Last night I came home to water covering about 1/3 of the basement floor, and a pinhole spraying water in the main line from the pressure tank to where the hot water heater tees off of it. A similar thing happened maybe 4 or 5 years ago in another spot a few feet away.
Is this a good reason to replace all the plumbing throughout my house?
My house is a poorly constructed, 38 year old raised rancher with original copper plumbing and well water. The plumbing is all a lighter grade copper pipe intended for circulating hot water baseboard heating, which is lower pressure, and not code for potable water which runs at higher pressure. I know the water is somewhat corrosive to copper, because the toilets are prone to bright blue green stains.
My fear is that leaks will become more and more frequent, and it’s likely they will do more damage. Both the leaks I’ve had so far were on the cold water piping, upstream of the tee for the hot water heater, and so not very high up. They cleaned up with a wet vac and fans. A leak in an upstairs wall cavity would do way more damage if it went unnoticed for a couple days. This argues for replumbing everything.
But maybe there’s something distinctively wrong with this particular region of the plumbing, less than 10’ of it easy to access and replace, and everything else is fine.
How difficult would it be to do?
If the plumbing is confined to a small area, meaning minimal wall / floor damage, I’d do it, rather than risk catastrophic water damage.
I don’t think it’d be difficult, as replumbing whole houses goes. There’s 2 bathrooms and a kitchen on the upper floor, and just the tank and water heater on the basement floor. Most of the pipes are overhead where there is drop ceiling, or else overhead where they are exposed. There are risers in the wall cavities but, I believe, nothing horizontal.
I would.
But, it’s still going to take some effort.
As for how much it’s going to cost - I would get a quote from a plumber or three, and see if they will give you a discount if you do some of the grunt work yourself (if you are so inclined). I would think it should cost between $5-8K, but that is just a WAG.
I think plastic, whatever type, is a good idea if my water is corrosive to copper. As to which type, I’d have to do some research and pricing. The plumber I have now is fond of “Shark Bite” fittings. I wonder if those fail as the O-ring (or whatever seal they use) gets old.
Full house re-plumb. Sooner than later. You know your water eats copper, and you know you’ve got “thin” and not to code pipes to begin with.
Shark Bites have a 25 year warranty, assuming proper installation. (essentially that the tube was cut clean and square)
The good part is that there aren’t 35 crimped/threaded/soldered joints inside the walls between the water supply and a faucet. It’s not uncommon for plumbers to run separate lines from a distribution manifold to each fixture. A typical bathroom would have five runs of PEX going to it - hot and cold to the sink, hot and cold to the tub, and cold to the toilet. Absolutely no joints or fittings anywhere in between, and usually, a manifold includes shutoff valves so you can turn off individual fixtures from that central location.
Good part #2 is that since it’s run with no joints, PEX can be pulled like wire. The days of busting out entire walls to finagle unbending pipe are gone. Assuming you have a full basement under your ranch house, there may not be any wall damage at all to put in PEX. Your plumber likes Shark Bites because they’re easy and fast. Ask them about doing a manifold and uninterrupted runs to the individual fixtures.
Do it. Compared to water damage every couple years and maybe mold issues and considering you know its an issue ------- that or plan on moving in a year or two.
While the shut off valves are nice, is this desirable? Especially for hot? In the past, and working with copper, I have found for the hot water line it is more desirable to have as much draw from a common feed line, this way it minimises the wait for hot water.
This is the right answer these days if you can get a solid contractor. I’ve seen it done on TV shows and it looks like an industrial plant when correctly installed.
And for shut off valves, Ball Valves are the way to go, 90 degrees on/off and less chance of leeks at the bonnet.
I hear really good things about PEX and plan on replacing some of my plumbing with it soon. I will probably do it myself.
My advice is worth what you’re paying for it, but I’d say do it.
At my house there’s a cross connection between hot and cold under one of the sinks. There’s a pump and check valve installed. Press a button and the pump pulls from the hot side into the cold side and shuts off when the hot water arrives. Open the faucet and there’s hot water. Pump runs for about 45-55 seconds or so.
Wouldn’t damage like this be claimable under your homeowner’s insurance? I would at least talk to my agent before doing anything.
Then, I’d get my water checked. If it is corrosive to copper, it’s probably going to be bad for other things, too. Copper pipes are very long-lasting. It might make much more sense to treat your water and keep your copper pipes than to re-plumb the whole house and still have a water quality issue that would still need to be addressed.
Just curious about your assessment of the tubing. I don’t think there is any special, thin tubing for hot water heating. In fact, just the opposite.
Standard wall tubing for residential plumbing is called Type M and is the thinnest wall available. It is rated for 850 psi in the 1/2" nominal size. The next heaviest tube is Type L and is recommended for outdoor, or exposed general plumbing and hot water heating. It is rated at 1200 psi.
It’s possible your local building department calls for Type L but that is an upgrade over standard Type M. There may be aggressive minerals in your water that make this a better choice. It is about 50% more expensive for the tubing itself, the fittings are all the same.
Then there is Type K with a 1500 psi rating but you won’t find that at Home Depot.
I had my 1600 square foot single story 1955 ranch replumbed five years ago. It was originally done with galvanized pipe. It has one full bath, kitchen, and a utility room, all over a crummy crawlspace. I had PEX installed. I also specified good 1/4 turn ball valves under the sinks, toilet, and behind the tub/shower. It cost $2450.
Hmm. That doesn’t fit with what a plumber told me about 30 or 35 years ago. He told me what I said above. But I don’t think he talked about type designations or pressures. I’ll have to ask my current plumber – I really don’t know, myself!