Copper pipes and plumbing have traditionally projected a feeling of durability and strength when shopping for a house. This is especially true where I live, here in Cincinnati, Ohio. Perhaps it is based on the strong German heritage for which Cincinnati is famous.
However, new copper plumbing can deteriorate and develop leaks in certain instances. Often the cause is aggressive water.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
No, the water doesn't growl when it comes out of your faucets. Aggressive water does its work silently. Believe it or not, the actual mechanisms that cause the pitting and corroding of copper water pipes is not totally understood. The water scientists and chemists continue to debate this issue.
One thing is for sure though. Water, itself - that stuff you and I drink, is a chemical compound.That is scary. What's more, the actual chemistry of water can be varied and complex. Water you see has a tremendous ability to dissolve things. So there can be lots of different dissolved chemicals and chemical elements in the water in your plumbing pipes.
Even though the water may be safe to drink, it can still cause corrosion problems! Here is why.
Your drinking water, whether it is from your own private well or from a municipal water works, can have a slightly low pH (that is, be slightly acid); it may contain dissolved carbon dioxide (that is, be slightly carbonated like a flat soft drink); it may have dissolved sulfates, oxygen, or chloride. The presence of these things in your water may make it aggressive.
What Can Happen....
Thousands of homeowners have experienced the effects of aggressive water. It may express itself as an abnormally high water bill (your water line leaks outside underground), part of your foundation may settle due to erosion of soil by an underground leak, a pipe may spring a pinhole leak behind a wall or ceiling. It can happen any time of day or night, usually without warning.
Who's Responsible?
Depending upon how good your insurance coverage is, your insurance company may pick up the tab for cleanup and repair of your house. But, who really caused the problem? Is it really anyone's fault? Maybe more than one person is to blame?
Let's go back to the chemistry of water. Most people think that municipal water works plants just treat water to remove bacteria. Well, guess what, many water works plants do much more than that.
Most water works plants employ highly qualified chemists. These individuals monitor water for all sorts of things: bacteria, natural organic matter, hardness, organic chemicals, and so on.
These chemists are charged with a responsibility to not only make the water safe to drink, but also to make it safe for the water distribution system (pipes). They need to make sure that the pipes under our roads don't corrode. Well, the same is true for the water pipes under your yard and in your house. Your water company has an obligation, I believe, to make sure that your pipes don't fail.
Scale
The chemists at the water works have the ability to adjust the chemistry of the water in many cases. By adding basic chemicals, aerating the water (spraying it in the air to expose the water to the air), etc. they can, in many instances, make the water safe. Many people are aware that certain chemical elements (calcium and magnesium in particular) can make water hard. In fact, too much of these elements can cause a scale to form on the inside of pipes and clog them. But, if you adjust the hardness of water to just the right mineral content, only a very thin scale will coat the inside of pipes, fittings and valves.
This thin coating of scale is good for your copper pipes. It insulates the copper from actually touching the water. For this reason, older homes that contain copper pipe can often survive in the event that a water supply suddenly becomes aggressive.
Chameleon Water
Can water suddenly become aggressive? Well, I don't know about suddenly, but the character of water surely can change. Some water sources are more aggressive than others. For example, water works that derive their water from lakes, rivers, glacial runoff, or any other surface water source rarely produce aggressive water. The reason is simple: this type of water usually runs off very quickly into these bodies of water or is the result of snowfall or ice melt. This water simply doesn't have time to dissolve much of anything.
However, water that is taken from wells or aquifers is a different story. This water may have passed through countless rock formations. It may have been in the ground for months, years, maybe hundreds of years! It has had plenty of time to dissolve minerals that can make this water aggressive.
What happens if a water works system drills a new well, or drills an existing well deeper and runs into this type of water? If it does this, and then doesn't treat the water to make it less aggressive, you may suddenly have aggressive water in your home.
Is Your Water Aggressive?
Good question! How do you find out? First, do you know where your water comes from? The answer may not be simple. For example, here in the Cincinnati area there are many different communities all with different water supplies. To make matters worse, the major water producer, the Cincinnati Water Works, gets their water from two different sources. One source, the Ohio River, is a surface water source. The other, however, is a massive bank of underground wells in an aquifer.
So, here in Cincinnati there is a possibility that if the water from the aquifer is aggressive and if it is not treated to reduce its aggressiveness, I might start getting aggressive water into my house. It's complicated.
You can start your investigative process by calling your water works (if you have one.) Ask to speak to the head chemist - go right to the top! Don't waste your time speaking with someone in customer service, as they probably know very little about water chemistry.
Ask this person where the water comes from (surface, well, or aquifer.) Ask a few questions about quality. Is the water aggressive? Do they treat it? If so, how?
This is very important information for you to get, especially if you are planning to build a new home or replumb your existing house. The reason is simple. If the water is aggressive, or has the potential of becoming aggressive, maybe you should think of using a different piping material other than copper!
Copper Alternatives
If you want to eliminate corrosion problems associated with aggressive water, you need to abandon any metallic pipes. Metals and aggressive water simply don't mix. You are now limited to two primary piping alternatives: CPVC piping and polybutylene. CPVC is rated as an accepted piping material in all major model plumbing codes. Polybutylene is not. There have also been some major problems associated with polybutylene installations that would take me three more Bulletins to tell you about. So, let's stick with CPVC for now.
CPVC is simply plastic piping. It is very easy to work with and is an excellent DIY material. You don't need to be an expert with a soldering torch, as you simply use glue to attach pipes to fittings.
CPVC has lots of advantages other than being unaffected by aggressive water. It is not as noisy as copper pipe, it holds heat better, and it resists condensation.
CPVC piping made by reputable manufacturers is also approved by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF). This organization develops very strict health guidelines that reach into just about everything having to do with food and drink preparation, distribution, etc.
The bottom line is simple. You need to do what is necessary to protect you and your home. A pipe which develops a leak during the night, or while you are on vacation, can cause thousands of dollars of damage. It can destroy items of sentimental value. You have the facts, now it's your turn to act on them.
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