Stainless Steel Plumbing Pipe?

My in-laws live in an old house that originally used galvanized plumbing. About five years ago I replumbed the house using CPVC, except for a short section where I installed new galvanized pipe. I didn't trust plastic pipe here as it is in a vulnerable location at the bottom of the basement stairs. It frequently gets bumped when hauling things up and down the stairs. The metal pipe is also used as an electrical ground where it enters the basement wall.

Since the new galvanized pipe lasted less than five years (already developing several pinhole leaks along a two foot length of pipe), I am thinking of using stainless steel pipe as a replacement.

Does anyone know if stainless pipe will hold up better to corrosive water than galvanized? If so, do you know where I might purchase a couple of precut and threaded lengths of 3/4" pipe (1 two foot, and 1 three foot)? Local suppliers only seem to carry galvanized or copper.

I don't think copper would hold up well in this situation either, as their water seems to eat through anything metal in short time. I would also think copper would be vulnerable to physical damage as well.

Thanks,

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband
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"HerHusband" wrote

It would hold up better.

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Schedule 40 at 24 and 36 inches $29.90 and $44.90 for type 304L.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

How old was the galvanized you replaced with CPVC? Pinholing so fast seems real odd. Probably either bad pipe or there's some electrical anomaly. What I would do is replace the galvanized section with CPVC. Protect it with a larger galvanized shell pipe bracketed/clamped so bumping won't hurt it. Then run the electrical ground to the supply stub entering the house, or run it to a copper rod ground driven outside. WARNING: I am not a licensed plumber.

--Vic

Reply to
Vic Smith

I SECOND THAT SOLUTION!

I have a friend with a well he had stainless parts and one steel band clamp. The band clamp just touched and eroded away a big part of the stainless fitting it had been down the well 5 years.

He replaced the parts and totally seperated the band clamp from the stainless parts.

remember theres non magnetic stainless, its highly tough

magnetic stainess isnt much better than steel

Reply to
bob haller

You'll need to head to an industrial supply house - stainless steel piping is used in process control applications.

Reply to
clare

I think i'd just use the cpvc or better yet, some pex and protect it with a steel sleeve or thin EMT or something like that.

Reply to
Steve Barker

Unknown. The house is 100 years old, they've lived there about 50 years. As far as I know the pipe wasn't changed the whole time they lived there. When I replaced it the whole system was plagued with pinhole leaks and the usual rust corrosion clogging the pipes severely.

They are on city water but the water is very harsh. It ate through their kitchen faucet, as well as eating out the bottom of metal cups they used to keep on their counter.

The water is really hard on rubber seals too. I have replaced the seals in their faucets every few years. I just put a new seal in the outdoor frostproof faucet last year and it already needs replaced again (it's only used a few times a year).

Needless to say, we don't drink the water when we go to visit... :)

The incoming water line is in a stupid location next to the stairs. I'm not sure why it's located there since the water comes from the front at the street. But, there are many items that don't make sense in that old house. :)

My wife noticed it last week and I blew it off as condensation dripping. I couldn't believe a five year old pipe would already be leaking. But sure enough it has about 8-10 pinholes in it. My first thought was some kind of electrical corrosion because of the grounding, but only the short horizontal pipe has developed pinholes. The longer vertical pipe (and the remaining original galvanized) seems to be fine. So, it may just be a bad section of pipe. It has a sticker that says "Made in China" :) I hadn't planned on replacing that pipe originally, so it's just what I could find at the local Ma and Pa hardware store in town.

I ruled out some kind of protective guard for CPVC pipe because the stairway is so narrow. A galvanized shell pipe would take up less space, but installing it could be tricky in the given area.

I already installed two copper ground rods when I rewired the house a couple years ago. But, the electrical codes require the pipe to be bonded to the electrical ground as well.

The prices for stainless are a little more than I wanted to spend, so I might just replace it with new galvanized. For the cost of stainless I can replace the galvanized pipes several times. :) Thankfully, it's out in the open where it's easy to access.

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

you could consider the heavy walled copper also. it would actually be a smaller OD than the galv.

