Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
Frank, regarding your item 5, are you really saying that a water softener is any kind of a solution for copper water pipe leaks?
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Great question.....in a word...No. I have been told by various Plumbers, etc, that if a Florida house has copper pipes that have not yet started to leak, softer water tends to slow down the corrosion process. It does not stop it. I was just told last week that a Plumber was telling us a story that a homeowner that had copper pipes that has not had a leak "suddenly" started to have a few leaks. Upon further investigation the homeowner stated that their water softener stopped working 6 months prior and they did not get around to fixing it.
That being said, if I had an older home in Florida with copper pipes I would much rather put my money into pipe replacement than a water softener. Re-plumbing the home solves the problem for good, while a softener will at best retard the corrosion process.
There are many variables, such as the hardness of the water, whether it was L-Hard or M-hard Copper, etc,etc.
A friend of mine was doing extensive remodeling on his 1960's Florida home....we was just ready to install all new tile when he found he had bad pipes under the slab. He had to jackhammer parts of the slab to replace some old cast iron pipes. While an added expense and a pain, it would have been much worse if he found out after he laid all the new tile.
I would like to add that for most of The Villages this is a non-issue.
Hope that helps!
Frank