Old galvanized water pipes vs modern PEX for a 1950s house

Bought a house built in 1952 two years ago. Had nothing but rusty water and low pressure from day one. Copper was too expensive so I went with PEX. Night and day difference. Water pressure went from a trickle to actually usable. The old pipes were basically clogged with sediment after 70 years. PEX took me a weekend and about $400 to do the whole main line. Anyone else deal with old plumbing issues when trying to make their home more efficient?

3 comments

3 Comments

joel_butler7d ago

Did you ever check if your pressure regulator was still working before you swapped? I dealt with the same thing in my 54 house except I found the old pressure regulator was totally shot on top of the sediment. I did a partial PEX swap on the main line first and it helped but I still had low pressure until I replaced that regulator. But yeah PEX is way easier to work with than cutting out galvanized sections. The push fittings can add up fast but man the crimp ring tool pays for itself after a few connections.

gavin6927d ago

Hell yeah man, I actually read somewhere that most old houses have the pressure regulator totally shot by now. Good call on checking that @joel_butler, I probably would've just swapped the pipe and been scratching my head wondering why the pressure still sucked lol.

jade_johnson7d ago

Oh man, nothing like shelling out for a whole PEX swap just to find out your real problem was a little regulator that cost 40 bucks at the hardware store. Classic homeowner move, right? I swear half the time I fix something in my old place it turns out I was just mad at the wrong pipe. But at least now you've got that sweet, sweet PEX and you can flex on your neighbors when they're still cutting rusted galvanized with a hacksaw. Did you at least keep that old regulator as a trophy or did you just chuck it in the trash out of pure spite?