Hooking up Copper to PVC - Good Idea? or Bad?

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JohnfrWhipple

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I guess after years of building showers you fall into a rut sometimes. Sometimes I dislike products only because they are new to me and unfamiliar. This week I'm helping a women from Towson, MD with a triple bathroom build and we have focused on her guest bathroom build, first. A simple tub shower design....

I was reviewing some pictures of the work so far (she emailed me these photo's with permission to share them online) and noticed that the bathroom has it's copper water lines hooked into PVC Pipe. (White PVC). In all my years we have never done this. My first reaction is of course that it's wrong? But is it?

This type of plumbing is found all over the house and the demo pictures show the same. Is this allowed in MD? Is it allowed in Seattle? What about new York? I have only seen PVC piping used in jetted tubs. Custom Hot Tubs. Landscaping water lines. A waterfall in Vancouver. But never in a potable pressurized water supply line. Not once...

Is it safe to drink from?

Here are the shots of the work as it sits right now....

PVC+Tub+Filler+Installation+-+is+this+the+best+pipe+kind.jpg


Wrong+way+to+anchor+tub+to+wall.jpg


It would be great to hear from a plumber here on Terry's forum.
 
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Terry

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CPVC can be used for water supplies
PVC can't be used inside a home.

CPVC can't be used on the tub spout. That will need to be changed. It's creates a restriction that forces water out of the shower head when the tub is filling.
All instructions mention this. No PEX and no CPVC on tub spouts!

The tub spout piping can be copper, brass nipples, or galvanized nipples. Anything smaller than that pushed water out the shower head.
 
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JohnfrWhipple

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Thanks Terry.

So I need to find a CPVC sat,map on this pipe somewhere.

And it's safe to drink?

What does the adhesive look like? What colour?
 

Jadnashua

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Sort of has the worst of pex and copper...smaller ID and the same number of fittings as sticks of copper without the flexibility of pex or the strength of copper. It's cheap, though, and if you have aggressive water, an alternative to pex where copper may be eaten up. And, yes, John, I'd even answer your question, but you wouldn't believe it.

One supplier in Canada is: http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/tools-hardware/plumbing/pipes-fittings/cpvc-pipe-fittings.html
 
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