Mysterious Breaks

[algerdes]

After years of use, my arches have not changed color (yellowed), have continued to light, and are pretty much forgotten until they are needed. They hang upside down from racks in the storage area. They maintain their shape, even when taken out of their center bracing.

Unfortunately twice now I have had them break in the middle of the arch itself. (One last year, one this.) It is a very clean break - almost like it was a seam in the material. I guess I should be thankful that only two out this group of 16 have done this.

The real interesting part is the breaks happen when absolutely no activity is going on. Both happened with the storage unit closed and no one bothering anything.

Any thoughts as to why they would do this?

[1pet2_9]

Since this is a plumbing material and breaks are far more unacceptable in actual plumbing situations, you might want to ask around in those parts.

[algerdes]

That is a very good point. After reading this I did contact a plumber friend who stated that he had never heard of one, especially of the size we use, doing this. I'll keep checking.
Thanks again.

[rstehle]

If I recall correctly, that product is shipped in a big coil, so it is truly unusual that it would break spontaneously..........

[dirknerkle]

I'll bet that the outside suffered a nick of some kind either in initial construction or installation, and like plexiglass, the material just split on that "starter" nick.

[Keith R]

That's what I was thinking. The breaks appear toward the center of the arch and are unusually clean. I have the same arches and were built on Matt Johnson's design in 2014. They have abrasions on them from moving them around and storing them. I hope they are not getting too old, as they have not yellowed either over the years. I store mine right side up on the garage floor.

[algerdes]

I checked the complete break (on both that I have here and will on the other in the storage room.) There is no sign of even a nick anywhere on the break.

Like said before, this material comes in a coil, is used for delivering fluid in high pressure mode, and should NOT break like this. Where they are stored there is nothing else around them. They hang by their crossbars. Very interesting that there are even this many broken.

[jnealand]

The devil in me just has to ask - 5v or 12v?

Happy Birthday Al - a day early.

[1pet2_9]

He went there.

[algerdes]

I know. But Jim is entitled!
BTW, the whole display is 12vdc. The last 5vdc props were converted last year.