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loucie_gw

plumbing question

loucie
12 years ago

what would the best piping be for new construction, pex or copper? our contractor has suggest pex.

Comments (10)

  • marie_ndcal
    12 years ago

    What does your code require? Permits??

  • sue36
    12 years ago

    I can't tell you what is best for you, but Pex was the best choice for us. The water here basically eats copper piping, plus Pex doesn't burst if it freezes.

  • david_cary
    12 years ago

    Pex insulates better so hot water is hotter. There are some reports of rodents eating pex. I think pex is used in most new construction today (certainly around here). There was another product like pex used in the 80/early 90s that had a lot of seal failures and got a bad wrap. Pex doesn't have these problems but people will sometimes associate the two.

  • bdpeck-charlotte
    12 years ago

    PEX. It's tough to get the pipe to fail, even in cold weather. You can install it in homeruns where the only fittings are at each end, making failure even less likely. And crimping is about a million times easier than sweating pipes. Copper will fail, it's just a matter of time and what's in your water, PEX will outlast everything in your house as long as you keep it out of the sun.

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    "Copper will fail, it's just a matter of time and what's in your water, PEX will outlast everything in your house as long as you keep it out of the sun."

    Except that there is a metal fitting (often brass) at the end of every PEX run that can also be attacked.

  • davidro1
    12 years ago

    both are great.

    Don't pay any attention to the talk about failures in decades from now.

  • loucie
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    thanks everyone. our contractor said he had seen lots of pin hole leaks lately in the copper, but he would do whichever we wanted. i get nervous about plastic products leaching into our water, but that is just paranoia i guess.

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    "our contractor said he had seen lots of pin hole leaks lately in the copper"

    The EPA has demanded that water be so clean it has become aggressive and strips off and will not form a coating inside copper pipes.

    Orthophosphate can be added to limit the aggression and allow the coating to form that protects the copper.

  • loucie
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    brickeyee, do you prefer copper?

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    "brickeyee, do you prefer copper?"

    Depends on the local water.

    On a well PEX is far more likely to last.

    On municipal water it depends on the water authority knowing how to cope with the new EPA rules.

    It would have been nice if the EPA had asked their 'in house' corrosion experts BEFORE making the rules.

    They have forced the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) so low the water now attacks copper (the most common supply material in use).

    Now we need to add orthophophates BACK into the water after we 'cleaned' it more than needed for health and safety.

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