cpvc plumbing

[Deere Dude]

I like copper for a nice looking job. My existing house of two years had CPVC which I don't like at all. Copper first for me then PEX for me any day. Funny thing about my current area, copper doesn't last. I always thought it was the greatest for leakage, but not here.

A couple months ago I noticed my hot water to the sink was almost instantaneous which was nice. After a couple weeks my wife noticed a hissing sound from the crawlspace, so upon investigating I noticed some hairline cracks lengthwise on some 3/4" CPVC and was spraying hot water all over.

A few months prior to that I dropped a bottle of shampoo in the tub and broke off the faucet. Yep, CPVC.

I never had a leak with copper with 3 houses before that time.

PEX is easy to run and fittings can be turned even after set up. The fitting will swivel a little bit inside the clamp. That helps me at times.

 

[check]

Pex all the way. Flexible, resistant to freezing, easy to work with, and cheap! Try running copper through 40 feet of TJI joists, at 16 inches on center.

 

[s219]

CPVC will sag too, and is less resistant to freezing damage than PEX. I have never heard of a odor issue with PEX. Had it for 12 years at our old house and now 2+ at our new house. I really like how quickly you can knock out a complex plumbing job. Last weekend I plumbed in a water softener with a fairly complicated bypass circuit, and it was a piece of cake with PEX.

 

[Billrog]

Another plus for pex is you don't hear the water running through the pipes as with copper. Some of the water around here eats copper & it develops pin holes.

 

[tman1020]

I'm in the minority but I'm a CPVC fan. I use it in all my new construction and remodels and have been since 1995. I have had problems with copper and galvanized but not CPVC. A lot of guys don't like it because it's not rigid like copper and you shouldn't use it direct to tub and shower spout. Not a big deal. Just brace it well and use a rigid fitting at tub/shower spout and brass nipple. Copper really should be braced well also anyway. Pex will freeze to it's just more resistant to it and it can be close to cost of copper if installed with a manifold plus u need to acquire a crimp tool. it's also hard to make A pex job look neat.

 

[stuckmotor]

I put in pvc and cpvc with drain spouts at a low point so they wouldn't freeze when I was away from the farm. They sagged and it didn't work. I tried to pull up the low areas so they would drain. That didn't work either. I wouldn't want them where they might leak on pressed wood floors.

 

[Keith2305]

I just used it in a new bathroom. My house is a mix of copper and cpvc. It is dirt cheap here compared to copper (3$ per 10 foot stick 1/2" vs 18$ for copper). At first I was going to use copper but the cost difference was huge. It's easy to work with and despite all the horror stories I've heard about it I know of a lot of homes with it and never a problem. As far as taste I don't notice any and the enemies of it seem to be heat and light. I have noticed older stuff seems to get brittle on the hot water side. Copper is my favorite but I've done repairs on copper that leaked from a poorly soldered joint that took years to show. If it was a new house I'd consider pex but I do like that you can be "neat" with copper and cpvc as in strapped and straight lines. Oh and there are some areas for copper. Like when I ran the spigot and shower head lines from the valve I used copper because it's much more rigid. My parents have a floppy spigot and head because the cpvc flexes.

 

[check]

I put in pvc and cpvs with drain spouts at a low point so they wouldn't freeze when I was away from the farm. They sagged and it didn't work. I tried to pull up the low areas so they would drain. That didn't work either. I wouldn't want them where they might leak on pressed wood floors.

If those sagging lower areas were Pex and they froze, no problem. Pex stretches nicely. So, if the water inside freezes, the Pex just expands and then returns nicely to its previous shape when the water thaws out again - no leaks! It really is a great product.

 

[moriboy]

Pex all the way here. Fast, reliable, won't crack if it freezes, and it's super easy to work with. Maybe not as "neat" looking but the other qualities make up for that.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have CPVC in parts of my house and think it's a good product. When PEX first started becoming available, I wasn't comfortable with it at the time I was building. I Don't like copper for long runs, but love it for my ends. My favorite way to run plumbing lines today is to use PEX for the runs, then copper for the connections. Nothing better then a male copper threaded end to attach your valves to. I like threaded because it makes it easy to change them out if you have a problem down the line.

I hate the plastic connections sold for PEX, and I've found that the brand of PEX and fittings sold at Home Depot isn't anywhere as good as what they sell at Lowes.

With CPVC, be sure to use purple primer and orange glue. If you have some old glue, through it away. Primer lasts forever, but the glue has a shelf life that varies from area and how well it was sealed when closed. Better to just buy new instead of dealing with a leak.