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Copper vs Plastic ?
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Computer Nerd friend of Murph
Member Posts: 2
True or False
A copper water pipe will freeze before a CPVC plastic pipe will freeze?
A copper water pipe will freeze before a CPVC plastic pipe will freeze?
0
Comments
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Doesn't the
water freeze? :-)0 -
\"Friend of Murph\"
> True or False A copper water pipe will freeze
> before a CPVC plastic pipe will freeze?
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\"Friend of Murph\"
If you mean which would burst first, my money would be on the copper pipe bursting first.
You didn't bet money on this with Murph did you?
Mark H
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I WOULD SAY
IT depends !!0 -
You would
say that!
Mark H
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I say......
I say the water in a copper pipe will freeze before the water in a CPVC pipe will when exposed to the same temp variables. Murph doesn't like plastic water pipes, because his water pipe thawing machine won't work on plastic. But I say if you install a plastic pipe, the water inside the pipe is less likely to freeze than the water inside of the copper pipe. The water in the plastic pipe will freeze before the plastic pipe because metal pipe conducts heat and cold more rapidly. Agree or Disagree?0 -
> say that!
>
> Mark H
>
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> say that!
>
> Mark H
>
> _A
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> 238&Step=30"_To Learn More About This Contractor,
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0 -
Well
I think that the difference in freezing time would be very small if there was one.
I agree that water in a copper pipe would freeze faster than in a CPVC pipe with both subjected to the same environment.
Murph and his magic thaw machine! He is going to buy a freeze machine next so he can use his thaw machine all year round!!
Mark H
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Freeze
water still freezes at 32 degrees F. John White0 -
I agree
and it shouldn't depend on what pipe it is in. One may burst sooner because of it's expansion properties.
Now if your related to my mother-in-law you will also believe that her thermometer is 10 degrees colder than mine because mine is on my porch.0 -
i am not a fan of.......
CPVC. I'd use PEX over copper or cpvc. The flex in the pex is much higher than the other two. A hair dryer works fine to thaw out pipes. Much safer too. kpc0 -
Copper or Plastic
When heated to 800 degrees F which pipe will burn, melt or let off fumes that is harmful to your health.
Jake0 -
If its 800 deg.s in the room.........
leave before the fumes get ya. ;-)
The downfall of cpvc/pvc is that when it does freeze, ya don't just fix a small portion of the pipe, but the seam can split all the way down, so you may have to replace the whole thing.
BUT it may put out the 800 deg fire first that way.
Steve0 -
Few years ago...
...made a bunch of repairs on a wood stove heated house after a REALLY cold snap. Mixed copper/CPVC.
Copper seemed to burst first BUT the CPVC seemed exceptionally brittle when cutting and it was really hard to get clean ends. Replaced everything "in kind."
Couple years later there was a freeze again but not nearly as severe. Only breaks were in sections of the CPVC NOT replaced previously. Showed the HO what had happened and she had me replace it all with copper.0 -
split V shatter
ALthough it is a common assumtion that copper will freeze a bit quicker than plastic if that is the reason for choosing plastic over copper (and you didn't say why you wanted to know, so this is just a material opinion:) we choose copper every time where the choice is copper or cpvc. When copper freezes you usually only have split to repair. When cpvc freezes it shatters from one end to the other. We ahve never had o replace an entire house plumbed with copper because of a hard freeze but we have with cpvc. Not to mention since it shattered from ened to end it destroyed much more than just the pipe. This is likely not the case with PEX piping. How ever the statement that PEX is freeze proof which we hear alot from customers is also incorrect. It is mearlt freeze resistant. It has burst under the right set of circumstances. Also we agree, you can't thaw plastic with a thaw machine and in our country with week long power outages this is of primary importance. Just another opinion you know:) Tanya0 -
split V shatter
ALthough it is a common assumtion that copper will freeze a bit quicker than plastic if that is the reason for choosing plastic over copper (and you didn't say why you wanted to know, so this is just a material opinion:) we choose copper every time where the choice is copper or cpvc. When copper freezes you usually only have split to repair. When cpvc freezes it shatters from one end to the other. We ahve never had o replace an entire house plumbed with copper because of a hard freeze but we have with cpvc. Not to mention since it shattered from ened to end it destroyed much more than just the pipe. This is likely not the case with PEX piping. How ever the statement that PEX is freeze proof which we hear alot from customers is also incorrect. It is mearlt freeze resistant. It has burst under the right set of circumstances. Also we agree, you can't thaw plastic with a thaw machine and in our country with week long power outages this is of primary importance. Just another opinion you know:) Tanya0 -
split V shatter
ALthough it is a common assumtion that copper will freeze a bit quicker than plastic if that is the reason for choosing plastic over copper (and you didn't say why you wanted to know, so this is just a material opinion:) we choose copper every time where the choice is copper or cpvc. When copper freezes you usually only have splits to repair. When cpvc freezes it shatters from one end to the other. We have never had to replace an entire house plumbed with copper because of a hard freeze but we have with cpvc. Not to mention since it shattered from endd to end it destroyed much more than just the pipe. This is likely not the case with PEX piping. How ever the statement that PEX is freeze proof which we hear alot from customers is also incorrect. It is mearly freeze resistant. It has burst under the right set of circumstances. Also we agree, you can't thaw plastic with a thaw machine and in our country with week long power outages this is of primary importance. Just another opinion you know:) Tanya0 -
Wirsbo Pex won't melt OR emit poisonous fumes
Or so I was told by our manufactures rep.
(Of course it WILL burn, but after a house fire do you reuse your copper pipe?)
He claims that the fire marshalls love it because in a fire it won't poison anyone. He also claims that "b" or "c" produced pex will still give off poisonous gas if burned. Kevin
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