Layperson needs advice on house repipe and old galvanized pipes

Hi,

We're in a 30 year old house with apparently "cheap, foreign made" galvanized pipes that have started failing (previous owner had a couple of leaks a few years ago and we just had our first pinhole last week). We're in a hard water area.

When we first bought the house, I got a quote for a repipe from a small plumbing company and they gave me costs for CPVC, PEX and copper. I kinda put the project on the back burner for the past year b/c we didn't have any immediate issues. But, now that we've had our first pinhole, I've made this a priority.

When I contacted the same plumbing company, they told me that they no longer do PEX b/c of lawsuit reasons (Zurn fittings and carcinogen leaching in chlorinated city water).

I just got a quote yesterday from a large plumbing company here in Houston and they told me that the majority of the repipes they do is with PEX.

So, I'm confused as to what to do. I've got two kids ages 4 and 6 not to mention me and my wife, so obviously I don't want to do anything to put our health at risk.

The other issue about PEX is that I heard it may be a bit easier and a bit less destructive to do a whole house repipe in terms of wall destruction as opposed to CPVC (copper is out of the equation b/c of cost and b/c we're in a hard water area). My wife is obviously concerned about wall destruction b/c we're not mentally prepared to do a remodel just yet.

Second question relates to vacation. When we go out on vacation, we will obviously be turning the water main off. However, should I also drain the lines or just leave the lines filled with water? I've heard conflicting opinions on this: if you drain the lines and then repressurize them when you return, the sediment that settled in the lines can get shot through b/c of the sudden increase in pressue and actually cause some leaks, OR if you leave water in the lines, they can still leak while we're gone and cause damage and we wouldn't know it until we got back from our holiday.

Anyway, any advice to a layperson would be appreciated.

Thank you from Houston!

second question first. If the water is off, there is no pressure to cause a failure, and even if there were one, the only water that could leak out would be the little bit that is in the pipes, and under most conditions even that would be under a "vacuum" and could not leak.

As for the PEX connections, there are many other companies besides Zurn which make fittings, and I have not seen any credible evidence that PEX, or any other plastic, leaches into the water lines.

I am quite surprised that as recently as 30 years ago, they piped with galvanized. That hasn't been done here since 1950. Also, I am surprised that you have failure of the galv. in just 30 years.
And in 1980, I am surprised that there was any cheap chinese stuff. Today, YES!

Thanks for the replies. The info about the vacation issue is especially helpful. Looks like I'll just keep water in the lines. As for the PEX, I guess the plumbing company that's not doing it anymore is just being ultraconservative/overly cautious?

As for the gal, I was told that the gal used in the early 80s (my house was built in 82) was the cheap, foreign made stuff. Most of the other houses on our street are single story ranch style houses built in the 50s and 60s. I believe they were also piped with gal back then and they are exposed to the same hard water as us, but from talking to the neighbors it seems that their lines are not in as bad shape as ours, so maybe there's some truth to the idea that the early 80s gal is not as good.