Building a new house. The water has some sulfur in it. Should I use copper or plastic for the water piping. The plumber has recommended copper. The water comes from a well.
We had a leak in our copper tubing in the foundation due to the PH of our well water. Had a plumber reroute it with the PEX overhead in the attic about 2 years ago. No problems so far. We live in the gulf coast area.
Use PEX, which is plastic. It is better than copper. It is easier to install, easier to add on to, and is smoother on the insides so is less likely to build up scale. I am a landlord and every winter I have at least one tenant that gets frozen pipes. I have never had the PEX bust from the freezing. I have had copper bust from freezing.
I plumbed my last house in copper. Now I mostly use PEX. It is much easier to install. It is freeze resistant (shouldn't be a big problem on a new home if you build it right). It is easy to repair. The achilles heel of PEX is that it can be damaged by UV light. As such, you don't want to expose it to light. I am guessing most will be installed in the walls. If you were to have some exposed to light through a window, you would just need to cover it with some pipe insulation. As far as longevity is concerned, PEX is embedded in concrete floors for radiant heating. It wouldn't be used in that application if it were only going to last 5 years. If installed properly, the PEX should outlive you.
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