Galvanized pipe life span???

[BF750]

I have a house built in 1961 and it has gal. Pipe through out the entire 1800 sf home.. And without these fixtures with all the pressure regulators, the water pressure is very good!! With the exception of a lil brown water every now and then when first turning on the water.. How long do these pipes usually last. Oh im in southeast texas if it matters.. Haha!

 

[Msgale]

should last until about now..

so look for leaks tomorrow morning.

well, maybe not that much precision in estimating life span, but, you are on the end of that span.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

It's pretty variable with galvanized.
I've seen it from the 30's that is still being used, and I've seen it from the 60's that needed to be replaced.

What one person considers good volume, another may consider bad.
I've seen homes that even with no aerators on the lav faucet, the water barely trickled out. The home owner would look at me and say, it's been that way for decades, isn't that normal.
Normal volume requires restrictors at the faucets to prevent splashing all over the floor, and you can use three bathrooms at once.

But if your volume is good for your purposes, and it's just a bit of rust once in a while, then it may be fine for years.
Some of it depends on the quality of the pipe, and also on the water going through it.

 

[BF750]

Sounds good ill wait for a while b4 a repipe and yes with the valve off it does splash all over the floor, and with both showers on the tub spout shoot straight to the back wall with lots of force thanks terry

 

[Southern Man]

Yes keep your eye open for leaks and yes the life span is unpredictable. The brown water is rust which used to be the inside of the pipe so you know that they will eventually fail. Make sure that you have a good working main valve so when the first pipe or fitting leaks you can turn it off quickly. Also if you leave for vacation consider shutting it off. The first sign of trouble plan on replacing the entire system- don't attempt to piece-meal it.

By the way I've seen what can happen to a house with a large leak unattended for a while. This was a rental house that was unoccupied. The neighbor noticed water running from the basement into their yard. The leak was on the second floor and water had saturated all of the carpet, then the floor sheathing, then the ceilings downstairs, walls, then floors. It was a huge insurance bill.