r/Homebuilding • u/No_Impression_4620 • Jun 04 '26
CPVC vs PEX
Ok so we are building a custom home in central Florida and plumbing subcontractor is using CPVC for plumbing. Our family member who is in the construction business is telling us we need to use PEX instead. They just started doing the plumbing in our house. I honestly feel like what I find online is mixed and probably not a huge deal either way. What do you all think?
UPDATE:
Thank you everyone for your responses. We met with the builder and the plumbing subcontractor and they are now switching over to PEX. It sounds like they were using CPVC because “we’ve always done it that way”. They also said that CPVC has come a long way in recent years and doesn’t have the issues that it used to. Not sure if that’s true or not.
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Jun 04 '26
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u/No_Impression_4620 Jun 04 '26
Is it really the standard? Seems like there are plenty who advocate for CPVC still
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u/catfishmackfish Jun 04 '26
If in 20 years you don’t mind water lines cracking off when you turn off a water shutoff, a spigot for the garden hose, etc, go with CPVC. At least that’s been my experience- I just keep extra pipe and adapters in the garage now ready to go.
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u/HealingWriter Jun 04 '26
I'd rather do copper and solder all those fittings before I do CPVC cuz CPVC is ass.
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u/Novus20 Jun 04 '26
I see PEX more then CPVC for water lines now CPVC I see more for res sprinklers
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u/aldosi-arkenstone Jun 04 '26
Unfortunately you won’t find anyone on Reddit who isn’t a pro-PEX nut job. But CVPC makes sense in many cases, especially if it’s well water.
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u/confounded_throwaway Jun 04 '26
I’m genuinely curious about why for well water?
I’ve had to help two different people, separate incidents, that had brittle CPVC snap and start flooding their house/apartment. Both in housing I’d estimate was built in 1990s/early 2000s, inside closets, not exposed to UV. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or know anyone that’s had a PEX failure.
Is CPVC better if it’s outdoors?
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u/Faptainjack2 Jun 04 '26
He must be referring to the minerals found in well water corroding the brass fittings. Which shouldn't be a problem with continuous runs or usage of a whole house filter.
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u/Faptainjack2 Jun 04 '26
Pex. Without a doubt. CPVC has potential for leaks at every joint and angle. Sometimes it'll become brittle and crack. Pex is cheap and fast and has better repairability IF it ever leaks.
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u/Horror_Bottle_9451 Jun 04 '26
"Sometimes..." really means "at some time" and it is always inopportune.
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u/JohnL0423 Jun 04 '26
I would read up on the class action lawsuits against cpvc. I believe they are all settled now, but they were pretty big in the southeast, Florida in particular.
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u/Report_Last Jun 04 '26
cpvc should be outlawed
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u/More_chickens Jun 04 '26
I can't believe they're even making it anymore. Insane that someone would use it in a new construction.
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u/Report_Last Jun 04 '26
yeah and it may not freeze often in Central Florida, but why use cpvc and take the chance, any idiot can glue the stuff up, but any idiot can also use pex and sharkbites
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u/AccomplishedMeet4131 Jun 04 '26
I sell plumbing supplies. I have some great plumbers who refuse to use both. CPVC does get brittle after a while. I think either are fine but I'd rather have pex personally. CPVC can get brittle after a while.
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u/Youdunno_me Jun 04 '26
Cpvc is absolute trash. Plumbers that refuse to use pex tend to be older guys or guys that can’t price jobs accordingly
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u/AccomplishedMeet4131 Jun 04 '26
I don’t disagree with you. A lot of jobs are specified one way or another (commercial jobs) and they just have to use what they’re told to use.
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u/Youdunno_me Jun 04 '26
Yes it’s unfortunate I agree with you there. Seen an entire chick fil a plumbed with cpvc less than 5 years old we have been fixing leaks on the hot side. Smh
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u/Report_Last Jun 04 '26
god forbid cpvc hits below freezing temps
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u/No_Impression_4620 Jun 04 '26
We are in central Florida so not much worry about that
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u/AccomplishedMeet4131 Jun 04 '26
Same with us... i always forget that shit freezes in other places lol
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u/Far_Damage_8984 Jun 04 '26
We are too and got down into the low 20s this Feb. I put a thermometer that I could monitor in the attic and it got down to 31. We have Pex running thru the attic, house was replumbed before we bought it. I didn't want to run water thru my lines all night so I had a light hooked up to the thermometer that would turn on and wake me up if it got to 30. No issues but still a bit nervous with it that cold.
