Hey all, We recently submitted an offer on a home we're interested in here in SoCal (Orange County) and are now in the counteroffer stage. We have a good shot of winning the bid but after being 'burnt' on the last place (we ultimately backed out of it), I'm much more wary of things in general as it pertains to the house, inspections, plumbing, etc. That said, the listing description/agent mentioned that this home was repiped. At first I thought or maybe assumed it was PEX but the listing doesn't actually specify. I think the agent might have said "PEX" but he might have just been generally talking about it and needed to confirm what was used for the repipe. I took the liberty of looking up building permit history from the local city (thanks to a local plumber who suggested it) and I see a permit from Jan/Feb 2009 for a copper repipe: "permit for copper repipe" are the exact words. So at this point I'm assuming the repipe was copper and not PEX...*unless* they did another repipe for PEX without pulling a permit between then and now. But assuming the only repipe done was for copper back in 2009, how much should we be concerned about things like A) how good of a job was done B) longevity/durability of the copper lines/fittings as far as there not being another leak in the foreseeable future and C) anything else?

Background: 36 year old single story stick built house on slab, the geniuses that built it forgot to provide a condensate drain thru slab for updraft central air unit in closet. They provided a cute little plastic sump pump that sits in the return air plenum under the unit, that directs the water, via 3/8" copper tubing, up into the attic, thence 10 feet over and down inside an interior wall behind the adjacent bathroom, where it pops out under the vanity/sink, then into a drain connection designed for the purpose of a dishwasher hook up. It's been trouble free other than having to clean the pump out every three years or so, and advising the occasional overnight guest not to worry about the frequent gurgling sound from the sink. A leak has finally developed very close to where the copper pipe comes thru the wall and cabinet under the sink, as during a pumping cycle (that lasts about 4 or 5 seconds and pumps about a 1-1/2 cups water), I can see seepage running down the back cabinet wall. I suspect the pipe is kinked where they bent it to come thru the wall, and perhaps over the years, has finally eroded thru. Tearing into the wall, whether under the sink, or on the opposite side (my bedroom) is what I'd like to avoid, and I thought of a simple fix. The pump itself is designed to accept a 1/2" clear vinyl hose, (of which I've got about 3 feet of installed, presumably to provide for flexible placement of pump). The 3/8" copper tube fits snuggly into the other end of the hose, with a hose clamp. I thought I'd cut the copper tube right above the A/C where it pops into the attic, and get some new 1/2" vinyl tubing and run it over about 12 feet to the vent stack for the bathroom drains, bore a 3/4" or 7/8" hole into the PVC vent pipe as close to the attic floor as I can to minimize increasing the head on the pump, and shoving the hose for several inches, pointing down into the pipe, then slathering some silicon around it to keep rain water from seeping thru. I don't know the i.d. of the vent pipe, but I assume it's sufficient to allow adequate ventilation during, say a toilet flush, that the intrusive vinyl hose won't matter. And in fact, I don't know why the builders didn't do it this way to begin with, by using a Y connection on the stack. So am I busting a code doing it this way? Can I do it without having to cut in an offset Y (or whatever you call it) ?