cpvc plumbing

[paulharvey]

It amazes me to see people saying PEX over CPVC. I'm been out of the commercial, multi family, and residential construction for about 5 years, but in this area PEX is only used in mobile homes. You won't find PEX in any site build homes or buildings, only PVC to the house and CPVC inside. Copper is nice but price has pushed it out of use except from the shower mixer valve to show and bath heads.

 

[Eldubya]

In my part of the world (Western BC) I beleive CPVC has been banned for years. It apparently breaks down when exposed to chlorinated water and becomes too brittle. (so I've been told) Had it in a house I bought 5 years ago and had a heck of a time finding transition fittings that would go from CPVC to either PEX or copper.
It's PEX all the way for me!

 

[farmer2009]

When storing PVC or CPVC glue turn the cans upside down. The glue will dry in any leaks of the lid sealing the can. It'll last a lot longer that way.

CPVC is the standard around here. Just starting to see PEX used. No off taste or anything. Goes in pretty fast.

 

[aczlan]

In my part of the world (Western BC) I beleive CPVC has been banned for years. It apparently breaks down when exposed to chlorinated water and becomes too brittle. (so I've been told) Had it in a house I bought 5 years ago and had a heck of a time finding transition fittings that would go from CPVC to either PEX or copper.
It's PEX all the way for me!

I ran into that this spring. Did a bathroom remodel, removed the showerhead (leaving the angled pipe), then removed the sheetrock and then the two screws holding the CPVC drop ear elbow to the wall.
As soon as I took the screws out, the elbow broke off of the pipe and fell to the floor...
Never again will I use CPVC. PEX is faster, cleaner (no fittings every 10 feet) and works great for my uses.

Aaron Z

 

[Gary Fowler]

I used (contractor used) all copper with closed cell foam insulation on all the pipe which was ran underground and up thru the slab. The insulation keeps soil and concrete from contact with the pipe plus insulates the hot water line to which I have a recirculating pump attached at the water heater. This may cause a bit of extra electricity to keep the line hot but I have instant hot water which conserves our precious water resource. It sure beats what I had at my previous house where the master bath was at least 60 feet of line away from the heater and took it seemed like forever to get hot water from the faucet. In the photo you can see the water lines protruding from the soil prior to slab being laid.

 

[2014Newbee]

I used to do brand new residential plumbing here in Houston about 10 years ago, back then pex was mostly used on a customer want basis and when running water to an island sink under the slab, later on it seemed custom homes (expensive big mansions) were the ones ordering it. I was always pro pex and yes the manifold to control each outlet definitely is nice not just for future repairs, gives the owners a better way to stop water leaks should one develop.

Now I only do plumbing repairs for family or real close friends and if I have to replace water lines I try to use pex as much as I can, not just because of the ease of installation all the pros that have already been mentioned here. No taste smell or anything, maybe it was just a bad batch some people had.

 

[ishiboo]

It amazes me to see people saying PEX over CPVC. I'm been out of the commercial, multi family, and residential construction for about 5 years, but in this area PEX is only used in mobile homes. You won't find PEX in any site build homes or buildings, only PVC to the house and CPVC inside. Copper is nice but price has pushed it out of use except from the shower mixer valve to show and bath heads.

You (or your entire area) are out of the loop.

PEX is everywhere now. Residential, commercial, whatever. I would think most places would look at you funny if you planned CPVC over PEX.

Underground gas to the home is now all PE as well, with a tracer wire if it's not built-in.

 

[paulharvey]

You (or your entire area) are out of the loop.

PEX is everywhere now. Residential, commercial, whatever. I would think most places would look at you funny if you planned CPVC over PEX.

Underground gas to the home is now all PE as well, with a tracer wire if it's not built-in.

PE and HDPE is common for gas, as well as from water main Corp stop to meter (depending on individual utility, one fairly major one doesn't allow any PE over 1", anything bigger is PVC or DIP).

 

[tman1020]

In my part of the world (Western BC) I beleive CPVC has been banned for years. It apparently breaks down when exposed to chlorinated water and becomes too brittle. (so I've been told) Had it in a house I bought 5 years ago and had a heck of a time finding transition fittings that would go from CPVC to either PEX or copper. It's PEX all the way for me!

I don't believe it's the CPVC pipe that has problems when exposed to chlorine I believe it was some isolated cases of certain types of glue that was used that would deteriorate. CPVC is generally very chemical resistant. There are some very nice USA made CPVC fittings that convert from CPVC to metal thread. However most of the valves that are CPVC or PVC even the premium ones are fair at best. I like to convert over to threaded and use high-quality brass valves.

 

[Maxify55]

My son's a licensed plumber and says that if you want cheap...PVC is the way to go. Next up would be cpvc but life expectancy is only around 20 yrs. After that is a crap shoot. He's replaced a lot of copper, pvc and cpvc over the yrs and, by far, the best and longest lasting is pex.
Just passing along data.
We built our place before was certified and had to settle for that which the contractor used.
Next time, you betcha, we're using pex.
Not nearly as expensive as copper and much longer lasting.

 

[Raspy]

I just did my entire new home with PEX. Love it. If you use the domestic rated stuff, you should get no chemical taste or smell as it's tested and rated to be safe.

If you do use PEX, think in PEX instead of installing it like copper, meaning bend it and fish it along as you can and don't use 90s for every corner. The manifold systems are OK, but won't allow you to install an effective recirc system if you want it. Use a simple scissors type PVC cutter to cut it.

