If you were to replace the copper plumbing in your house, would you use PEX or CPVC? I'm tired of repairing pinhole leaks...it's time to do something about it. Luckily for me, I have a drop ceiling in the lower level which will make horizontal runs a lot easier.

I'd use copper with Press fittings.

Baring that, I'd use PEX. CPVC is, in my opinion, on its way out.

Are you on well water?

We have used both Pex and CPVC.

IMO, Pex is faster, easier to install.

Plus, if you screw up a connection it is not hard to remove the Pex and given a little slack to redo the connection. There is a tool to remove those clamp rings used in Pex. AIR it only costs you maybe half an inch of Pex, and in most cases there is enough slack to just redo that joint.

I was told by a friend/pro plumber that Pex will also expand to some degree so reduces the odds of a broken pipe if it freezes.

Yes, Woodman, I'm on well water.

In my business, most plumbers have moved to PEX A. Easier to install, fewer connections, fewer callbacks are the reasons. At least one of my repipe customers has experienced a 50% reduction in time to install. As for choice of PEX, I’d recommend the Uponor brand.

My domestic water is 90% COPPER, 10% pex. My heating is about 50-50 pex and copper. I had some very strange copper and a experimental stainless pipe used around 1970 that was corroding and failing. As long as you have the pex tool, it's much quicker and easier than cuttig and soldering joints. And yes, pex is freeze resistant.

PEX is what my dad replumbed my brothers house in Tampa.

Quick
Cheap
He said doing it in PVC ran thru his head but he said the PEX was faster plus the piping bends and it’s not a big deal to try and snake it thru and around old fittings and stuff.

OP - how old is the current plumbing?

Mine was installed in the mid to late 70s and I've had two slab leaks in different areas. The first time the copper was rerouted and replaced with copper. The second time the leak was repaired (though I was hoping the insurance company would pay to have the plumbing rerouted).

Point being - why not replace with copper?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
OP - how old is the current plumbing?

Mine was installed in the mid to late 70s and I've had two slab leaks in different areas. The first time the copper was rerouted and replaced with copper. The second time the leak was repaired (though I was hoping the insurance company would pay to have the plumbing rerouted).

Point being - why not replace with copper?

Copper is much more expensive then Pex or CPVC. Pinhole problems are common in houses after 30 years.

My parents had some pinhole leaks in their copper a few years ago. Happened while my dad was recovering for bypass surgery. He was sitting in the living room and felt water dripping on his head.

Cut open the ceiling and bedroom wall upstairs where the leak was. Cut out as much copper was we could without opening up the wall more. Replaced everything we cut out with CPVC using Sharkbite connections where the new CPVC met the old copper.

Not sure which I would use if I was replumbing an entire house today. Last time I did that I was replacing steel pipe with copper.

I've used CPVC many times when adding to existing copper runs. So much cheaper and quicker than copper.

If you’re set on replumbing the house, PEX hands down. Describe the pinhole conditions you’re experiencing. Both hot and cold? Central location? Horizontal or vertical pipe? The issue may not be as bad as you think.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
Last time I did that I was replacing steel pipe with copper.

C. 1920s cattle ranch in the Sierra foothills? Most homes with threaded galvanized have long ago gone over to another material. But I still see it. Two weeks ago I even removed ACTIVE ½" threaded brass from the 1920s. The drains coming off the cast iron bend were 1.5" and 2" threaded brass. Never say that before. But in a luxury 1850s brownstone in the historic area, anything was possible. Still is.

It is unusual for copper to leak, even after decades. I cut apart 60 year old copper and it is thin but still serviceable.

Copper can be smelted wrong, too many impurities. This will lead to pinholes. Usually it is just one stick or so, not the whole house. Or the water can be corrosive. Like the gentleman's well water. I use L-type copper for everything but in the '90s a job called for K-Type throughout the house. Very unusual. They were on well water. M-Type copper is approved but I never buy it.

An electrical situation in the soil can also affect copper, causing corrosion, especially between dissimilar metals.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
It is unusual for copper to leak, even after decades. I cut apart 60 year old copper and it is thin but still serviceable.

Agreed. The house I grew up in was all copper and no leaks to this day. My current house (1967) is all copper and has zero leaks. I do use Shark Bite fittings (never behind a wall) on copper for any new stuff I do, which is rare.

Oh, my plumbing skills are not good

There is nothing better than Wirsbo Aquapex in my opinion, far and away, better than typical Pex tubing.

You can break Pex by kinking it back and forth 4-6 times, you cannot break Aquapex in this fashion.

If you kink Pex during installation, you have to toss it out. Aquapex can be heated with a heat gun until it returns to it's original shape, when cooled, it has original shape & strength.

When I install it, being certified, I can give a 25 year warranty on it.

CPVC should be banned!!

I should also add that there was a problem with copper manufactured in the 70's. Almost all pinholes I have repaired were on copper made in the 70's!

We had about 7K in damage to our house a couple years ago due to copper leaks. It was all the drywall work and wet structure that took so much to repair.

The three rules of plumbing I learned from a pro years ago
1. Hot on the left
2. Cold on the right
3. Shit will not run uphill without a pump (Rule #3 works in government as well)

PEX

LS1 GTO: Current plumbing is 30 years old. I figure if I go with copper...me or someone else will be dealing with the pinholes again in 25 to 30 years.

absolut18: All of the leaks so far have been in horizontal pipes, started with cold water pipes but the last few have been hot water pipes. My main water line comes into my laundry room (lower level, center of the house) and all of the leaks have been concentrated in that area. No long run leaks to date.

The reason I ask is you can sometimes get pinholes from non-soluble flux (often found in mostly cold water pipes since hot water can help flush). You can also get pinholes over long periods of time from turbulence after a fitting if the joint was not deburred properly. Sediment in the line can also propagate a pinhole but is usually only in horizontal runs. I guess what I’m saying, is you may be able to cut back all the copper in the vicinity of the pinholes, and be fine for years to come. I recently went into a crawl space thinking I’d have to replace everything... only to find that the corrosion inside the pipe only extended about 6-8’ from the main. None of the vertical runs had signs of pinholes or corrosion, and once I was more than 8’ away, the horizontal runs were clean too. Splicing in copper isn’t bad if you’re handy and watch a couple videos. I’ve found 4” duct piping makes a great heat shield, and with copper you know right away if you have a leak once water is turned on, and you can remove and resolder a fitting if needs (not so with CPVC). That said, if I was to replumb a house... PEX is fat and away the best choice. Plus, with a manifold, you can do individual home runs a little at a time, and put a shark bite cap on the copper as you go. Good luck.

Pex, is the way to go it expands more then frozen water so less likely to burst. Simple tools to install. That said pex is very susceptible to damage from sunlight. Over time it will get brittle and crack. So non exposed out of the sunlight go with pex.

Simple, PEX