Galvanized Plumbing & You

Welcome back to the Economy Plumbing Service blog where we dish all the tips, info, and know-how you might need to handle your own plumbing problems and to better understand what it is plumbers like us can help with. The more you understand, the better we all can diagnose potential problems and get it sorted. So, without further ado, let’s talk about galvanized plumbing!

What is Galvanized Plumbing

Galvanized plumbing or piping means that the pipes used in your plumbing system are galvanized. Galvanizing is a process in which a protective zinc coating is added to steel or iron (for plumbing it’s typically iron) to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged in a bath of molten hot zinc.

Galvanized pipes became popular in the early 20th century, before that all plumbing pipes were lead or a cast iron. 

Why Should I Be Concerned About Galvanized Plumbing?

Well, there’s a few reasons actually. For one, if you’re trying to sell your home you’re bound to find that the presence of galvanized piping detracts from the appraised value of the house. If you’re looking to purchase it will drive the cost of the home down and for good reason. 

Galvanized Plumbing Will Fail

The galvanization process was meant to make a better pipe, preventing rust but it doesn’t work quite like that. The pipes will rust from the inside out, first building up a layer of plaque on the inside of the pipe which will cut off water supply and mess with the water pressure. The plaque also will flake off into the water leading to rusty color or other visible impurities in the water.

The presence of an electrical current in the ground, nearby grids, or the natural electrical charge that exists (though imperceptible to us) also can cause chemical corrosion in the pipe. More importantly than any visible impurities is that these pipes can fail catastrophically and flood your home or cause hundreds of thousands of dollars of water damage.

That’s the big problem with these pipes for most Americans right now. In ideal conditions, galvanized pipes have a lifespan of about 70 years at the max. And around the country we have passed that or are fast approaching the end of the line. Thousands of homes, commercial properties, are sitting on piping that might as well be a ticking bomb.

What do I do about my galvanized plumbing?

That’s easy. You replace it. Since the end of WWII plumbers all around the world have been using newer materials for plumbing, replacing galvanized piping with copper or pex piping! 

Repiping a whole home is by no means an easy task for most homeowners, but for us in the bizz we’ve been doing it day in day out for years! That’s why Economy Plumbing Service can guarantee a 2 Day repiping for any house. We know what we’re doing, we know how to get it done right, and we know how to get it done fast! If you’re worried your home has galvanized pipes, or know it does and are ready to make the change before disaster strikes, give us a call!

If water goes through it or to it, we do it!

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