[Questionair]

So I have been on this site for a little while now, and have never felt that I had a question that would sponsor a real debate. Yesterday I finally stumbled upon one when I was arguing with my friend who is a plumber. He insists that CPVC Piping is still the most trustworthy way to set up the plumbing in your home. I disagreed and went with copper, followed by a debate of PEX, keeping Polybutelyne out of the equation.

What are some thoughts on this topic?
What do you have installed in your home?
If you retrofitted your system with new piping, which type would you choose?

[ma0641]

No reason for Copper today. If you are on a well, the acidic water will slowly eat it and pinholes develop. PEX is fine but inline repairs can be problematic and you need special clamps and tools. CPVC is very DIY, inexpensive, easy to repair. That's my opinion, you will probably get others. Polybutylene is always out of the equation.

[jlisenbe]

Would you still use PVC on the cold side?

[massplumber2008]

PEX is undoubtedly the most reliable, but CPVC does come in a close second when installed by a professional. When CPVC is installed by someone not familiar with the product they tend to use too much CPVC cement and this can result in pooling of the cement and burst joints... UGH!

Copper pipe is certainly still used all the time, but mostly in repair or renovation work.

Mark

[smoothy]

Go price copper if you haven't recently. Might make your heart skip a few beats. Particularly when you calculate how many feet of it are in an average house. Or even Copper Romex.

Makes PEX, or CPVC...even that much more attractive. Particularly if you've had to sweat pipes in some of the places I have. (meaning high risk of setting the house on fire even using metal flashing behind the pipe)

[Milo Dolezal]

Copper has fallen out of favor. PEX is the best way to go these days.

Milo

[Mike45plus]

Questionair,
Every water piping product has pluses & minuses. What is the application and budget?

Copper tubing can have better flow / delivery rates due to its larger inside diameter, although pex has less friction loss and often there are fewer transitional fittings used with a pex piping system.
CPVC requires a glue weld or solvent bond at each joint - these joints need substantial cure time which can be a nuisance when performing repair work.

Pex tubing can withstand a hard freeze; it will stretch as ice forms and often will not fracture - copper & CPVC are brittle and will split when subjected to cold temps.

Copper is not easy for rodents to gnaw through - I have seen cpvc & pex chewed through.

Cpvc & certain pex tubing cannot be used in many closed loop hydronic heating systems and pex cannot support the weight of manifolds needed to mount valves or pumps near the boiler.

Usually, well water is delivered via some type of plastic piping - plastic can withstand most well water condition issues........

[Mike45plus]

When the water supply has low pH ( typically 6.8 or lower on the pH scale ) it can corrode copper tubing - pex & CPVC will outperform copper in his instance, however, plastic pipe is not always the correct answer for distribution of low pH water. Copper tubing will develop pin hole leaks or worse; it becomes sacrificial and nuetralizes the water before it reaches faucets and fixtures - plastic pipe will deliver fully potent water to faucets & fixtures and shorten their life.

Pex can absorb the effects of high pressure better than copper or CPVC - during instances of water hammer copper & CPVC will transmit / transfer more nuisance noise than pex.

Pex is better suited for under ground installations, certain soil conditions can corrode copper tubing.

Pex can hold up better when subject to flow eroision typically found in domestic hot water recirc piping.

[Fr_Chuck]

Well been out of the US for a while, and I will not even discuss the nightmares here in China. But CPVC was what I almost always converted my flip and or rental houses to.

[greenfox43]

So reading along all the responses given by this selective group, I couldn’t agree more! Copper has completely lost its likeness in the plumbing community, unless you are installing piping for a very rich family. No one these days can afford an upwards of 10,000 dollars just on material, not to mention a few more grand for the work.
The other interesting answer that caught my eye was anyone still being fond of CPVC. I personally don’t have time to sit around for an hour and wait for the cement to solid, yet alone not sure the connection is properly made until I pressure test the system. For someone who is considered a Do It Yourselfer and has helped plenty of his friends install PEX into their home, I will always choose PEX for its advantages.

PEX is more resistant than copper for sure, but my major thing is the ease of installation and freeze-burst resistance. Those two things alone make PEX stand out, not too mention the price. In this day and age everything revolves around the price tag, and if something is better, cheaper, and easier to install. Then I don’t see any other reason to shop round.

For the OP if you seem to have a hard time proving which type of pipe is better, show your “buddy” this thread, if that doesn’t work for you then let him read this article PEX vs. CPVC - Comparing plumbing pipes | Canarsee

It thoroughly explains the differences between PEX and CPVC. Hope this helps!

Sincerely,
James

[Questionair]

Wow Thank you everybody, Seems like I sparked an interesting conversation topic. So for the most part it seems that a large portion of you agree with using PEX tubing as the main piping in a system.

Am I wrong for thinking if the price of copper goes down a few notches, then it will still be regarded as the premier type of pipe?

Also CPVC is just too much of a nightmare for most people, considering it takes real experience to properly glue the connections. As a fellow DIY'er myself I always find myself more secure with the job I'm doing when I can actually see the connection made, as opposed to soldering or gluing piping to only find out its done incorrect.

Personally I would have probably chosen PEX first if not for the few accounts of rats and seed bugs gnawing through it.

I'm big on revolutionary products, and it seems to me that all of you are only making it more clear to me than it already was, PEX is completely taking over.

I'm assuming minus the few plumbers who love the soldering process for copper, and the gluing process for CPVC, that most the population prefer a simple crimp or clamp connection.

In a year or two I plan or re-piping all the CPVC in my home for either copper or PEX, depending on the price of copper it seems that I will have no choice but to go with PEX.

The insistence of one plumber will surely be turned down when I show him this thread. Thanks a lot everybody!

[douglasken]

CPVC is just absolete and cant handle with its competitor PEX. My choice is PEX, because as all you know PEX have so many advantages like chlorine resistance, freeze resistance (better the any other type of plumbing pipe PB, PVC, CPV or Copper), scratch and impact resistance.