Well....this evening after telling my boy to take his bath, he comes down stairs and tells me there's water leaking from the ceiling of his bathroom.

one of the +30 year old galvanized hot water pipes rusted through and sprang a leak. All the insulation around it is soaked and mold has formed on the drywall ceiling. Im pretty sure a pipe clamp won't do as the rusted section is VERY rusted and flaking off. So I'm just going to replace the entire section (about 8 feet). I'm already seeing another part in the same section rusting away.

Is it okay to replace that section alone with PVC or PEX?

All cold water pipes looked pretty good.
Is it normal for just hot water galvanized pipes to rust through?
The section I'm replacing is the very first section after the water heater.

I can't afford a total replumb of the entire house right now. Just got a letter last week that my escrow payment is going up another $200 a month because all the property taxes in the area soared last year.

Sharkbite fittings are pretty legit.

If it were me I'd be looking into saving up to replace the pipe when you can if you plan on staying there.

Acidic water, water with a low ph level initiates corrosion and leaching of metals, such as lead.

Over many years, zinc erodes from galvanized pipes. Corrosion can build-up on the inside walls of the pipes and creates the potential for lead to accumulate over time. Corrosion in galvanized pipes can lead to lower water pressure and water quality issues. Not to mention the fact the cost of a water damage claim and ruining your valuables if it is truly suspect.

Be sure to flush the lines before consuming any water.

use cpvc for hot water and you will be fine.

might want to see just how much you can replace easily, if one section is rusted out then others will be or close to it.

once you start messing with that pipe you may have more leaks, be ready.

Go with Pex, if it ever freezes, Pex will expand and contract, it is also flexible, my house is 20 years old and I'm on a well,I've had issues with the hard water cooroding the pipes, I've had to reroute or back feed three runs of pipe from underground to overhead in the attic and did it in Pex, one location froze in 011 but did not break, once it warmed up, water was back flowing again with no leaks.

Pex is the bomb diggity. Been using it a couple years. Never had a problem with it yet. Except for losing that little horseshoe shaped tool. That thing gets lost easy.

like they said, pex is best.

were it me and it was feasible I would rerun that whole line with pex, it can be pulled thru walls pretty well and long runs with no connections are good.

Okay, thank yall.
I mis-wrote the top, I meant to say CPVC, not PVC.

Yes, I'm for sure going to have to replumb the house (at least the hot water side).
This is our first house and we'll barely be completing 2 years this July.

I spoke with a FB acquaintance too that is also a union plumber.
He informed to replace the section with CPVC for now (cheap, fast, easy), and when I'm ready to do a full replumb, go with PEX.

We got extremely hard water in Katy, one of my bosses (the few cool ones) lives in Sugar Land and told me he has galvanized piping too. Every year, he has to remove all strainers from the faucets and scrape out all the calcium. About 40% of the plumbing at his house has been changed to PEX.

After replacing the section and looking at other sections, it's obvious I'll have to re-plumb the house very soon.
Since I'll have to cut out wet sheetrock, it'll be the best time to start on this.

To those of yall that installed PEX pipe, did yall use the plastic fittings or BRASS?
(Again, the water in Katy is very hard, and it's pretty late for a water softener)

I'm putting together the costs and trying to see if it's worth paying double for Brass fittings.
Yes, I am going with Sharkbite.

If your on well water even with a filter and softener the minerals etc can eat the brass fittings. Draw back is the plastic ones freeze and break easier than brass. If you insulated really well the plastic if not in a bind will last longer.

Okay thanks again.

My main concern is corrosion, as it's the sole cause of the situation I'm in. Freezing doesn't really concern me as I'm in SE Texas and we rarely get freezing temps. Even then, I can just open a few taps to keep water moving.

Plastic fittings it is.

Just make sure you use a back up wrench to unscrew the old pipe and try your best not to disturb the rest of the pipe. Pex is cheap and easy to run. If it were my house I would buy the $60 crimp tool and stay away from sharkbite fittings. But the main thing is to be as gentle as you can with the old pipe.

You can get a 100' roll for $50 I would replace as much as you could and I would go with the brass fittings.

Thanks for yalls input.

This past Saturday, I was able to re-plumb the 2nd floor plumbing/attic with PEX.

Since I was mating a couple of fittings with stainless steel or other brass fittings, I used brass fittings for those while using the PVC fittings for tees and elbows.
Decided to add 2 in line valves to open/shut the water to the upstairs bathrooms (this way, I don't have to shut off water for the whole house).

I found at least 5 more heavy corrosion spots on the old galvanized pipes.
The moment I squeezed them, they would crack open.
I would've been in the same situation within another month.


Did it all myself, and took me nearly 12 hours.
My arms, legs, and back are sore from all the crawling and climbing up and down the attic, but I saved myself at least $7,000
(That's what all the folks on Nexdoor were saying the plumbing companies charged them.)

I'm no plumber but that sounds like a job well done.