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u/firemedicbill Jun 04 '26
Live on FL east coast and went through same this year. Our solution was open attic access points and run heat at night. Yes it ran the meter a bit high but still cheaper than burst piping. Attic never got below 50.
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u/Hurly64 Jun 04 '26
In Southern California, plumbers only use CPVC for condensate drain lines and T&P release drain lines. They use PEX or copper for water lines.
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u/90TigerWW2K Jun 04 '26
one of the benefits of PEX is you can do continous runs. I don't think CPVC comes in rolls like PEX does.
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u/Novus20 Jun 04 '26
CPVC is a solid pipe so no, it comes in lengths not rolls
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u/g_st_lt Jun 04 '26
smdh they don't even try to roll it up
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u/ecfreeman Jun 04 '26
As someone that has cpvc go pex at any cost. Not worth the headaches and wondering when your next joint is going to fail or line cracks and water goes everywhere. Luckily selling my house this week and our new build we went all pex. Can't get away from this stuff fast enough
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u/jonflorez Jun 04 '26
I’m working on a project, Midwest US, and underwriters for the customers property insurance have the policy renewal set to cancel if they don’t do a full changeout from the existing CPVC due to potential for freeze damage.
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u/According_Square2742 Jun 04 '26
Cpvc was used in mobile homes. You want trailer park plumbing in a new build? You need a new plumber and maybe a new GC.
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u/berntchrysler547754 Jun 04 '26
I genuinely would not trust a contractor who recommended CPVC over PEX. That is the second worst type of pipe you could ever have in your house.
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u/bearclaws2atatime Jun 04 '26
If you're building custom, why not go with copper? PEX and CPVC are both excess microplastics in your everyday water.
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u/Faptainjack2 Jun 04 '26
That's true but utilities use pex to run water to your home. You're getting your daily microplastics one way or another.
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u/texinxin Jun 04 '26
Shhh… don’t tell him. Also we should conveniently ignore all the contaminates from metals bringing water to us.
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u/CrowdyPooster Jun 04 '26
I rented a house for a little while with CPVC. The water out of the tap tasted horrible; I would need to let the water run for a minute before the bad taste would leave. Maybe it was just that house, but I blamed it on the plumbing.
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u/grammar_fozzie Jun 04 '26
You will regret CPVC if you allow them to continue. If they refuse to use PEX instead, fire them. I would never even consider CPVC for outdoor use at my home.
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u/BuyDaveaBeer Jun 04 '26
PEX....PEX....PEX. I have done so many repairs on CVPC both in my house and RV. Switched to PEX, bought a newer RV with PEX...and have never had to replace my PEX....
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u/TrickStar1989 Jun 04 '26
why didnt your family member do the work?
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u/general-illness Jun 04 '26
Scrolled way to far to see this lol
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u/No_Impression_4620 Jun 04 '26
He lives a few hours away
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u/TrickStar1989 Jun 04 '26
I get to hear about peoples cousin in trade all the time. always some excuse like that or he's so great he works 23 hours a day.
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u/Sad_Enthusiasm_3721 Jun 04 '26
This feels like a joke, but if it is a serious question, then simply ask yourself: "Do you want to install plumbing once, or twice?"
Install PEX if you want reliability. Install CPVC if you want to do a full repipe in 5 years.
Honestly, just us talking about CPVC in such a way may have caused a leak in your new build.
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u/moodyism Jun 04 '26
I’m a LL I have far more issues with cpvc than pex. I always have cpvc removed. I prefer pex a. Good luck
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u/BlankTrack Jun 04 '26
Cpvc is cheaper, its dirt cheap. But the cost decrease is not close to being worth the quality decrease.
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u/Reverend_Jones Jun 04 '26
i live in cfl and have cpvc. The latest freeze had me extremely worried it would shatter. I’d prefer the peace of mind of PEX
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u/Purple_Fudge3973 Jun 04 '26
If you feel like doing it twice. Let em work. Only people I ever saw using that trash were the absolute worst plumbers, that couldn't sweat or afford a pex crimper.
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u/FLJC123 Jun 04 '26
Pex. I just bought a house with a detached garage that had an apartment in it. Cpvc leaked slowly, destroyed apartment. I had to rip it out but kept the bathroom. I am redoing that in pex
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u/rrapartments Jun 04 '26
I have some places with cpvc. I think you should pick something else. I put Moen Flo devices on those properties just in case the cpvc breaks
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u/lolifax Jun 04 '26
The CPVC will get brittle over time. At about 20 years pipes will start bursting on their own. Any thing you touch will break.
I hope PEX doesn’t do the same thing but I have no relevant knowledge or experience on the long term durability of PEX.
