Follow your gut and do what you can to get copper. Copper is tried and tested, and there have been a number of failures after the fact, as per your poly.

I don't know much about the cpvc (I think here in Canada, it's used in irrigation systems. All plastics become brittle and deteriorate over time, and they give off stuff you don't want to drink.

Copper can be good for hundreds of years...yes, copper gives off stuff too but you let the water run, and what traces you get are probably beneficial...we do need a little copper in our diet.

Thanks, alan. I do worry about plastic chemicals leaching into water. The office where I work recently put in PEX during a remodel. We couldn't figure out why the water was suddenly so nasty even through the filter. It was like that for weeks. I looked under the cabinet and saw PEX tubing. PEX leaches MTBE among other things. CPVC probably puts stuff into the water, too.

I've had CPVC plumbing for 20 years with zero issues. It replaced 15 year old copper pipes that had all kinds of issues with pinhole leaks. Copper is NOT always the best choice for a situation. It is without a doubt the most expensive choice. That doesn't make it automatically "better" though.

Thank you, hollysprings. This is comforting to know in case I can't afford the copper.

"Premature failure of copper pipe is almost always poor quality pipe, or the wrong specification of copper pipe, or a result of the water conditions not being correctly treated."

Which thickness of copper is recommended? M or L?

"Every new tech fantastic plastic plumbing solution for the past 40 years seems to end up as a class action lawsuit down the road."

It does seem that way. All the plumbers telling me that PEX has been used successfully in Europe for decades fail to mention that Europe doesn't chlorinate their water. PEX is degraded by chlorine. I want to see how it looks here in forty years.

I'm not a plumber, don't play one on TV, amd didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night so I'd be talking to knowledgeable plumbers regarding the proper specs for copper in residential applications and see if there are any particular considerations for Phoenix.

I have friends down there and the only thing your water does right is that it's wet. Tastes lousy and really needs some serious water treatment.

Talking to plumbers is good advice, but my problem is that most of them just want to sell me PEX, and that seems to be the extent of their knowledge.

I tell them I can't use PEX (you should have SEEN that dead roof rat under my house!), they give me a blank stare, and a minute later they're singing the praises of PEX again. I get the feeling they don't know how to do anything else.

The good news is that our water pH is good for copper: 6.48 - 7.72. The water is very hard- 17.1 on average. But when I drained my seven year-old water heater that was rated for six years, the water flowed out clear- no sediment buildup.

pH is right on but you need a correctly sized softener.

You might consider annual maintenance on your WH instead of every seven years ;)

Talk to the plumbers on this forum. Throw up a post for lazypup and see what he has to say.

May be a little late to the party but we've posted an in detail article explaining the difference between repiping with copper or pex. check it out here.. https://repipexpress.com/copper-repipe-cost-estimator/

This is 11 years old... you aren't late to the party, the host has left the building a long time ago!