New plumbing issue - I'm worried

[wdfifteen]

A horizontal cold water copper pipe in my basement sprung a pinhole leak on the bottom side last night. I was perplexed because there was no mechanical damage, just a small green area on the pipe around the hole. I slapped a saddle patch on it and did some research. Ouch! All along I thought copper produced a passivation layer on the inside when water was introduced and was good to go for eternity. Not so by a long shot! Something is going on in my system allowing the copper to corrode. I'll send a water sample out, I've checked the grounds ( the pipes are all well grounded to each other and a long run is grounded in the earth), but I don't know what else to do.
Anyone have any experience with this?
I feel like my house is s ticking time bomb. I've put, "turn off water pump" on my checklist of things to do when we travel out of town. A long term leak could ruin a lot of stuff in here.

[Chocaholic]

Are you on a well, or city water? If well, is that before or after your purification system? I ask because we're on a well and the pipes prior to the system are also copper. I've been told they should be changed to PVC for that reason. Haven't done it yet though.

[wdfifteen]

I am on a well. The only water treatment system I have is a water softener and the leak is downstream from the softener.

[plumb4u2]

Well water and copper is a horrible mix, your water softener does nothing to protect the copper.

Well water is acidic which attacks the copper, you need and acid neutralizer to correct this. A water test will give you your PH level

By your picture I see your house was plumbed with "M" copper which is the thinnest grade, not an ideal situation

[plumb4u2]

And BTW....I am a Master Plumber with a 14yr old home and I obviously know my plumbing system well, I turn my water off if we go away for just the weekend!!

You would not believe the damage I have seen in my career

[Bugsinrugs]

Originally Posted by plumb4u2

Well water and copper is a horrible mix, your water softener does nothing to protect the copper.

Well water is acidic which attacks the copper, you need and acid neutralizer to correct this. A water test will give you your PH level

By your picture I see your house was plumbed with "M" copper which is the thinnest grade, not an ideal situation

This. I am on a well and that happened to me. I had a company install a acid neutralizer and water softener system. I was lucky as the pipe that develop the leaks was a pipe on the diverter valve in my shower. It was only under pressure when I wanted two shower heads going at once. I also turn off my water when I go away for any length of time.

[wdfifteen]

Thank you for your replies.
The water is going out for evaluation first thing Monday. From what I've read this morning ph levels that are either too low or too high can cause corrosion. I had the soil tested on the ground above the well because I couldn't grow grass on it. Turned out it was too alkaline. So maybe the water is also too alkaline. As I think back, I have had to replace two pressure tanks due to leaks and the house is only 21 years old. I think there is something in the water.

[Cajundaddy]

Alkaline water will not cause pinhole leaks but acidic well water certainly will. A water softener compounds the problem by removing all the beneficial calcium carbonate that normally coats and protects the copper plumbing. I would immediately bypass the softener until I got some answers about the well water makeup.

[sammyg2]

My house is on city water, and i went through the slab to replace sections of both hot and cold copper piping FOUR TIMES before i finally bit the bullet and had half of the piping replaced and run up in the attic, and had all of it epoxy coated on the inside diameter.

No problems since then.

I'm betting that won't be your only leak.

[GWN7]

Start planning on swapping out all your existing copper lines. I went to plastic in my other house years back to solve leaking problems.

[VincentVega]

The water is going out for evaluation first thing Monday.

Good luck

You can perform most tests yourself you are interested in buying a test kit. If you only care about there are tons of cheap options available that give pretty good readings.

[ckelly78z]

I just pulled all of my well lines and foot valve from inside the casing, (I had another basement mounted Jet pump go bad) so we decided to go with a 3/4 HP 220v submersible on plastic lines. This system is much quieter and more efficient and will probably last the rest of my life. When we pulled the old lines, we had 60 feet of Copper lines to scrap out. There is still alot of copper water lines in the basement and all of the water baseboard heater ducts from the boiler. The only leak I ever had was when an isolated heat line froze on an outside wall in a closet on a 20 below zero weekend, luckily I was at home to catch the water coming through the cieling into my shop.

[bpu699]

We are on a well... water is alkaline, not acidic..

Folks have been using copper pipes with wells for decades with little issue...

Perhaps the quality of copper has gone down the toilet?

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by plumb4u2

Well water is acidic which attacks the copper, you need and acid neutralizer to correct this.

Hmm acidic water, adding base to neutralize the acid. Wouldn't a simple water softener using NaCl would suffice?


Just saw the alkaline comment... Nevermind

[chocolatelab]

Super common issue on newer homes here in socal. During the housing boom the copper quality went way down. Most folks around here replace with the plastic tubing after their 3rd or 4th leak.

[scottmandue]

Didn't know plastic was even approved for domestic water... what type of plastic pipe do you use for interior plumbing?

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by bpu699

We are on a well... water is alkaline, not acidic..

Folks have been using copper pipes with wells for decades with little issue...

Perhaps the quality of copper has gone down the toilet?

The quality and thickness of copper tubing used in some places went downhill a few decades ago, instead of lasting over 100 years it tends to last 30 or 40. Or less.

[bleucamaro]

I'm not sure about materials 14yrs old, but have heard stories of modern copper pipe coming from China that have porosity and generally poor metal quality causing pinhole leaks.

[Cajundaddy]

Guys, forming pinhole leaks in your plumbing is a corrosive water problem, not a copper quality problem.

More info on corrosive well water causes and solutions:

Corrosive Water Problems — Water Quality — Penn State Extension

http://water.me.vccs.edu/courses/env110/Lesson8_print.htm

[A930Rocket]

Pex

Originally Posted by scottmandue

didn't know plastic was even approved for domestic water... What type of plastic pipe do you use for interior plumbing?