On Thu, 12 Sep 2013 19:49:42 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

My best friends galvanized last near 70 years, he replaced it all with copper which is now failing after 35 years.....

looks like all his lines will need replaced again and he is over 80 and going to get quotes from plumbers......

he is not happy at all......

There's a lot of myth about copper being better then galvanized.
It mostly depends on water chemistry
In my area galvanized can go many years. Soft water.
I replaced most of the galvanized in my last house with new
galvanized. That was +60 years old.
No leaks, but the scale had built up too much, so the water flow to
upper floors had slowed too much.
When I wrenched the pipes open, I found the restrictions were confined
to horizontal runs, only at joints, and much worse around the water
heater. Since the horizontals were mineraled up near the joints, I
replaced everything in the basement from the service entry up to the
verticals that went to the upper floors.

Left all the stuff in the walls alone. They were wide open and not
rusty. I could see that from where they began in the basement, and in
the upper floor els and tees. Replaced all the stop valves up there.

This current house uses the same Lake Michigan water, and the
galvanized is 54 years old, with no issues at all. I know from simple
experience that the joints, especially near the water heater, are
getting mineraled up, but don't know how much.
We don't any issues with flow. Of course that sneaks up on you, since
it happens over time. But you know when it's unacceptable.

This is ranch house, the other was a 2-flat, so it got more water
flowing through the basement pipes. More water, more water heater
activity, more mineral build up.

Of course that's soft water, and apparently high quality galvanized.
Quality pipe is important, whether galvanized or copper.
I don't doubt that some water will quickly clog galvanized, and that
low quality or poorly installed galvanized will leak or rust.
Haven't run into that here.

I've also read that some water doesn't play nice with copper and will
cause pin-holing. Don't know much about copper.

If I get any issues in my current place, I'll just replace it with
galvanized, but might look to see if PEX meets code.
I sure don't see copper as the creme de la creme of piping.

The way I look at copper in my area, it was pushed by builders,
plumbers, and maybe some real estate agents. It adds no value, just
expense.
Not sure about the real estate agents, because I've done a lot of
house hunting here, seeing both copper and galvanized, and don't
recall an agent ever even mentioning it.
Most houses here built since the '60's have copper.
Since I don't do copper, I would always look at that as a demerit if I
even gave it any thought. But I don't remember even thinking about
it. Too many other elements of a house are more important.

Copper is totally unnecessary for areas supplied with Lake Michigan
water.

I see pin-holing happens with copper pipe, and nobody knows why.
The original question was asked almost 3 years ago, so it looks like
they still haven't figured it out.







This place is all galvanized