Water Line Replacement

[bubblegummom]

So we have had 3 plumbers come out and give estimates. One wants to use copper, 2 want to use pex. So now the choice. From what LazyPup has said, PE would be the best but that has not been offered, and pex would be second best.

But you know, we have moles in our yard from time to time and I have read that varmints chew through pex. What to do?

They would be using trenchless, directional boring equipment to go under the concrete.

Thank you!

[LazyPup]

Up until the late 50's all water pipes were metal pipes and it made perfect sense to ground the house electrical system to the water pipes thus the electrical system was grounded to a complete city wide network of pipes however during WWII as more and more metals were necessary to support the war effort industries began exploring alternative materials.

During the war they managed to develope fiberglass and some crude forms of plastics, although they were primarily only used for military purposes at the time. After the war they began experimenting with civillian applications for the new materials and slowly plastic pipes started being introduced into the plumbing trade. Both PE & PVC pipe were introduced into the plumbing trade in the late 50's to early 60's but they initially got off to a slow start. By the late 60's PVC was often the material of choice for both water supply (the direct buried line from the street main to the structure) and "Distribution Piping" which is the water pipe within the structure, however by the late 70's they discovered that PVC pipe has a high failure rate when used on water lines that conveyed water in excess of 73degF. In response to that, they produced CPVC pipe and the codes were ammended allowing the use of PVC for cold water lines & CPVC for the hot water lines, but it was soon learned that homeowners were not aware of the temperature limitations of PVC and often they substituted PVC for CPVC during routine maintenance, so the plumbing codes were again ammended, this time allowing PVC for the supply line (which is always cold water) and prohibiting the use of PVC within the structure (which could be hot or cold water).

During that same period of time it came to light that if the water supply line is installed or replaced with plastic pipe they could no longer effectively ground the house electrical system to the water pipes. It is my understanding that the National Electrical Code was then ammended allowing them to ground the electrical system to the water supply pipe only if the supply pipe was metal pipe, otherwise they had to install the driven ground rods as Hazee explained.

Some local plumbing codes still require that even if we install a plastic water supply line, we must install a minimum of 10' of copper pipe at the point where the water line enters the structure and although it is extremely rare now, I have worked in areas where the local code only permits copper pipe for the supply line.

On the other hand, while they originally grounded the electrical system to the water lines, even if your house was constructed with a plastic supply line and the electricians installed the driven grounding rods for the electrical system, if you have copper pipe inside the house you should also have that copper pipe bonded to the house grounding system because many of the appliances, HVAC equipment and remote water valves are electrically operated and if they should happen to develope a short that would energize the copper unless it is effectively grounded.