As we’ve previously mentioned, the busy summer season is upon us, with weekends consumed by weddings, free festivals, and travelling. Still, we’ve managed to fit in a little work here and there over the past few weeks. We wrote before about our decision to go with PVC plumbing over copper, and overall it’s been a good decision.
It was a tough one to make, initially. My fear of plastics and toxic chemicals inclined me to prefer copper plumbing, but we weren’t too excited about soldering all those pipes. It’s a really slow process, copper plumbing. And after some internet research (including no mention of PVC vs. copper plumbing in my light research on LEED certification; AND the consumer-protection-conscious state of California’s 2007 decision to give PVC plumbing the go-ahead), we decided it might not actually be that bad for us. And hey, we’re all going to get cancer in America anyway, so might as well not sweat the PVC.
So we’ve run some supply lines using CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride, the type of PVC approved for drinking water), and I must admit the installation was quick and easy. The only problem is the primer and PVC cement–those fumes are noxious! I found myself getting sleepy and taking naps in the afternoons when we worked on the plumbing, something very out of character for me. And despite letting the pipes dry for 2 hours before turning the water back on, our water has smelled and tasted like PVC cement for 2 weeks. What does PVC cement taste like? Like a tumor growing on my ovaries, that’s what. But the smell and taste are fading, and even when they were bad, the water seemed okay after we let it run for about 45 seconds.
