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As the ol' adage goes 'Copper is king' and I haven't had any issues with it in my current house.
But it is more expensive and more labor intensive to install, so I'm reviewing options for new construction coming up
... and I'm starting to get a bit dizzy reading reviews & pros/cons on these three options for new construction.
So ... Copper vs CPVC &/or PEX ...
Given these options, which would you have in your new house and why?
How has your experience been with any one of these?
Is there another option for new construction besides these three that's better in some way?
thanks!
Ray
Ray
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Location: Front seat on the Struggle Bus
Pex....it's just so easy to work with.
BUT, it does require forward thinking, one can't fit the crimp tool everywhere. Cordless crimpers are $$$, except the Ryobi, that requires different rings.
Ed
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Location: Merryland
IMHO, they're all good. Most new homes are done with CPVC. I see more PEX in remodles, much easier to pull through existing walls. Have you seen the price of copper lately? I prefer copper but I think it's >< close to going the way of the Dodo.
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Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
PEX - no boubt adout it. It has too many major advantages and few disadvantages. There are some gotcha's to mind when installing but they are simple and would apply to other materials as well.
Blackhat
Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories.
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Location: Fort Worth
Same here Pex. Pex A or B both have good and bad points to them. CPVC isn't allowed by code and just not done here unless it's a trailer (same with ABS) More issues here these days with copper pipes springing leaks due to poor pipe manufacturing. So bad that any citys now require all water lines to be run through the house. The only pipe that can run under the slab is the feed from the meter.
As for what crimp style for the PEX-B. Allot of plumbers used to dislike the stainless clamps and were in favor of the copper compression rings. Doesn't matter to me as both work and have been used for 30+ years and longer in other industries like soda lines in restaraunts use those stainless clamps but they are a proprietary size.
Now if you are outside city limits those code issues don't exist as you can do whatever you want. No permits no inspections that said the houses I see built outside city limits are built no different than ones in a city where they are inspected.
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I have not worked with PEX so I can't comment. I have worked with CPVC at one of my kid's home. I wanted to tear it all out. It was for their laundry room. The previous guy put it in and didn't use enough supports, wasn't visually done well - I'm a little OCD on that. I got thing done but I really wanted to start over with copper. I find copper easy to work and if exposed can be done visually correct. The CPVC did go together well - just don't trust it.
As for PEX I hear and have seen really good things about it. How does stud finders work on it? I would find that annoying if I didn't put it in and had to drill into an unknown.
John
Always use the right tool for the job.
We need to clean house.
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In the last 3 houses I have built I used Pex with brass fittings. I live in a area that sees freezing temps. I have seen galvanized pipe, copper, pvc split when a house is not "winterized". I replaced copper pipes with Pex in a 1900's log cabin with little insulation, the copper would burst every year some where even when winterized. After replacing the copper not 1 burst pipe in the last 7 years. Pex is so easy to work but not the cheapest.
Treat others as you want to be treated.
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West.
24- year cancer survivor
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As an novice who hates plumbing, Pex, hands down. Installed a salt free water softener in the summer using Pex and brass threaded fittings. The brass fittings leaked badly. Not one leak from the Pex and I took it apart more times than I care to admit. Get the Swage type crimpers.
They told me anybody could do it, but I showed them.
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12-31-2020, 11:01 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-01-2021, 12:41 PM by TDKPE.)
I don't have first-hand experience with the longevity of PEX, but I have recently tried my hand at it with a water heater bypass (for winterizing) in my camper van. So easy it's silly, though I did mess up one crimp because I had the tool crooked. The space was sooooo tight, I had to practice positioning the tool, using my phone to take pictures from the side to verify that it was oriented correctly. And still I messed it up, but it was nothing my Dremel tool with skinny cutting wheel couldn't handle in a few seconds.
The last one is the messed up crimp. I gave it a shot, it leaked, so I cut it out and redid it. Those pics don't remotely convey how tight it was in there, plus I was reaching through drawer openings in the cabinet face frame. Look but don't touch, then touch without looking. A hard way to work, but PEX is so easy to work, it wasn't actually that bad. Would have been super quick if it was out in the open.
Oh, the white pipe is the new one. Red for hot, blue for cold, so I used white for the bypass, since it seemed cute to do so.
And this is what it’s supposed to look like for this style at least - a bit like ET or Wall-E’s head, rather than Roger’s head (American Dad!).
Tom
“This place smells like that odd combination of flop sweat, hopelessness, aaaand feet"
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PEX hands downs. More specifically, Uphonor AquaPEX with the Milwaukee expansion tool is the bomb.
