[winter-rabbit]

Redoing the entire plumbing system for my house.

What would you choose for this area?

[Cold Warrior]

All my houses in CA had copper pipes. When I started looking at houses in Las Vegas, all I saw was PEX. I suspect that PEX is the modern choice for cost and reliability reasons.

[NYtoVT]

Pex without a doubt.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Nothing wrong with PEX, but it has a bad rap in Las Vegas because of all the Kitec and related lawsuits over high-zinc yellow brass fittings that corroded.

KITEC® Class Action Informational Website
Lawsuits over plumbing fixtures keep springing up - VEGAS INC
etc

With PEX you have to make sure your installer knows what they're doing, and is using the correct fittings. With copper, pretty much anyone can do it right. Probably less risky to go with copper, even though PEX may be the better product.

[NYtoVT]

Forgot about the fittings debacle. Quite right. Is PVC allowed ?

[winter-rabbit]

I'm buying Made in USA for sure. Was Kitec Chinese components?

[OmegaSupreme]

there was also the huge polybutylene pipe lawsuit that many las vegas homes had and still have - but again, the main reason these failed was because of the plastic fittings/connectors... installations with the metal connectors were largely unaffected

anyhoo, copper pipes ain't what they used to be. these days you get a very thin pipe that is probably much inferior to pex pipes

also, pex is far easier to work with and install than copper. it's really simple, i've done a few repairs with it myself - no leaks to date (knock on wood)

[BBMW]

The other advantage of PEX, it isn't theftworthy. If your building a house, and there's any lapse in security during construction, be prepared to have your copper plumbing ripped out by copper thieves.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

anyhoo, copper pipes ain't what they used to be. these days you get a very thin pipe that is probably much inferior to pex pipes

The specifications (including wall thickness) for Type K, L, and M copper pipe have not changed AFAIK. If you know otherwise, please cite your source.

If you specify Type L copper pipe for a repipe job, you should get the same wall thickness as if you specified Type L copper thirty years ago. If you ask for Type L and get Type M, then that is fraud. Type L should be the minimum you spec for a repipe job. The repipe job for our house in the Bay Area was specified with Type L copper and that's what I got. I chose copper not because I think it's a superior product, but because I think it was less risky. Going with PEX would have saved about $1000 on a $7500 job.

[skugelstadt]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

Nothing wrong with PEX, but it has a bad rap in Las Vegas because of all the Kitec and related lawsuits over high-zinc yellow brass fittings that corroded.

KITEC® Class Action Informational Website
Lawsuits over plumbing fixtures keep springing up - VEGAS INC
etc

With PEX you have to make sure your installer knows what they're doing, and is using the correct fittings. With copper, pretty much anyone can do it right. Probably less risky to go with copper, even though PEX may be the better product.

Not just Kitec. Other brands were also implicated after the Kitec debacle.