gadolphus32
Member
I'm planning to replace all of the cold and hot water supply lines in my basement. Currently, the supply coming into the house is 3/4 inch copper. Right after the main shutoff, it goes down to 1/2 inch, and all the other pipes in the house are 1/2 inch.
My main reason for replacing the pipes is to reduce lead in the water (on that, see below) but the water flow in my house is also a little weaker than I would like. In the hope of improving it, I plan to replace the 1/2 inch pipes with 3/4 inch as much as possible.
I'm not going to replace the pipes in the finished parts of the house. Those will still be 1/2 inch. I'm just replacing the exposed pipes in the basement. I'll reduce everything down to 1/2 inch where it goes upstairs.
I'm wondering if there is any reason *not* to want to have 3/4 inch rather than 1/2 inch lines. Apart from the slightly higher cost of 3/4 inch pipes and fittings, I can't think of any obvious disadvantage, but I'm also not a professional plumber.
In case it matters, the pipes are currently all copper. I'll replace them with Pex. The replacement is motivated by a desire to reduce lead levels in my water, which tested higher than acceptable even though we do not have lead pipes. I suspect the 100-year-old solder is the culprit, and I hope that by replacing as much piping as I can with Pex, I'll be able to reduce the lead levels significantly.
My main reason for replacing the pipes is to reduce lead in the water (on that, see below) but the water flow in my house is also a little weaker than I would like. In the hope of improving it, I plan to replace the 1/2 inch pipes with 3/4 inch as much as possible.
I'm not going to replace the pipes in the finished parts of the house. Those will still be 1/2 inch. I'm just replacing the exposed pipes in the basement. I'll reduce everything down to 1/2 inch where it goes upstairs.
I'm wondering if there is any reason *not* to want to have 3/4 inch rather than 1/2 inch lines. Apart from the slightly higher cost of 3/4 inch pipes and fittings, I can't think of any obvious disadvantage, but I'm also not a professional plumber.
In case it matters, the pipes are currently all copper. I'll replace them with Pex. The replacement is motivated by a desire to reduce lead levels in my water, which tested higher than acceptable even though we do not have lead pipes. I suspect the 100-year-old solder is the culprit, and I hope that by replacing as much piping as I can with Pex, I'll be able to reduce the lead levels significantly.