pinkoos
New Member
Hi,
We're in a 30 year old house with apparently "cheap, foreign made" galvanized pipes that have started failing (previous owner had a couple of leaks a few years ago and we just had our first pinhole last week). We're in a hard water area.
When we first bought the house, I got a quote for a repipe from a small plumbing company and they gave me costs for CPVC, PEX and copper. I kinda put the project on the back burner for the past year b/c we didn't have any immediate issues. But, now that we've had our first pinhole, I've made this a priority.
When I contacted the same plumbing company, they told me that they no longer do PEX b/c of lawsuit reasons (Zurn fittings and carcinogen leaching in chlorinated city water).
I just got a quote yesterday from a large plumbing company here in Houston and they told me that the majority of the repipes they do is with PEX.
So, I'm confused as to what to do. I've got two kids ages 4 and 6 not to mention me and my wife, so obviously I don't want to do anything to put our health at risk.
The other issue about PEX is that I heard it may be a bit easier and a bit less destructive to do a whole house repipe in terms of wall destruction as opposed to CPVC (copper is out of the equation b/c of cost and b/c we're in a hard water area). My wife is obviously concerned about wall destruction b/c we're not mentally prepared to do a remodel just yet.
Second question relates to vacation. When we go out on vacation, we will obviously be turning the water main off. However, should I also drain the lines or just leave the lines filled with water? I've heard conflicting opinions on this: if you drain the lines and then repressurize them when you return, the sediment that settled in the lines can get shot through b/c of the sudden increase in pressue and actually cause some leaks, OR if you leave water in the lines, they can still leak while we're gone and cause damage and we wouldn't know it until we got back from our holiday.
Anyway, any advice to a layperson would be appreciated.
Thank you from Houston!
We're in a 30 year old house with apparently "cheap, foreign made" galvanized pipes that have started failing (previous owner had a couple of leaks a few years ago and we just had our first pinhole last week). We're in a hard water area.
When we first bought the house, I got a quote for a repipe from a small plumbing company and they gave me costs for CPVC, PEX and copper. I kinda put the project on the back burner for the past year b/c we didn't have any immediate issues. But, now that we've had our first pinhole, I've made this a priority.
When I contacted the same plumbing company, they told me that they no longer do PEX b/c of lawsuit reasons (Zurn fittings and carcinogen leaching in chlorinated city water).
I just got a quote yesterday from a large plumbing company here in Houston and they told me that the majority of the repipes they do is with PEX.
So, I'm confused as to what to do. I've got two kids ages 4 and 6 not to mention me and my wife, so obviously I don't want to do anything to put our health at risk.
The other issue about PEX is that I heard it may be a bit easier and a bit less destructive to do a whole house repipe in terms of wall destruction as opposed to CPVC (copper is out of the equation b/c of cost and b/c we're in a hard water area). My wife is obviously concerned about wall destruction b/c we're not mentally prepared to do a remodel just yet.
Second question relates to vacation. When we go out on vacation, we will obviously be turning the water main off. However, should I also drain the lines or just leave the lines filled with water? I've heard conflicting opinions on this: if you drain the lines and then repressurize them when you return, the sediment that settled in the lines can get shot through b/c of the sudden increase in pressue and actually cause some leaks, OR if you leave water in the lines, they can still leak while we're gone and cause damage and we wouldn't know it until we got back from our holiday.
Anyway, any advice to a layperson would be appreciated.
Thank you from Houston!