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Author:
newhomeownerSilverSpringMD (MD)
Hello,
We bought our house 3 years ago. It was built in 1957. We just discovered pinhole leaks in the copper pipes that have now caused leaking through the plaster ceiling in our finished basement.
The main horizontal, cold water line copper pipes are laid directly on the HVAC ducts which caused the electrolysis and thus pinhole leaks.
We have had estimates from 2 plumbers--one who wants to repipe the entire house and the other who says we can get away with just repiping the basement copper pipes that lay on the HVAC system. The goal in either case is to reroute pipes so they do not touch the ducts.
Should we bite the bullet and repipe the entire house now or simply repipe the basement where the known pinhole leaks are? With the copper pipes being behind plaster/drywall we have no way of knowing how the rest of the pipes look/how close they are to the HVAC ducts on the first floor.
Edited 1 times.
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Author:
packy (MA)
a couple of strategically located holes in the plaster walls and you can see for yourself the condition of the piping behind them. then you can answer your questions about their condition.
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Author:
newhomeownerSilverSpringMD (MD)
Good idea! I am guessing that if the copper pipes are about 60 years old we will have to replace them eventually anyway. Is there any plus/minus to doing some now and some later?
I guess what I am not looking forward to is the plumber having to take down lots of walls/go through tile, etc. for the entire repiping.
Edited 1 times.
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Author:
newhomeownerSilverSpringMD (MD)
Dare I ask--we plan to go with PEX going forward. One plumber suggested PVC. Any reason we should go with one or the other? I would like to avoid copper (proximity to other metals, hard water, etc.)
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Author:
packy (MA)
if you are going to open some areas of the walls and ceilings, do a complete repipe.
i see no advantage to using cpvc over pex.
using pex will minimize the number of joints buried in the walls/ceiling.
others may disagree but i would use pex...
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Author:
hj (AZ)
Electrolysis only occurs when both metals are immersed in water.
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