Reply to
Steve Barker

"HerHusband" wrote

When I moved to this house, I replaced the seals every six months. I put in a whole house filter with sediment element and have not change them in over

25 years now. The very fine invisible particles in the water was killing them.
Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Well if you're thinking of doing that, I'll tell you a story, from

1967. I lived in a frat house with 18 members that was just a big old house from the early 20th century, and my roommate had taken the metal shower stall out of the 3rd floor bathroom and all that was there was the galvanized pipes, hot and cold going up to the valve and then one pipe to the shower head.

While 3 or 4 of use were talking, he was rocking it back and forth an inch or two, and I thought, Isn't that a bad idea? but he was the House Manager, did most of the repairs, and grew up on a farm. I figured he knew. 45 seconds later one of the pipes snapped, sending water everywhere. He got to turn off the water and work on the plumbing for the next four hours, and got to miss the freshman coming over for rush that night. Maybe that's what he wanted.

The pipes were 1946 or newer (because the fraternity was much more crowed after the GI bill was passed, so 21 years or less.

So if this spot gets banged by various things going up and down the stairs, I don't know if that's as bad as rocking a 40" piece of pipe back and forth 2+ inches or not. I don't know if rocking is as bad as hitting.

Reply to
mm

Given that their water is *so* harsh apparently, have you considered having it tested and installing a filtration or softening system appropriate to whatever is found?

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

de quoted text -

or just installing a new main line relocated to a better spot out of harms way.....

sometimes long term fixes need you to suck it up and overkill a little so its never a issue again

Reply to
bob haller

Do what others said: use PVC in a larger diameter steel shell.

Regarding tthe water, if it is as bad as you say they might want to find out what is in it and correct it.

Reply to
dadiOH

...

...

I'd say the likelihood is that there were, indeed, flaws. I've had any number of Chinese plugs that had air holes in them to the point they actually leaked and the quality of some the pipe I've seen isn't any better. I'd almost bet the holes are in line and along the weld seam.

Can't imagine what could be _that_ corrosive in a (presumably) regulated municipal water system supply; have you asked? Seems like there would be so many complaints and failures all over a metro area something would get done to provide relief...

Reply to
dpb

If it were my house, yes. But, they're on a fixed income ruling out an expensive softening system. Even with a simple filter the maintenance chores would fall back on me. :) No thanks.

They've lived with the water for 50 years (longer than I've been around), so I'm not too worried about it now.

If that main line was the only thing wrong with the house, that would be my first choice too. But, with all the other projects we have going on around there, that leaky pipe is a minor distraction. We're starting a major kitchen gut and remodel, so I don't have the time right now to deal with replacing a main water line. Not to mention, they're bad hoarders so access to anything is a nightmare.

I usually try to overbuild (no cheap shortcuts) when we fix things around there. Unfortunately, fixing one problem usually leads to many other unexpected issues. For example, fixing a leaky kitchen sink turned into a complete replumbing of the house, thanks to corroded pipes breaking in my hands.

I have to focus on one project at a time around there or it quickly spirals out of control. :)

I will just install new galvanized pipes for now. If we have more issues in a few years I may look into a more permanent fix at that time.

Thanks,

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

So, you find it easier to change faucet washers every few months rather than change one sediment filter element every three or four months?

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Hi Ed,

I used to change the faucet washers every couple of "YEARS", not months.

Also, since we replumbed most of the house with CPVC, sediment really hasn't been an issue. The city filters the water which eliminates most sediment, it's just heavily chlorinated and acidic.

We also installed new faucets in recent remodels so most of the seal problems have been eliminated (no steel valve seats to corrode, ceramic cartridges, etc.). The few remaining rubber seals tend to break down over time just sitting, not from wear and tear caused by sediment (the faucets are rarely used). There have been very few problems since I replumbed their house with CPVC.

The short section of galvanized pipe that corroded is a small problem, I was just investigating ways I might be able to make it a little more durable. Stainless steel seemed like an easy option as it wouldn't take any more effort to install than galvanized. But cost and limited availability have ruled that out.

In the end, I can spend $10-20 and less than an hour of work to install two new galvanized pipes. That is certainly an easier and less expensive option than installing a $30-60 filter (housing, filter, associated brackets and pipe) that needs to be maintained or a couple thousand dollars on a water softener system. Keep it simple and don't overcomplicate things.

Thanks,

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

Are you sure it is acidic?? The majority of "aggressive water" issues are due to HIGH Ph, or alkalinity, not low Ph, or acidity.

Reply to
clare

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