"Heathcliff" wrote in message
currently have a
teenager living down there. (If he's good, someday we might let him
come upstairs.)


Heh, heh, he'll be there for life.


-- currently some of the (steel) pipes to the upstairs radiators go
through outside walls. While that has not caused problems in the 10
years we have occupied the house, it certainly is not real
energy-efficient; one purpose of redoing the pipes would be to get away
from that.

I'm not sure that he gains would offset much of the cost of a re-do of them.
If the wall cavity is insulated, there shold be little loss around the pipe.

Also, curious if it would be practical to use CPVC or other
plastic pipe rather than copper.

If anything, PEX would be my first choice. While it is capable of taking
180 degrees, it is designed for 140.