Why Your Home’s Plumbing Pipe Materials Matter - Wisler Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, & Electrical

One of the most common questions homeowners ask is whether the pipes in their home are good or bad. If your home has a dripping pipe, there are times when it makes sense to perform a repair or patch. There are other situations when it just doesn’t make sense to attempt a repair. Repairing the same pipe multiple times just isn’t worth your time, money, and hassle. If a qualified plumber inspects your water lines, they will be able to tell you what material the pipes are made out of. We can make a diagnosis and appropriate recommendation for your home’s specific situation.

Here are the different types of materials that your home’s pipes could made from:

Water Lines

• Copper – Most people will be able to recognize what a copper pipe looks like. (It has a distinctive metallic copper color.)
• CPVC – Some lines are made out of CPVC, which is a type of plastic. CPVC pipes are a creamy color and they normally have a yellow line going through them.
• PEX – PEX pipes are classified based on quality. Type A PEX is much better quality than type B or C PEX.
• Quest – Quest pipes resemble PEX pipes, but they are a grey color. They aren’t very good pipes and they are no longer being manufactured.

We prefer to use type A PEX for water lines. We think that this is the best type of pipe to install for many different reasons. They are very durable and they come with a 20 year warranty. The fittings are also put together with a fool-proof method. It takes human error out of the fitting system. Some other water line systems are much more prone to those kinds of fitting problems.

Drain Lines

• Cast iron – Cast iron drain lines are extremely durable. Most of the time they will have a long life. However, since they are made out of metal, chemicals that go down the drain can cause them to corrode and deteriorate.
• PVC – PVC is a very common type of pipe. It’s probably the most commonly used pipe nowadays. It is made out of plastic, but it’s very durable for drains.

We prefer to use schedule 40 PVC pipes.

Obsolete Pipes

Back in the 1960s and earlier, Orangeburg pipes were sometimes used. They are made out of tarpaper, which is not a very good material. (It can collapse very easily.) There were also clay pipes, concrete pipes, and ABS pipes, which are made from a black plastic.

The reason why you may have pipes using one of these materials really depends on when the home was built. The plumbing industry has evolved over the years. Different materials were used as the industry has become more advanced. The era that your home was built will likely determine the pipe that was commonly used at the time.

If you’d like to learn more about the kind of pipes that are used in your home, contact us online or give us a call at (540) 483-9382.