Plumbing Pipes

April 28, 2020 by Lisa Powers

Question from Melissa

Hi Lisa, thank you for this wonderful resource!  We are in the process of a home renovation project, which includes moving our kitchen and several lightly used bathrooms (powder room and guest room/office bathroom).

Our contractor was planning to use PEX piping for all incoming water.  I know there are concerns about leaching from PEX pipes.  Would you share that concern?

One alternative is copper pipes.  The contractor is pricing this for us for our kitchen only, as it is likely too expensive to use everywhere (the kitchen is our highest priority for uncontaminated water).  Do you have health concerns with copper pipes and/or joint materials that would be used with it?

For the other locations, I know that polypropylene pipes are sometimes considered safer than PEX, but that there could be concerns about joint material used with polypropylene pipes.  What do you think about polypropylene  vs PEX?

Lisa’s Answer

Here is a very good guide by EWG on pipes.  Perhaps use copper with lead-free joints where affordable and polypropylene pipes on the remainder.