Decision

Okay! Finally made a decision. Today I was able to talk to my wife's friend Zach(I hope I got that spelling right), as well as another plumber I'd called this morning. They both said they thought my pressure problems were due to the fact that most of my lines were running through the 1/2"OD soft copper at the kitchen. That size tubing just doesn't permit enough flow to support all the fixtures behind it, which now is the kitchen, the washer, and the bathroom. It just won't work.

So I've decided to just redo the whole system. I think, now that I've fiddled enough with it, that I have a pretty good idea of where all the current lines are going. This helps me feel better about about designing a new layout, since I'm confident that I won't miss anything, or create another bad situation.

Here's the plan. I'm going to connect 3/4" cpvc to the main line at the bathroom. This is the only old 3/4" galvanized that will remain in the system. I'll run that 3/4" cpvc all the way to the kitchen, as the main distribution line. Off of this line, I'll branch a 1/2" cpvc line to bathroom, the front spigot, the kitchen sink, and the laundry room. According to my experts, the 1/2" line should be plenty for each of these individual branches, and the 3/4" main line should allow enough flow to supply multiple branches with enough to run multiple fixtures simultaneously anywhere in the house. Also off of the 3/4" main I'll run another 3/4" main to the water heater. From the water heater will be the hot main, which will be a short stub of 3/4". Off of this hot main will branch 1/2" supplies to the kitchen sink, the washing maching, the dish washer, and back to the bathroom. I showed the design to Zach and he said it looks like a great idea. Should have great pressure to everywhere in the house, and be able to take a shower and do dishes at the same time. It'll be better than it was originally. Woohoo!

Few details to still work out. Running the main lines should be pretty simple. I'll stub off the 1/2" to the bathroom with some valves so I can test the joints and the pressure, and I can come back and do the final supplies there once i've measured for fixtures. I'm going to replace ALL the copper under the house(supplying the dishwasher, kitchen sink, and water heater) with new cpvc so that should be pretty straightforward as well. That leaves only a few things...attaching final supply lines from the new cpvc to kitchen sink(probably new shutoff valves), same with dishwasher supply(probably plastic tubing from cpvc to unit...the existing copper is pretty crimped from pushing the dishwasher in and out), connecting the current lines to the washer to the new 1/2" cpvc tee(i want to actually keep the existing 1/2" copper lines going to washing machinek, since they're replacements for some burst cpvc we had installed a few years ago with no problems since), attaching new hot mains to the water heater(probably need to disconnect existing copper so i know exactly what fittings I'm working with), and lastly, hooking in the existing icemaker supply(1/4" copper right now...i think i'm going to leave this alone and just reattach it to the new cold supply for the sink when I'm finished. I think all of these are easily manageable.

Whew...I feel %100 better now than I did yesterday evening. I have a decent amout of work ahead, but at least I know exactly what I'm doing now. I feel really confident about the new design and I'm psyched to see how it turns out. Tomorrow will probably be spent at least partially at Lowe's purchasing everything. Maybe I'll even be able to get started. I think I'll try and do as much as possible in phases...I'll be putting in valves along the way so that I'll be able to work on individual branches without impacting anything else. Once I get started, I expect it to move fairly quickly, since working with the cpvc is a breeze.

Away we go!