THE PROBLEM WITH GALVANIZED PIPES
At this point in time, virtually no one would think of using galvanized steel water pipes to repipe a home. Everyone repipes with copper. For one thing, copper pipe doesn’t rust, a fact that has been known for thousands of years.
But how did it happen that most homes, prior to 1980, were built with galvanized steel water pipes, which now are being repiped with copper?
Most of the homes throughout the Southwest United States were built after WW 2. There were homes built prior to that in the older parts of established cities but there was very little home construction during the war years. Almost all of the labor efforts and materials, from 1942 to 1945, went towards the war.
HOUSING BOOM
In the years right after the war, there was a large movement of people to the West coast, resulting in a housing shortage in California. This demand for housing precipitated a boom in home construction, which took off in 1948 and hasn’t really stopped since.
Going back to the 20’s and 30’s, the accepted material for home water systems was galvanized steel pipes. This was good quality, American-made pipe in those days, consisting of hardened steel with a thick galvanized zinc coating.
Though copper pipe was available, it was thought that copper was more expensive and the builders tended toward galvanized. As a result, a large workforce developed who specialized in galvanized pipe installation in new home construction.
In the boom years after the war, galvanized steel continued to be the material of choice, however, the quality began to slip. Where once one could expect a certain thickness of the galvanized zinc coating, less expensive pipe with thinner coatings came on the market.
HARD WATER
These lesser quality pipes still met the regulatory standards but failed to account for the hardness of the water, particularly in the American Southwest.
The hardness is a combination of minerals in the water such as calcium, lime, magnesium and some iron. As the water courses through the pipes, these hard minerals are abrasive to the inner surface. After a while, the galvanized coating is worn off, subjecting the pipe to rust. Hard water can also react with the zinc coating to cause corrosion within the pipes.
COPPER IS QUICKER
These problems do not exist with copper pipe. Hard copper does not corrode over time with this usage. It practically lasts forever. And not only was copper not more expensive, it was actually cheaper to use, given that it can be installed in approximately 20% less time than galvanized.
After the housing construction boom years, home construction tended to become more entrepreneurial, with independent contractors taking over the industry. Their impetus was “How can I build a better widget, quicker, for less money, with the same quality?” So they naturally went with copper.
I know this because we were among the first guys out there who did it. Prior to that we had screwed together more than our share of galvanized pipe and then, around 1975 or 1976, we began switching to copper, because you could buy it for the same price and install it quicker. We weren’t even thinking about the fact that it would last longer.
GALVANIZED CAN’T COMPETE
And yet, there were homes still being built using galvanized steel piping right into the 1990’s, but to compete with copper, in terms of price, it was necessary for these contractors to use lesser quality galvanized pipe.
So now we have the phenomenon of a house built in 1932, just now having to have its galvanized pipes replaced, and at the same time, a house built in 1992 has galvanized piping that has already failed.
In either case, the solution is to replace the old galvanized piping with hard copper, installed by people who specialize in doing this.
I’m proud to say that my company, MasterServ, is the leading company in the copper repiping field. We have been repiping homes with quality copper for over 30 years.
MasterServ technicians are all highly trained professionals who specialize in repiping and pride themselves on the quality of the installation. This experience and efficiency saves the homeowner money.
(Next: more insights into the home repiping industry)