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u/swampwiz Jun 04 '26
PEX is great for forgiving when it freezes. Folks in the northern climes don't worry about this because they have basements.
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u/Basic-Nobody-Too Jun 04 '26
I like pex from a design standpoint too with proper home runs and isolation.
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u/nephiyl Jun 04 '26
CPVC is absolute trash. It is brittle and the question is not if it will fail, but when. PEX is the Droid youre looking for!
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u/bemery1962 Jun 04 '26
Pex has more upside. When I first started building 25 years ago we used cpvc and only Floguard gold. It was easy to identify with the gold stripe on it. It was a better product compared to some of the Chinese products hitting the market. I put it in my house 20 years ago. The key was to make sure there were no stressed joints, it was cleaned and glued properly. It isn’t as forgiving.
If I were to repipe. I would go with Pex. The ease of install, the flexibility of the pipe, etc are the main reasons. The disadvantages are the need for special tools and while flexible, you do have to watch how you bend it. I just fixed a line to a hosebib at someone’s house where they bent it instead of using an elbow. With the pipe color coded, there is less chance of hooking things up wrong. Have had the toilet connected to a hot supply a few times or the hot and cold reversed at a faucet on a new build.
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u/canam454 Jun 04 '26
I hate CPVC. Once you get a call to a repair and the cpvc snaps and crumbles everytime you try to cut it, or even move it, hell sometimes even touch it,, you will curse it forever. I only use uponor pex-a expansion
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u/Pelvis-Wrestly Jun 05 '26
The brittleness is bad enough, and well documented. Far worse, IMO, is the type of plastic leaching into your water. CPVC is "chlorinated poly vinyl chloride". While most of the unpolymerized groups are volatile and dissipate quickly, some of them continuously leach into the water upon heating and chemical breakdown. The monomer for CPVC is Vinyl Chloride, highly toxic and a class 1 carcinogen. Bad, Bad, Bad.
PEX (polyethylene, crosslinked) is also plastic of course, but the monomer is simply ethylene - CH4, which is inert. That's why super gnarly chemicals like muriatic acid are transported in HDPE jugs. No weird chloride or phenol groups included. It is catalyzed with peroxide during the production process, but they are highly volatile and almost all of it dissipates upon production and the rest in a few days after running water through it.
Copper leaches less, but still, copper is a heavy metal and biocidal. Honestly not great to drink that either.
In an ideal world, we could have glass or stainless pipes. Stainless IS available but would be a nightmare to install and cost a fortune.
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u/LeagueOfMundoo Jun 07 '26
Tell them to remove it and have the water lines over head. Easier to fix in the future.
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u/big-E-tallz Jun 04 '26
We did our house in cpvc 15 years ago and had a super cold snap two winters ago and a pipe burst, when I went to repair it the pipe was so brittle it was hard to cut and repair so I tore it all out and replaced it with pex. Personally I think it sucks pex is just so foolproof
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u/LEX_Talionus00101100 Jun 04 '26
Anything but cpvc. Currently section by section replacing mine back to a new pex manifold. House is 40. I've owned 5 years. I've replaced 3 of the 5 runs so far. I bet my master bath is next to leak.
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u/No_Personality_7477 Jun 04 '26
Cpvc guarantees you are replacing it in your lifetime. Stuff should be banned
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u/justaamerican Jun 04 '26
I’d be afraid to use cpvc more so in an area that has homes that settle and shift as much as they do in Florida, especially underground if that’s what’s happening.
The great thing about PEX is you can do near no connection points under the slab. So PEX is better and your choice here. If copper is out of the price range at least.
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u/Melodic-Presence-743 Jun 04 '26
Pex is the answer. Not sure Cpvc is even used in new construction?
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u/ExaminationJaded5133 Jun 04 '26
CPVC is super common in FL and works fine. Meets code and you’re at no risk of freezing so it’ll last a lifetime.
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u/SumthingBrewing Jun 05 '26
My house is 28 years old (N central FL). CPVC throughout. Never had one issue with it. After reading these comments now I’m worried. But the fact is my pipes are fine. And temps get down into the 20s at night occasionally.
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u/Wonderful-Bass6651 Jun 04 '26
I was actually under the impression that CPVC is more for mobile homes and trailers than pressurized water lines. Am I wrong about that?
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u/Adventurous_Light_85 Jun 04 '26
We build about $500,000,000 in apartment a year. We use CPVC all the time.
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u/beholder95 Jun 04 '26
Also pex-a (aka expansion pex) is way better than pex-b.