If your Kelowna home was built between 1985 and 1998, there's a good chance you've got poly-B pipe behind the walls. It's a grey plastic pipe — short for polybutylene — that builders used a lot back then. The problem is it breaks down from the inside, and when it finally gives out, it goes fast.
Good news: you can check for it yourself in about five minutes. No tools needed.
What is poly-B pipe?
Polybutylene is a grey, flexible plastic pipe used for supply lines — the pipes that carry pressurized water to your sinks, toilets, showers, and appliances. Builders liked it because it was cheap and quick to install, so it went into a lot of homes across Canada and the US through the late '80s and '90s.
The problem is chlorine. Poly-B doesn't hold up well against the chlorine in municipal water. Over the years it gets brittle, tiny cracks form — usually at the fittings first — and eventually it fails. Because all this happens on the inside, there's no warning.
Insurance risk: A lot of BC insurers are flagging poly-B at renewal time now and asking for proof it's been replaced before they'll keep covering you. If you've gotten a letter like this, don't sit on it — the deadline is usually firm.
Where to look in your home
You don't need to open up any walls. Poly-B is usually exposed in a few spots — here's where to look:
Under sinksCheck the lines running from the shutoff valve to the faucet, in your kitchen and bathrooms.
Water heater areaLook at the pipes going into the top of your water heater — usually easy to spot in the mechanical room or utility closet.
Crawl space or basementIf you've got a crawl space or unfinished basement, the supply lines are often visible along the joists.
How to identify poly-B
Once you've found some exposed pipe, here's what to check:
- Colour: Almost always grey. Sometimes black, rarely blue — but grey is what we see most in BC homes.
- Stamping: Look closely at the pipe — poly-B is usually stamped "PB2110" along its length. You might need to turn it slightly to spot it.
- Texture: Flexible and a bit soft, not rigid like PVC drain pipe or stiff like copper or CPVC.
- Fittings: Usually plastic or aluminium crimp fittings, not soldered copper.
Quick tip: Easy to mix up poly-B with PEX, the material that replaces it. PEX also comes in grey (plus red, blue, white) and is flexible too — but it's stamped "PEX" or "ASTM F876," not "PB2110." Not sure which one you've got? Snap a photo and send it over — we'll tell you right away.
What if I'm still not sure?
It's easy to get stuck here, especially if the pipe's partly hidden or you just don't deal with plumbing every day. A few situations that trip people up:
- Some homes got partially replumbed at some point, so you might have a mix of poly-B and copper or PEX
- Renovated rooms sometimes have newer pipe while the rest of the house is still original
- Some pipe is just behind drywall or insulation, out of sight
Honestly, the easiest thing at that point is to give us a call. A free in-home estimate includes a walkthrough where we check the whole house and tell you exactly what you've got — no pressure, no commitment.
My home has poly-B. What now?
Don't panic. Having poly-B doesn't mean something's about to burst tomorrow — but the clock is ticking, and it's worth getting ahead of it rather than waiting for a leak or a letter from your insurer.
A full replacement means pulling out all the poly-B and putting in modern PEX — permits, drywall patching, and paint included. Most Kelowna homes take 2 to 5 days, and you can stay in your home the whole time.
We give you a fixed quote up front, so you know the full cost before we start.