There's currently a battle to be the "standard" water pipe that replaces copper. Copper is becoming more and more expensive, and you have to have some idea what you're doing to solder the fittings.

There's two current contenders: PEX pipes and C-PVC pipes (regular PVC can't be used for potable water).

PEX is getting a bit more adoption at the moment, because it's flexible so the plumber doesn't need to glue in a bunch of fittings to turn corners and such. The downside is you need specialized tools to connect PEX pipes to the fittings that you do need (Tees, valves, etc). Well, that plus a larger marketing campaign.

C-PVC is solid, so you'd need fittings to turn corners. But you attach those fittings with (essentially) glue.

So for anyone wondering if there's a financial motivation to this donation, there is. More C-PVC in use helps them in the long run.

and an effect of competition.

Thanks, jeff47.

Copper has some give so here in Texas we will never have PVC underneath homes that shift and move-

That is just asking for big fucking problems- especially since insurance doesn't cover anything "under the slab"

the houses themselves will need their plumbing replaced as well

very generous and compassionate offer though

Last edited Mon Feb 29, 2016, 08:20 PM - Edit history (1)

PEX is perhaps the most environmentally sound choice in piping, since the solvents used in gluing CPVC are suspect, but CPVC is still better than copper, which may or may not have lead in it, and worse, takes tremendous amounts of energy to mine, refine, and form into tubing and fittings. I've used both CPVC and PEX to replace nasty metallic pipe.

Interesting to me, anyways, Germany has some pretty intense codes about plumbing. Germany used to require brazed copper, not soldered fittings, for household piping. Brazing takes a great deal of skill, it's not like soldering pipe fittings, which is something a cheap-ass contractor can teach an unskilled laborer to do reliably in a couple of days. (And that's what makes it popular in the U.S.A.!) Then again, Germany has got a strong tradition of well-paid union apprenticeships, so damn straight you learn how to braze pipe if you want to be a plumber.

The plastic pipe Germany eventually found acceptable is polypropylene, rather like the stuff in plastic soda pop bottles, and they weld that together too using special tools, which is yet another process that takes some skill and patience using nasty two or three thousand dollar machines like this:



If I lived in Flynt I'd go with PEX, but I wouldn't reject outright free CPVC.

On edit, from http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20160223/NEWS/160229943/jm-eagle-offers-to-replace-lead-pipe-in-flint-mich-for-free, this is an offer to replace lead service pipe, from street to homes and business, with HDPE. HDPE is used in most modern construction for this purpose.

Next, hire and train local people to do the work, and not any corporations with dirty political connections to those who caused the catastrophe.

The pipe, at least in the versions that were used in the US, cracks after about 10-15 years. Especially in fittings. This is a rather bad thing for supply lines.

Germany may be using a different formula or spec for their pipes. But you'll have a hell of a time selling polypropylene pipe in the US.

... and why so many Chinese manufacturers claim to be using resins from Germany and South Korea in their own PP-R production.

I went searching on the internet and notice people promoting PP-R here in the U.S.A.

http://www.aquatherm.com

I pay attention to plastic pipe because I've lived in a few places where the water is aggressive to metallic pipe. For many years the city I live in was one of the few places in California that allowed CPVC pipe. In one large housing development copper pipe started failing in about three years. This was traced back to slightly over-sized hot water circulation pumps, but ultimately it's the copper.

A few years ago here in California it was impossible to get brass and copper plumbing parts for a few months after the law went into effect that they had to be tested lead free.

The problem of lead, in actual lead pipes, or copper and brass plumbing is probably a big one here in the U.S.A.. There may be many places as bad as or worse than Flynt.

The fitting would split, independent of the joint. Basically, wear from the water being forced to turn. So a different formula or spec (ie. thicker walls) may not have had the same problem in Germany.

The industry publication Plastic News reported JM Eagle is embroiled in a 10-year-old whistleblower lawsuit questioning the durability of PVC pipe produced from 1996-2006. The lawsuit was filed by a former employee and more than 40 government entities that used the pipe.