The best fittings are copper crimp rings used with brass barbed fittings. Get the crimp tool. I've used hundreds of these fittings and, literally, miles of PEX in my radiant business for many years with no failures. You can get some nice copper to PEX adapter fittings, ready to crimp on, for the nipple outlets under the sink and at the toilet. Then you'll have a strong copper stub sticking out of the wall. For shower heads I like to put about two feet of rigid copper from the wing ell to the PEX conversion to handle the torque of the shower head nipple. If you will be coming up through a concrete slab, slide the PEX through a piece of PVC, or PVC conduit 90, where the poured slab will be. 1" PVC for 3/4" PEX and 3/4" PVC for 1/2" PEX.

I avoid the Sharkbite slip on fittings because they are just an O ring against the pipe and I don't trust them.

 

[Sprinklerman]

The shark bite will transition from cpvc to pex or copper , its a snap . Cpvc is still big in Maryland , I have pex in my camper . I have 4 houses with cpvc , no problems .

 

[woodlandfarms]

First, mobile homes used Poly Butil until 1996 when the lawsuits crushed that awful product out of existence. Do a read on it, no bueno.

For the aluminum hat wearing group, PEX has only recently been allowed for residential use in Los Angeles and has been slow to be adopted. Copper re-piping is still all the rage. I do not beleive CPVC was ever allowed as code.

The reason for pex being late to the table, though, looks to be a combination of big business and the plumbers unions (this is for the aluminim hat wearers). The rumor is that Copper Producers felt California lead the country in building codes and if the could keep PEX tamped down, they would profit. As well, plumbers take a third of the time to work with PEX and lost revenue is a big factor. You see plumbing trucks in LA always laden with copper even now.

 

[s219]

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.

Lowes used to carry good PEX pipe and fittings, but now they carry PEX pipe made in China and I wasn't pleased with the quality. In addition, all their rolls were dirty and manufactured 3+ years ago, and PEX needs to be stored out of UV light which I wasn't going to count on. HD now sells SharkBite PEX, made in USA, and the quality is good. I have also ordered PEX pipe and fittings online when it's a brand I trust (can get really long rolls if you need to make a long run). For my water softener install, I needed about 50 different fittings and it was way easier to order online than fiddle with all that at a box store checkout where barcode scanning plumbing fittings has always been a PITA it seems.

You absolutely need to be using brass fittings, copper crimp rings, and the crimp tool with PEX. The various types of other connectors and fittings are more expensive and less reliable -- I think they are mainly for homeowners doing quick jobs. I invested $100 in a good crimp tool many years ago and it has paid for itself many times over. The only issue I run into at times is that the crimp tool is too big to make a connection in a tight spot. Requires some extra planning sometimes.

I like threaded because it makes it easy to change them out if you have a problem down the line.

I am becoming less and less happy with threaded plumbing connections every year, because the manufacturing quality has gotten so bad that you can't count on the threads being cut right without burrs, and then many times the fittings are not properly stored or cared for in retail and they get dented and dinged up. I have had several leaky threaded fittings in the last couple years, and after inspecting the fittings I saw that there was either a major defect or damage. In one case, the fitting was squashed slightly out of round!! So I only use threaded fittings when necessary now, and carefully inspect the parts.

One more thing about PEX is that it's easy to redo or repair, with no concerns about threads sealing or having to sweat/solder a joint and manage heat. You can use a dremel or ring cutter to nip the PEX ring off a fitting, remove the pipe, and then later slide a new pipe over the old fitting and re-crimp.

I think my favorite part about PEX and crimp rings is that I have never ever had a single fitting leak. Probably have installed thousands of them at this point.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I use copper. Dislike cpvc and won't use it. To me the price difference isn't worth the risks.
I would try pex.

 

[EddieWalker]

I think my favorite part about PEX and crimp rings is that I have never ever had a single fitting leak. Probably have installed thousands of them at this point.

The only times I've had leaks with PEX is when I've used the Home Depot clamps. I'm now to the point I just wont go to Home Depot if I'm doing a job with PEX.

 

[GLyford]

I had 30-year-old copper in my house that was springing new pinholes every fall from our hard water. Partly age and conditions, partly the builder using the thinnest copper then allowed.

Doing a kitchen remodel, and since all the plumbing went next to or over the kitchen, it made sense to pull the ceiling and "wet wall" and rip it all out. It also made it easier for all the electrical changes we wanted.

I'm comfortable doing repairs in copper, and have all the tools for that but it was getting to the point that any stretch of that I had 2 or more repairs in I was replacing the whole run. I had started playing with PEX, using the stainless cinch rings. The only problem with those is the fittings go down a size, so I was going one size up on all the runs I was putting in (1/2 -> 3/4 etc.). Other than that, I like the system.

Our renovation plumber gave us a good price to replace the whole system, so we let him have the job.

It was interesting to me that he completely rethought the system layout, if I had done it myself I would have mostly followed the existing. It's still a "branch" setup, but his trunk lines didn't necessarily end up in the same places.

The other thing is, he doesn't use any kind of crimp. He uses the expander system. Pex Expansion Tools The thing I like the most about this is the fittings have the same inside bore as the tube, no loss of pressure across the fittings. So even though most of the system he installed is smaller than the original builders' hodge-popdge, the pressure is as good or better.

So far, I am very happy with the system. Once the last of the kitchen is done, I suspect I will be even happier.

 

[jfh28]

have cpvc in the barn with living space upstairs........it does seem to freeze and crack easier then copper and I don't like the plastic threaded connections to the fixtures.....but as a water distribution system it's been fine and it is a breeze to work with for any repairs or changes especially if you're working in a confined space......Jack

 

[buckeyefarmer]

What type of pex are people using? A B or C? I think expander has to use A.

 

[Cord]

I use a system with the side crimp rings. Started with the round rings, but I converted on my second project. Never looked back. The round rings are home owner grade and the side crimp is pro grade. The nice thing about the side crimp is that you can get the crimper into much tighter spaces. Plus it has a light the comes on when you reach the correct tension. No gauge necessary.