Questions about CPVC - Plbg.com
Questions about CPVC - Plbg.com
Once in a while, I come across homes or mobile homes with CPCV water pipe that I have to adapt onto for repairs.
I don't carry CPVC pipe or fittings, so I usually usually use a brass compression x IPS adapter (i.e., 7/8" compression x 3/4" male IPS to adapt onto 3/4" CPVC pipe).
Because I am not a big fan of compression fittings, I considered getting some CPVC pipe and fittings for my truck, along with the proper glue and primer for CPVC. But my main concern with this is how long would I have to wait for the glue to cure before I can pressurize the line? As a service plumber, time is always a factor, and I can't see having to wait an hour or two for glue to dry on a repair that otherwise takes 15-20 minutes.
What method(s) would you guys recommend for adapting onto CPVC, that would be both reasonably fast as well as reliable? I don't trust compression fittings 100 percent, but I see them used often. If I do go with compression fittings, should I use plastic fittings, or is it okay to use brass compression fittings on CPVC pipe?
-Ken
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Author: jjbex (IL) I use regular compression stops, also. Sharkbites can come in real handy in these situations. usually 20 minutes of cure time is good. Weather conditions affect it, though. When it's humid or damp, let it sit longer. I had a job this summer where the homeowner wanted one sillcock replaced, and another added. The house was plumbed with CPVC. I glued a short piece of CPVC into two 1/2" ball valves the night before. I cut out the existing tee and replaced it with a sharkbitetee, and cut in the other sharkbite. I then stuck the pieces of pipe into bull of the sharkbites. Now I was able to turn the water back on, and was able to finish my pipework. I came out of the crawl space, went to a neighborhood bar for an O'Doul's, came back and opened up the ball valves, now the homeowner could water his garden, without dragging his hose all over. I left with my check, a sack full of vegetables and the thanks of the customer.
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"You can't get there from here"
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I don't even chance it....and I don't even bother.
ANYtime I do work at a home with CPVC, I tell that customer DO NOT CALL me if this piping ever leaks and needs repair. I will not work with it for liability reasons.
That material is extremely brittle as it ages and all I need is to glue a joint, run water through it and it slowly contaminates the solvent weld joint. Then, days weeks months later from the 2 or 3 quick acting solenoid valves in the home that joint breaks free. High water pressure is even worse if you fix that piping and there is no consideration to address the issue.
I've done one hose bibb replacement with this piping. I soldered a 1/2" compression union to the side of the hose bibb made up of a 1/2" street 90 out of the hose bibb and 1 foot of copper pipe on the turn up the wall. That way I have one compression joint to worry about, it's an open basement and I took that connection just like an angle stop to a toilet. Might not be code but I'll trust my luck with compression connections before I ever trust water and pressure in 20 minutes because I have other service calls to do for the day.
And relying on others to NOT turn the water on for a lengthy period of time is something that just doesn't work. They turn it on probably the minute you leave and then call to tell you that your piping is leaking.
I've eliminated all possiblities of dealing with the liability of this product and I've only made 1 connection to this pipe in 4 years. Proud of it.
It is worth it to me to turn around and walk away from a job with this piping than to make triple my pay and get that call that turns your stomach and your wallet upside down.
If the piping had the chance for a 24 hour cure, I would chance it. That doesn't happen in the service world of plumbing in most cases.
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Author: A1APLBG (GA) Copper was baned here almost 10 years ago and CPVC has been the main piping material for years. We have no basements here so we run our water lines under the slab. I do not understand why people are so scared of the stuff. It will hold a 150# hydro test after 20 mins. My Dad started using CPVC in because copper won't last but 7 to ten years here and has had almost no problems. the CPVC looks every bit as good as copper and will last twice as long. It has been on the market longer than PEX and has just as good of a track record. Yet it doesn't look like ROMEX cable when your done with the job. My Grandad said he heard the same complaints when copper did away with Iron Pipe in the 60's. All I hear from the guys up-north is how good pex is,yet this is the same thing i heard about pollybute in the 80's. Nothing Beats copper, Yet CPVC is the next best Thing. WE ripped out way to much polly to ever trust a system that is so closely related.
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In this and numerous other posts, there is always a concern expressed about freezing pipes. What is up with that? Can't they build a house where the pipes don't freeze?
I've been on the sunny left coast for 40+ years, but I grew up in MA, just up route 1A a ways from Packy. My folks lived in that house for 50 years, and never a frozen pipe.
My point is: is the freeze situation really something which should be part of the discussion on pipe choice. *%*#(&^ happens....earthquakes, hurricanes, pipe freeze. When it does, bad things will happen to your house. But then you just fix it and go on.
WIth no experience in CPVC, but a lot of experience with PVC, my concern would be glue joint failures. Which has a higher probablilty / frequency of occurrence: glue joint failure or copper pinhole?
Harry, you have been away from the cold windy winters of Chicago for to long, even down there the cold can creep in during long periods of time when the thermostat is turned down to save a few bucks.
Don't you remember how the cold can follow a soffit in an even freeze pipe on inside walls of a house?
Tomorrow, Im patching a few holes a woodpecker made in my cedar siding and then with my air rifle Im sending him to The Happy Hunting Ground and I don't have any CPVC in my house to freeze.
CPVC might be just fine in Arizona but the cold weather where I live is unforgiving on ridged plastic water pipe.
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