I'm going to be doing some plumbing, never worked with CPVC, and
wanted opinions on it.

When I plumbed our house back in 2003 I considered copper, PEX, and CPVC
piping.

Copper was the most common, but our acidic water could potentially cause
pinhole leaks down the road. Copper also requires a torch to solder the
joints, and while the risks are minimal with proper precautions, there
was always a small chance of starting a fire with the torch. That year
there just happened to be two new construction fires in my area caused by
the plumbers (By professional's, no less). It also takes a bit of skill
to solder copper fittings efficiently.

PEX has many advantages, but at the time the cost of the crimping tools
was more than I paid for our entire plumbing system. PEX was also harder
to find than CPVC or copper. While availability has improved in recent
years, it's still harder to find the parts and tools.

In the end, I chose CPVC. It's inexpensive, easy to install with simple
tools, pipe and fittings are widely available from virtually any hardware
store, repairs/modifications are easy when/if needed, and it's not
affected by acidic or poor quality water.

However, like any other plastic, CPVC doesn't handle physical stresses
very well. So, anywhere I had a shutoff valve (sinks, toilets, etc.), I
transitioned from CPVC to brass drop-ear elbows and used brass nipples to
install metal valves. Much more secure and rugged than plastic.

I did use some PVC ball valves in our pump house, and have mixed feelings
about them. They don't corrode like some metal valves can, but they tend
to "stick" when they sit unused for a while. But I'm usually more
worried about breaking the PVC pipe on either side of the valve trying to
"unstick" the PVC valve. For what it's worth, I have two different brass
ball valves in our house (with nylon seals internally), and they tend to
stick also. Again, the stresses on the connecting CPVC piping worry me
more than the valve itself.

My recommendation is to use metal valves and anchoring them to a solid
surface. You can then transition to whatever piping you prefer to use.

I have several different types of valves in our plumbing system and the
metal "gate" valve I have in our pump house has been the most trouble
free over the past 5-10 years.

Anthony