Is there a temporary solution to getting all new plumbing?

[WestCoastWilson]

Hello Everyone,

Since I know nothing about plumbing, please forgive my elementary questions.

Here is my situation. I am not a plumber and I know absolutely nothing about plumbing. I need to hire a plumber, but I wanted to get some basic information and suggestions from some of the seasoned mechanically inclined members in this forum who know a lot about plumbing.

I have a house that is 59 years old, with all of the original plumbing (all galvanized pipes). Needless to say that I am now in the situation of needing to have copper plumbing (due to the build-up of rust and corrosion on the inside of the galvanized iron pipes over the decades). However I can not afford to have my house copper re-piped at this time. I only can afford $1,000 right now, so I will have to save up for a quality copper re-piping job.

Though the hot water pressure is very low throughout my entire house, however my shower has taken a turn for the worse this week. The hot water only comes out as a trickle, yet the cold water comes out in buckets per second! I did remove the shower head and connecting pipes (on the shower head and spout) to see if there was any build-up in them, yet there was none. The spout has 3 removable sections, before the pipes goes into the shower stall wall.

So my question is, is there some sort of temporary solution that I could use to fix my hot water shower problem until I can afford to have my entire house copper re-piped?

Also is there some main pipe or housing from my hot water heater that may be more severely corroded vs. the other pipes in my house? Because it seems that every hot water faucet slowed down to a trickle at the same time (i.e. two showers, two bathroom sinks, the bathtub, the kitchen sink, the dishwasher, the service porch hot water faucet, and the hot water faucet to my washing machine). Yet I do not use one shower and I do not use the bathtub at all, yet when I tested the flow & pressure of the hot water (when I noticed that one day all of the other hot water faucets were running slow), I was surprised that the two faucets (the second shower, and the bathtub) that are never used, is suffering the same fate, which has me wondering if there is a main pipe coming from my hot water heater, that "may be" really corroded, and that is the reason why all of the hot water faucets in my house slowed down about the same time.

I apologize for the lengthy questions, but I wanted to provide a few facts and details so someone can better understand my problem. So mainly I am trying to see if there is any temporary options or solutions (something that can be fixed by a plumber for less than $1000), so I can get more hot water and more hot water pressure in my shower, until I can afford the copper re-piping job . . . because I can live with the other slow running hot water faucets in my house.

Though I no nothing about plumbing, but I am very familiar how a snake/rooter works, yet it is too bad that plubmers do not have something similar for corroded pipes . . . i.e. a small flexible electric drill, that would be able to root-out a corroded pipe to give it a little more life until a major re-piping job can be done.

Thank you.

Wilson

[HayZee518]

I'm afraid there is no clear cut solution. You could replace the main line off your hot outlet with copper tubing but copper and galvanized don't work good together. Besides its rather difficult to thread "hanging" pipes.

[pushkins]

Copper is going to be the most expensive material to use, why not consider PEX, without any doubt it will be at least a 1/3rd of the cost of copper. The material itself is far cheaper and the labor involved is far less. It can be routed through walls in continuous lengths usually without wall damage, it's advantages are really endless.

[WestCoastWilson]

Thank you very much HayZee518, and Pushkins. I greatly appreciate your help so very, very much! When I had posted my question, I mainly wanted to get some feedback or options or solutions for my problem, so I could then turnaround and feed them to a plumber. Because without me knowing anything about plumbing, I do not want to have a plumber come over and tell me that my only option is to re-pipe my entire house.

Now with the information that you have provided me with, I am grateful to have it, so I will not feel like a total and complete idiot when I hire a plumber to look at my problem. LOL!!!

Out of curiosity, is re-piping with PEX relatively new, because I never see or hear newspaper or television or radio ads advertising PEX as an option to re-pipe an entire house, I only come across the copper re-piping ads.

Wilson

[pushkins]

PEX isn't new it's been around for years, with the price of copper going through the roof over the last couple of years PEX has gained a very strong foothold in the building industry.
The advantages of PEX are numerous including flexibilty of plumbing, flexibility of the material (if it freezes it swells kinda like a snake that's just eaten, then goes back to it's original size when it thaws), it is MUCH much quicker for a good plumber to install thus making the overall job much cheaper, the pipe itself is very flexible so to transition around a corner it's a matter of bending the pipe not a 90 degree elbow soldered on. It also has the advantage of having mainifolds (multi point distribution valves) installed, copper pipe needs to have a series of "t's" to distribute water. Couplings are made to transition from copper or Gal. to PEX
Almost all builds or renovations I do involve PEX
Simply google PEX for more info.

[WestCoastWilson]

Thanks again for your help once again, Pushkins! Thank you so very much for taking the time to provide me more detailed information on PEX. For sure I will see if my city will allow me to use it, before I get estimates to have my house re-piped. I live in the Los Angeles area, so if I get PEX, there is not much of a chance for it to swell kinda like a snake that’s just eaten . . . HOWEVER I just hope that PEX can withstand our occasional earthquakes! LOL!!!

Thanks much! : - )

Wilson

[Redwood]

PEX was recently approved by the state of California.
It should withstand an occaisional shake much better than any other material.

[WestCoastWilson]

Thanks Redwood.

Wilson