Our Services
Plumbing Failures
There is a wide variety of plumbing products (fixtures and fittings) which exhibit design deficiencies, manufacturing defects, and or possible installation deficiencies that can cause a failure and subsequent property damage due to water discharge. Residential homes, high-risers, and commercial buildings are provided with plumbing and piping systems, making the number of potential failures almost infinite.
A plumbing fixture is a part that is connected to a plumbing system and carries water through a building. The most common plumbing fixtures are bathtubs, sinks, showers, tubs, toilets faucets, urinals, and floor drains. A plumbing fixture is permanently fixed into walls or the floor by way of bolts, screws, nails, glue, cement or other means, whereas a plumbing fitting is an item that can be hung by a hook, screw or nail. The most common plumbing fittings are elbows, tees, reducers, unions, couplings, crosses, caps, swage nipples, plugs, bushings, adapters, outlets, valves, and flanges.
Origin and Cause experts are frequently asked to investigate matters where properties have been damaged by water discharging from plumbing fixtures and fittings and are requested to determine whether the failures were the result of a manufacturing defect, design deficiency, or a deficiency in the installation, lack of maintenance, abuse, or usage. Although these investigations sound like straight forwards ones, this is rarely the case, and they can be complex as they may involve a combination of factors that led to the incident and requires the use of advanced analytical techniques to determine and to confirm the failure mode and cause. For example, the effects of a latent and minor defect can be increased significantly in service by an installation deficiency, or vice versa. And one would not be able to indicate only by visual examination alone whether a plumbing component was degraded and by what mechanism.
Origin and Cause provides both expert reporting and expert witness services. Please feel free to contact us for a free, no obligation, initial consultation. We will advise what would be the best course of action to help you with the investigation.
Types of investigation
- Personal Injury
- Plastic Failures
- Product Failure Analysis
- Product Liability
- Sprinkler Systems
- Codes, Standards, Specifications
- Break & Enter Investigations
- Equipment and Mechanical Systems
- Expert Witness Litigation Support
- Fuel Oil Spills
- Insurance Fraud Investigations
- Metallurgical and Corrosion Failures
Back to Materials, Product and Equipment Failures
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Experts in this field
Dinu Matei
Senior Consulting Forensic Engineer, Materials Engineering
Eduardo Mari
Fire Protection Practice Lead & Materials Forensic Engineer
Paul Emadi
Forensic Engineer
Tristan Delorme
Forensic Engineer
