I am purchasing a home with copper and galvanized pipes. I need to install dielectric unions between the two pipes. Should I spend a little now or a lot now to repipe to all copper?
It depends on many things
A little advice here - the professinos replaced my tub drain with plastic from galvanized. That was a mistake - it is so so noisy. Stick with metal of any kind. And also, copper has natural anti-bacterial properties too. Plastic is turning us feminine - I got proof. ;-)
Rip it all out and start again. Trust me. What is expensive today is cheap tomorrow. I have done this move with every property i have ever done and its the best way. I have seen people put it off and put it off and it costs more, and more upheaval, plus risking old corroded pipes with your new gear in your house (leaking radiator water onto your new flatscreen and PS3? Not worth the risk!) You could do it in PolyPipe (gray, bit like Hep20 but better fittings) to save time of installlation but for my own houses i have always always done it in copper throughout. Old fashioned by some new engineers standards but hey- its my home - and a copper soldered union lasts decades tried and tested if done right! Plastic? Potentially yes, but still.....its not time tested in the field. Polypipe is good stuff tho and thats the one i would be confident in in the plastic range. Good luck and if you want any more tec info just ask! Plumbing and Heating engineer for 12 years and have seen every combination of pipe tecniques going! Copper, brass, and galv dont mix, launch it mate! Do it now before you get settled in and the floorboards are bare or have carpet you dont really care about! PLUMBASE (not plumbcenter) and WATERMARK are two very good stockists and do quality copper gear way cheaper than the competition.
