celanese Corporation in the US.

Given that chlorine is widely used in the United States and Canada to disinfect water, how is it the manufacturers of this system didn't anticipate that this problem would arise?

According to Reiber, "clearly something may have been lacking in their test protocol."

Reiber's six-year-old report is available to anyone who cares to ask for it, including the experts at the CSA. Jim Poyner has a copy in his files.

And so did the lawyers representing the thousands of US consumers who had problems with the product. They have successfully sued several times, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

In a 1995 settlement in Tennessee, Hoechst-Celanese and Shell agreed to set aside $950 US million for American consumers. There's even a hotline for consumer complaints. That's because a third PB problem is now evident -- poor quality control.

The manufacturer of the polybutylene was shipping bad product and what's more, Poyner says, company officials knew it was bad.

Shell Chemical interoffice memo 1979 memo 1982 memo

An interoffice memo on the Shell Chemical letterhead date 1982, from a person named R.F. Schimbor, addressed to several different people, obviously in the Shell organization, is revealing.

In the memo, Schimbor says "... either we immediately improve our quality... or be prepared to throw in the towel... "

And there's another memo, from 1979, this one addressed to R.F. Shimbor. The writer states "I think Keith wants us to level with him. Admit our product stinks."

And again in March 1982, a letter written by the same person, R.F. Shimbor on Shell letterhead to a Mr. Sullivan which deals with the problems they are having with the product.

He says "serious product complaints from customers -- both foreign and domestic -- continue at high levels... problems abound..."

And on the same page further down he adds, "our consultant in Canada is beginning to achieve success."

So ... on the same page they have "problems abound" and then right underneath it is written "Market Development." They are focusing on Canada.

But the makers of PolyB aren't talking to Poyner, and they wouldn't talk to Marketplace either, at least not on camera. They said they couldn't comment in detail while the issue is before the courts.

They did say that Canadians can call the complaint hotline and in certain cases can get their plumbing repaired.

But Canadians aren't covered by the U.S. settlements and that's why Canadian consumers have launched their own class action suit to get compensation for damages caused by a product which, remember, is CSA certified.

The involvement of the standards organization leaves Poyner mystified.

"It amazes me," he says. "It absolutely astounds me that the CSA would approve this type of product... I don't know the answer to that one."

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