When the move was first made from using lead pipes in homes to copper plumbing, it was thought that these would last much longer, up to 20 to 25 years. There are two things that were not considered, however – the quality of the copper pipes and the quality of the water.
For the most part, copper plumbing quality has been acceptable and has not resulted in early breakdown of the pipes. One exception to this is homes built in 2004 and later that used copper plumbing pipes shipped in from China. Just as we came to hear about the dangers of Chinese drywall, it is also becoming evident that much of their copper plumbing is also defective.
Read More: Potential Issues with Copper Plumbing Pipes, Hickory, NC
