[Gorzaloon]

Its not just the 500 dollars it is maintainence. As a home owner with plastic piping I can do my own plumbling work if I had copper pipes I would need to call a plumber in order to do what is simple mantainence with plastic. Those costs add up and the plumbers unions want to be rid of plastic piping so they can continue to charge outrageous prices to consumers.

Normally I am all for polymer replacements for a lot of things..they require less energy to manufacture, do not corrode and are lighter in weight and easy to handle.

But copper plumbing, once one gets some practice soldering, is actually quite an enjoyable and easy thing to do. And copper is slightly germicidal.

I do not know about the newer polymers, but years ago a contractor friend of mine was sued when a PVC job all exploded from water hammer in a big industrial processing plant.

[Sentis]

When I fix plastic piping all I have to do it cut it with a hacksaw and glue it together. It is so easy a kit that can put together a model airplane could do it. Soldering may be enjoyable to some not to me and cutting copper pipe is different than slicing through plastic.

[elbucko]

But copper plumbing, once one gets some practice soldering, is actually quite an enjoyable and easy thing to do.

That's for sure. "Sweating" or heating up a copper joint with a small, cheap, MAP torch from Home Depot and letting the soldier melt and seal the joint is not rocket science. The biggest risk is, if you are an idiot and light yourself on fire.

[HamiltonJay]

Agreed, copper work is not difficult and is easily learned. I will take copper over PVC any day of the week. I would only use PVC for drain pipes, would not use it for feed tubes.

One thing I hate is STEEL piping... ugh, that stuff is just an absolute pain when it has to be worked on. I'll replace old steel drain with PVC in a heartbeat. But if there is steel in the feed lines, I almost always call a pro, that is just much of a hassle for me to do on my own if I can afford a plumber to do it.