Wild plumbing estimate.

[EddieWalker]

The price seems a bit high to me too, but I don't know all the details involved in the job or what material he was going to use or are required. The backflow valve is a good example. If it has to be installed and tested, that a couple hundred bucks at least.

One reason for the price is that he is so busy he isn't worried about getting the job. I'm doing that right now. My rates have take a pretty good jump in the last few months because of how busy I am. I charge more, work every day on a big project, and several evenings on smaller jobs. The more I charge, the more work I seem to get. I know it's not how it works, and there has to be a point of being too expensive, but I'm not there yet.

The other reason is that he is desperate and not working and he is trying to take advantage. If you get multiple bids, you will get a better feel of what the going rate is and also some insite into what needs to be done.

The line from the meter to the house is going to be easy. Connecting the line to the water heater inside the house is where I'm seeing some issues. Galvanized is terrible stuff. Seeing what is inside those pipes will make you wish you had never used that water in your toilet, much less drank it. You have to replace ALL of it, not just the easy part out in the open. In most houses, the main supply goes to the water heater. It branches off just before the water heater and feeds your cold water lines and into the water heater to feed your hot water lines. There should be some sheetrock work and some under the house work in this job that is part of the bid the plumber provided.

Eddie

 

[Egon]

There is a shut off at the water meter

Darned, flushed it again!

It's morning and I'm not really awake and I come from an area where water meters are inside the house and the frost level is measured in meters

 

[Gary Fowler]

Around here, once past the meter, you can do any work without a plumbers license and the only back flow preventers is at the hose bib and are really just a vacuum breaker. If anything is at the meter it is on the county water supply side. I do have a huge one for my sprinkler system that is required but it is tied into the main line before the line to the house.

 

[N80]

Eddie, the rest of the house is pretty much just PEX except the line leading into the house from the street which is copper. A copper to PEX connection should be easy. And if I do this job I will relocate the entry point into the house so I can route the line farther away from the pecan tree which already took at hit to its roots when they were redoing the sewer lines.

I have no idea what the city codes are. Will check codes before doing anything.

And again, when they hit my line they ran new line about 10 feet from the meter, under the sidewalk an into my yard so I would not even be getting near the meter.

But, we got a water bill yesterday and it is very low. And even when we have been bone dry here there is no evidence of any leakage in the existing galvanized pipe. The whole thing started when they hit the line and they told my wife that it was so brittle and rusty that they had a hard time finding a sound spot to connect to. I never saw it. But if the water bill is low and there is no sign of leakage and the water pressure is good then I may just leave well enough alone for now.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I just had a plumber (one who plumbed my house when built) come out to replace 2 outside hose bib stations (freeze proof kind) that had froze and bursted just in front of the valve seat. I had left the hoses attached when we went on Christmas holiday and per plumber (and a note on new valves) hoses must not be attached for freeze proof. It seems that water wont drain from the valve when a hose is attached. Both of them burst at the exact same location. I really didn't know how these were attached which is why I called the plumber. Come to find out, he had to cut a hole in the wall 16" cL from the outside faucet and solder the copper fittings in. It took him a couple hours to cut the holes, remove the old valve and pipe, add 12" of new pipe, add the new valve and solder it all back, pressure test it, then put a plastic hole cover over the opening that he cut all for $200 and the valves were almost $30 each per Lowes price, don't know what the big 16x16 hole covers cost nor the 2 feet of copper pipe and couplings. I thought the price was very reasonable considering the time involved.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Eddie, the rest of the house is pretty much just PEX except the line leading into the house from the street which is copper. A copper to PEX connection should be easy. And if I do this job I will relocate the entry point into the house so I can route the line farther away from the pecan tree which already took at hit to its roots when they were redoing the sewer lines.

I have no idea what the city codes are. Will check codes before doing anything.

And again, when they hit my line they ran new line about 10 feet from the meter, under the sidewalk an into my yard so I would not even be getting near the meter.

But, we got a water bill yesterday and it is very low. And even when we have been bone dry here there is no evidence of any leakage in the existing galvanized pipe. The whole thing started when they hit the line and they told my wife that it was so brittle and rusty that they had a hard time finding a sound spot to connect to. I never saw it. But if the water bill is low and there is no sign of leakage and the water pressure is good then I may just leave well enough alone for now.

If the line is 15-20 years of age, then I would replace it when you have some good weather and a weekend free. Likely that it will give up the ghost when in the dead of winter or during a storm or sometime when you are gone is pretty high according to Murphy's Law. IF the water company said it needed replacing, I would go with their advice and replace it. They have no dog in the hunt to give you false info on this as it is your responsibility to keep it up and any water loss due to a leak is yours to pay for. Personally I wouldn't use PEX if you have any rocks in you soil as it is pretty soft. I would go with schedule 80 PVC which is good for 350 PSI and gives you an extra margin of safety, its cheap @ around 30 cents per foot and all the fitting you need are readily available at your hardware store. Use the blue glue and you don't need a primer and it is not affected by water like the clear stuff so if you have a little drip from the line, it will still work and dries almost instantly so no need to wait hours prior to energizing and checking for leaks. I used it for all of my sprinkler and adding in some additional faucets for my brother in law involved about 300 feet of new pipe. We had no leaks and tested it within 10 minutes of completing the last joint and this system runs at over 100 PSI from the water company. We have pressure regulators before it enters any building but the outside hose bibs have full system pressure.

 

[aczlan]

I agree with Gary Fowler, I would use PVC, or high pressure rated black plastic pipe rather than pex.

Aaron Z

 

[turnkey4099]

Eddie, the rest of the house is pretty much just PEX except the line leading into the house from the street which is copper. A copper to PEX connection should be easy. And if I do this job I will relocate the entry point into the house so I can route the line farther away from the pecan tree which already took at hit to its roots when they were redoing the sewer lines.

I have no idea what the city codes are. Will check codes before doing anything.

And again, when they hit my line they ran new line about 10 feet from the meter, under the sidewalk an into my yard so I would not even be getting near the meter.

But, we got a water bill yesterday and it is very low. And even when we have been bone dry here there is no evidence of any leakage in the existing galvanized pipe. The whole thing started when they hit the line and they told my wife that it was so brittle and rusty that they had a hard time finding a sound spot to connect to. I never saw it. But if the water bill is low and there is no sign of leakage and the water pressure is good then I may just leave well enough alone for now.

Which is what I did. And then with a house full of guests guess what khappened. Yep. Fortunately I was looking for an excuse to throw my wife's son and his gaggle of freeloaders out anyhow.

When I dug up mine it was all lumps of corrosion thinly held together by what remained of the pipe. I bypassed the entire line and ran new PVC a 1/4 mile to the community well.

Harry K

 

[N80]

Good thoughts on when to repair I suppose. May wait for warmer weather anyway.

This same plumber said he was going to have to reattach one of the outdoor faucets when he put in the new line. He added $300 for that job. And remember, this is the guy giving the LOW estimates in the neighborhood!

We had the black plastic stuff running from the well at our previous house. I'm not sold on PEX in terms of underground use but would like something a little flexible that I can arc a little bit. So I may look at the black plastic.

What is wrong with PEX underground? I love the stuff for inside work. Copper (for interior) stinks around here because it is expensive and with well water (maybe not city) it turns everything blue. We constantly had leaking copper.

 

[kenmac]

What is wrong with PEX underground?

Nothing. I been installing it since it came out. I have had no call backs due to failure,leaks, etc, since I've been using it.