Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Solder for electronics used for plumbing. HELP!

Yes, there is a copper/pex adapter. Pex is the way to go. I tried to run it in my house when I built it, but it wasn't recognized by state code. I spent months fighting with the state chief plumbing inspector to get it adopted, but he wouldn't budge. The local building department told me I could run it but they wouldn't give me a certificate of occupancy or sign off on the final inspection. Without that, I couldn't get financing. I had my attorney draft a certified complaint and nasty letter basically informing the city they would be liable if the copper failed (this community is plagued by pin hole leaks in copper and no one knows why) they actually mandate the use of type L copper just because of this).

The state adopted pex a year later. I was told that my argument and fight with the state and city is why they did it. I’m still worried about the 4000’ of copper throughout my house. – log homes take some very creative plumbing and extra…..oh everything.

Good decision replacing those fittings. I just figured you may have been committed to the lengths and couldn’t cut them out. In the future though, if you get them good and hot, you can get most of the solder out with your brush.

If I may ask, what is the square footage of you log home, just courious as I have been involved in building some rather large homes along with a couple of log homes, and never have come close to using 4000 feet of copper pipe for H/C water supply. .

PEX has been some what approved here in CA, but still have a few things like not witin 18" of a hot water tank and similar pain in the rear things.

4700, split level with five seperate levels.

I also have radiant floor heat with six seperate zones with supply/return home runs to each zone's manifolds. Four bathrooms, two kitchens and the spa room with hot/cold water.

I have just as much wire in the house too. I ran 300' for one ceiling fan with four way swithcs.

Well the main PEX "manifold" or whatever they call it is copper, and at some point the ends get coupled to copper I believe just because of compatability issues with most fixtures. So I guess that I could have run a pair of PEX lines with copper on each ends, but I am not sure that it would be up to code to mix it up like that. Of course, the runs will soon be covered by drywall, so nobody would know...

Well, I have almost all of it back together now, but I am calling it a night. I just need to turn off the water, drain as much of the water in the house, cut the main feeds for the house (with several buckets ready), then put the 'T' into place, and then put a short straight piece from that to the pipes I ran. So 4 soldered joints per line, then time to test it all out. Of course, the best time to cut the water to the house is in the morning just in case something goes wrong, but I am working all week, and my parents are visiting us this coming weekend. That is why I wanted to get this done yesterday, but oh well. Life will go on.

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log homes take some very creative plumbing and extra…..oh everything.

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Oh crap yeah... watching contractors devise all these floating interior walls and what they've developed to allow the logs to settle over time - slip-joint vent and waste pipes and stuff - it's truly amazing!

Bren R.

I'll never build another..........ever.

Dennis,

I exagerated the copper. Just pulled out some of my files and the total copper was about 2800'. Still an unusual amount for a home, I agree. My supplier had to come by and see what the hell I was doing because he just couldn't understand why I could possibly need so much.

OK. I took a "long lunch" today and finished up attaching my hot and cold water runs to the bathroom. I got them all re-done and connected up, and not a single leak! YIPPY! I did get a little wet when I cut into the source lines where I needed to tie into them, but that doesn't count.

Thanks for your help everyone.

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I tried to run it in my house when I built it, but it wasn't recognized by state code.

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Yeah, we have a lot of inspectors here who have the same attitude. All they can do is cite archaic codes and standards. They usually have little common sense. Problem is that they do not want to take the risk of assuming responsibility by accepting the installation. I understand their reasoning but when you are talking about CSA or UL listed products, why would they argue an installation based on manufacturer's recommendations that has gone under myriads of testing to obtain the ratings? It is one of my "pet peeves".

I am currently about to undergo a pex installation from the water meter to distribtution. I am using IPEX. A very reputable company that stands behind their products. My current copper distribution is a rat's nest. Most of it is about 50+ years old so I feel good cutting it out. The longest part of the installation will be the soldering (kitec to copper sockets) for each fixture (unless I can terminate with a copper spigot right off the pex pipe to connect the flexible braid pipe). But then again, it does not take long to solder those connections.

The other side of the coin though is when they jump on a new product too quickly and it turns out to not be safe or useful.

Remember Ufee? Urea formaldehyde?

Bren R.

Very true. And not all PEX is equal. Apparently any PEX manufacturing process that uses T-butyl peroxide (breaks down T-butanol and methyl-tert-butyl ether) has been known to contaminate water in homes. These components are also found in gasoline, apparently. Not something you want to imbibe.

As near as I can tell, there was not a recommendation to remove this type of piping. Rather, they recommend that people simply flush their lines (run the water for a bit) before using.