We are remodeling a 60 year old house. We have changed wiring, sheetrock, insulation, some walls, and now its time to look into plumbing. The house currently has iron pipes throughout, and I figured they should be changed??? They weren‘t leaking when we started, but after breaking some pipes while trying to loosen them, I assume I need to just go ahead and put all new pipes in. Which brings me to my question, what should I put in it? We live in Tennessee, and all these pipes are in a basement, which is not heated, but I‘m not too concerned about freezing, (they obviously haven‘t for 60 years). So, what should I do? I want to do it right, but not spend too much on it, as we have sank a lot of money into other projects. Also, we have a well, not city water (if that makes a difference). Thanks in advance for your help!
pex or pvc are all ok, iron and copper will got rust and leak several years later.
PEX is a lot easier to use on a retrofit because you don't have to prepare and solder joints every time you need to make a bend like you do with copper. If you do use copper and are unable to get every single piece of iron pipe out of the walls keep in mind that you need a brass fitting in between the copper and iron, otherwise the copper will get eaten up by dielectric corrosion. I used all copper in the house I built and it was extremely labor-intensive, a lot new construction nowadays uses PEX because it goes in 10 times faster and there haven't seemed to be many problems with it. There was some question about whether PEX would hold up to chlorinated water over the long term because it's similar to polybutylene, which is the gray plastic pipe that was widely used in the 1980's and turned out to be a disaster because chlorinated water attacked and rotted it. Since you are on a well, you wouldn't have to worry about it, and so far the PEX seems to be holding up. As far as PVC is concerned if you go that route keep in mind that standard Schedule 40 PVC is not rated for use on hot water, you have to use CPVC. If the cost between PEX and copper is about the same, I would use PEX because it will save you a bundle of time.
Right now is the best time to change out your galvi pipes. If they're not acting up yet, I guarantee you that they will very soonYou'll more than likely notice a significant difference in your water pressure when you do. For certain, do not use pvc. This would be best used for exterior irrigation applications. As for copper, this is the most popular way. If you were to go the PEX method, you'll need to have the proper tools for crimping, connecting,etc.all your joints. Also to be considered is understanding all the different connectors where exactly they'll be necessary. If you are able to understand this method, it could be a faster, less expensive way to go.Especially considering the costs of copper continually rising.Hope this helps Best Regards, Steve
