CA: A plumbers' pipe dream

OC Register ^ | 12/23/03 | Op/Ed

[expatpat]

I have to disagree. While there was one kind of plastic (butadine, I believe) that was inadequate, the CPVC pipes that have been used for hot and cold water over many years are better than copper. In areas with low-pH water, copper pipes etch out after a number of years and develop pinhole leaks that can be very damaging.

[Who dat?]

Copper still rules and will last forever...

It’s good and relatively easy to work with.

My problem with copper is that I seem to have a copper-magnet embedded in my head. I’ve hit copper pipes with an axe, shovel, sheetrock screws, sawzall, drill, you name it. And you typically end up hunting for 10 minutes trying to find out how to shut it off.

You’d have the same problem with plastic too, but every time I hit one it’s copper.

The only thing worse than inadvertently hitting a regular water line was the time I accidentally nicked a fire sprinkler pipe. I have a new appreciation for the amount of water that can flow through them. Also, the fire sprinkler shut-off valves were chained and locked open so nobody could turn it off for a good hour and a half.

[rolling_stone]

Copper still rules and will last forever...

not in real hardwater areas, it commonly gets pinhole leaks after a few years...

[al baby]

I accidentally nicked a fire sprinkler pipe. I have a new appreciation for the amount of

O man that brought back a memory i was a repairman for the red onion mexican resturant chain we were doing some constuction on a store that was open for lunch a mexican speedy buffet and my buddy hit one of the water broadcasters and man it flooded the whole dam resturant in like 10 mins it was hilarios well in retrospect

[mvpel]

Cross-linked polyethelyene tubing looks to be the key system that the plumbing unions fear. Due to the nature of the tubing and its shape memory, it's possible to create absolutely leak-proof fittings by expanding the tubing around a barbed brass coupler, and then letting it naturally resume its original shape. Check out http://www.mid-americanenergy.com/aquapex.htm for details.

The excellent flexibility and durability of AQUAPEX®, together with the advanced ProPEX® technology, reduce plumbing rough-in times to a fraction of those required for copper.

Plumbers: NOOOOOooooooo!!!!

[mvpel]

PVC and CPVC aren't the only plastic piping systems out there. What about PEX, cross-linked polyethylene? That doesn't become brittle with age, and does not ahve glue joints.

[mvpel]

By the way, could you have a look at the photo in #6 and tell me what the green, black, and white fittings are used for in the upper right quadrant of the photo?

[telebob]

"By the way, could you have a look at the photo in #6 and tell me what the green, black, and white fittings are used for in the upper right quadrant of the photo?"

Pop Quiz...

Just looking at it from 20,000 feet away, it looks to me like:

Horizontal Top - Simplex check valve.

Horizontal Bottom - (Attached to the galv. fitting) Possible pressure relief valve.

Verticle Right - Possible air relief / vacuum breaker

White Tank - Hydropnuematic tank for some purpose, possible surge protection or pulse dampening. The main tank may be fed by a reciprocating (piston) type pump or pressure boosting centrifugal pump.

What's the real story?

[mvpel]

This is the view in the water heater closet at my apartment. I wasn't sure of the real story, which is why I asked. The larger diameter pipe in the back corner of the closet is the riser that goes to the two apartments above us, and you can make out the water meter in the lower left behind the hose bibb.

The green thing is apparently a dial, it has numbers around its perimiter - perhaps a mixing valve? The pipes make a loop between the cold and hot pipes of the water heater.