I read in a publication (Family Handyman, June 2020, page 53 that PVC pipe is not code compliant for indoor water supply lines. Is this new? I certainly have been in a lot of homes over the years where the pipe was installed by a licensed plumber and a mixture of CPVC and PVC was used.

 

It's my understanding that PVC isn't rated for interior water supply and that is why it isn't allowed. Personally I don't see anything wrong with using it on the cold side.

 

hi -

I see marks viewpoint: what would be wrong with using PVC inside the house in the water distribution system for cold water. I thought about that same thing. The only thing I could think of is that since PVC isn’t rated for hot water, but CPVC is, then if you make a rule that CPVC can be used for water distribution in the house, but not PVC, then there will be no chance for someone to get confused and use PVC on some of the hot lines rather than using CPVC.

I never saw an explanation for the restriction so I really don’t know the answer, just a guess. But I know plumbing code says you can’t use PVC for water distribution (i.e., the water pipes in the house). I don’t think that’s a new regulation. I think it’s been around for a long time. For example, my copy of the 2006 International Plumbing Code lists PVC for water service (i.e., piping to the house) but only lists CPVC and not PVC for water distribution (i.e., piping in the house).

 

Zoe, thanks for your reply. Since PVC apparently is used often for cold water supply I am wondering if a picky house inspector writes this up as a problem and how, in the first place, did the system pass the plumbing inspection?
If it is a problem with the inspection process I can see a lot of problems getting a home sale financed. But I have never heard of it causing a closing to fail.

 

Just because the plumber is licensed doesn't mean a permit was pulled. Also while some inspectors are very picky, some are pretty lenient.

 

I wouldn’t think it would cause a closing to fail either. I think even on the forums here I have heard of many cases where people have used PVC. It does seem like mark says these inspectors really vary. Somehow to me that doesn’t seem right – they are god – lol!

 

In many years past I have seen several new homes plumbed with PVC cold water lines and CPVC hot water lines. I personally wouldn't use either of those types of pipes for water distribution inside a house, but I am an old school copper guy.

 

I used copper when I plumbed my home in 1989. Immediately began to notice green stains in all the basins. I am on a well. Since determining what the problem was I have had to deal with an acid neutralizing filter. If I had it to do over I would have used the CPVC/PVC combination. But for a home on a municipal water system I agree that copper is very good.

 

Ahaa – me too! Identical to my story. On a well and my ph was very low, green stains in the basins, so I installed an AN Filter myself to save the copper. It has been a challenge (several years now) to say the least, to get the hardness and the ph correct. (I use Calcite and Corosex in the filter). Don’t know if I’ll ever get there – but anyway - the copper is in fact protected. That’s something - lol!

 

I use the same two chemicals as you in a 20 year+ old Water Boss AN filter. Frankly, I do not try to attain a finite Ph reading and it usually runs quite high after I add new chemicals. Does not seem to affect the taste of the water. Over the past couple of years I have done some modifications to my water system resulting in cutting out small sections of my pipe and found no visible deterioration of the pipe or weakness in the wall of the cut out pipe.

Now that my pipes are 30 years old I find several articles on the internet saying that is about the life of the copper pipe and its time to replace. I find that quite untrue-more time will tell.

Went to a local home show a couple of years back and talked with a water quality specialty company representative about my Water Boss filter. He asked how tall it is. I told him about 3 feet. He said that is not sufficient time/depth of water contact with the chemicals to properly treat the water for Ph adjustment. He recommended his 5 foot tall, slender tank as a better appliance.

It seems like so much information I am offered does not truly apply, at least in my circumstance, or is just plain old BS.

 

Its the old water voo-doo at play again.

Its amazing how one of the most abundant items on this planet can be manipulated into something so foreign and mysterious.

Water itself is neutral, what it carries is not.

Simple enough, get a water test, figure out what you have, install equipment to remove!

Copper pipe is the standard, and as noted above in some cases it's life can be shortned but not because of the water but what is in it!

 

I have heard and read that there are some houses that have copper pipes that are 80 years old, and copper can last a very long time, and as Marq1 points out, what’s in the water is a problem. My house is 55 years old and I still have the original copper, except for a small section of CPVC I put upstream of the AN Filter, because water upstream of the filter is very acidic and would ruin the copper.

I have a 5 foot tank that I filled 2/3’s full with Calcite and Corosex (as per instructions, can’t remember the ratio Calcite/Corosex). My ph was less than 5.5.

I did not want a softener and have not installed one - not yet anyway. Long story short, it way overcorrected the ph (to over 10.0) and the hardness went through the roof. The material in the tank now after a few years is down from 2/3 to about 1/3 of the tank size, the ph is about 7.5, and the hardness is still ridiculous (about 15).

I thought I sized the tank properly so I don’t know why I have that ridiculous hardness. But I think I’ll remove all material from the tank this year and start adding a little of the material at a time and see what happens.

If I were you I don’t know if I’d jump right up to 5 foot tank. I don’t know how the guy could justify that 5 foot tank especially since your ph is not acidic when you add the proper amount of filter material to your tank.

I think you are right about the BS, some of these guys I think just want to sell you much more than you need. If your ph is not acidic after treatment then I don’t know why that guy would say you need more contact time – and hence need a larger tank. I think maybe they way overestimate the amount of contact time needed.

 

Zoesdad: I shoot for 30% corosex and 70% calcite. I have to syphon some of the water out of the filter before adding chemicals. If I stick the tube too far into the tank I start to suck out small black rocks which I assume to be the corosex. Have you ever experienced this?. Even the Water Boss people could not answer my question about this. I have tried soaking the chemical mixture in a glass to see if it turns black over time with no luck. I, too, plan to remove my system and wash out all existing media and get a fresh start. I am not having any problems with the filter but I am adding media much more often than when the machine was new.

 

Yep – I think I do remember the 70/30 ratio. Thanks.

https://www.cleanwaterstore.com/acid...-cf-10x54.html

Mine looks like this. I bought it from them, but it was only $700 a few years back. It is the 1.5 cu ft. model but mine has the Fleck backwash valve – not the 5900 valve shown on that model.

It is a downflow filter so maybe that makes the difference in terms of whether or not there might be loose material. The tank is one of those Vortech tanks and it has a basket built into the bottom. You just dump the material down onto the basket from the load opening near the top of the tank. But it has a backwash control valve on the top because the material has to be backwashed periodically. On an upflow filter no backwash valve is needed.

I haven’t experienced sucking up any loose material or anything black up to this point. I think there is a difference between upflow and downflow tanks, so maybe that’s why I never see or experience any loose material. If yours is an upflow filter then maybe you would have to be a little careful about sucking up material. Not sure though.

In downflow the water comes down the outside of the center pipe in the tank and through the material, then up through the center pipe and on to the house.

On the upflow the water comes down the center pipe and then up through the outside of the center pipe and through the material and then on to the house.

Pretty sure that’s the difference.