Does anyone have a recomendation to which is better? When I priced the 2 it seemed like copper was 3 times more the price. I need to repipe the crawl space. The house is not for than 30 feet long and wide. Please let me know your suggestions. Thanks
Unless you are experienced at sweat soldering ,pvc is the best choice.The price is also is a lot less for pvc.
the best would be to use copper but i would use PEX over cpvc anyday and use only pvc for the drains
I think I would rater eat copper than PVC. Most new homes have PVC pipes because of the cost of copper has gone up. I bet that copper would win for having less pipe damage with frozen pipes.
New houses are using the newer plastics. I just built two years ago and all my place - hot and cold water - is in red or blue plastic. It works well, there is no soldering (so there's never any issue with lead) and the little clamps are simple to put on and there are no leaks anywhere. Adding extras is a breeze; cut out an inch or two and clamp in a T then run from the T to where you need the water. It couldn't be simpler. ...and you don't ever have to learn to solder correctly - and it really is an art. It could also be difficult in a crawl space with limited movement to handle a torch. Me? I'd go with the plastic stuff - clamped, not glued.
DEFINITELY PEX (pvc). It's way easier to install, cheaper and will last longer, as copper has bad reactions to other metals if it is touching. Pex is also connected using metal rings, crimped with a simple hand tool, copper needs to be soldered, which means that a plumber in a crawl space with a setaline torch will take way more time, be way more dangerous for him and there is a potential he could burn something (structural, electric, drains etc.)
