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 Brass Water Supply Piping Inspection, Diagnosis, Repair, Replacement, Life Expectancy
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InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.
This page lists our in-depth articles on inspecting, testing, and repairing problems with brass water supply plumbing. Our page top photograph shows a great place to look for brass piping: in the plumbing access behind the tub wall of an older home. This photograph was taken in a home built in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1935. We found brass water supply pipes, brass drain piping, lead drain pipes, and asbestos pipe insulation all in this opening.
The articles at this website will answer most questions about water supply & drain piping, wells, & water tanks as well as many other building plumbing system inspection or defect topics. Reproduction of this web page electronically at other websites is prohibited.
Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2013 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Author Daniel Friedman.
Brass Building Water Supply: how to identify, inspect, repair, replace
Distinguishing Brass Water Pipes from Copper Piping
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 Watch out: on older buildings brass water supply piping may have been used, and may be at or near the end of its useful life. It can be tricky to tell the difference between brass water supply piping and copper water supply piping if you are not experienced with these materials, as their colors are similar, especially when both types of piping have become an oxidized brownish color with age.
Both brass and copper are non-magnetic, so they won't respond to a "magnet" test to look for iron or steel.
Brass water supply piping, unlike copper, is a thicker material that is usually joined by threaded fittings of the same size and pipe thread specifications (NPT) as iron and galvanized iron piping.
Usually, brass piping is also so rigid that it is not bendable. Or not very bendable anyway. So in our photograph (left) of water supply piping at a bath tub in an older home, the larger-diameter left-hand pipe is surely brass, connected to a galvanized iron fitting at its bottom end. The right-hand vertical pipe may be copper tubing as is the darker copper pipe at left behind our brass one.
Don't worry about that odd little machine in bottom center of the photo - we were collecting an air sample in this wall cavity.
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More Photographs of Brass Water Supply Piping
Our brass pipe photograph at above left helps identify brass water supply piping: the combination of shiny gold-colored metal (scratch it to see), and threaded pipe fittings confirms that the material is brass, not copper. A brass union and brass water pipe fittings in our photo at above right also show the threaded connections characteristic of this material.
We discuss the lead drain line shown in our above-left photo, at LEAD PIPES in buildings.
Here we show vintage brass water supply piping rising to a third floor bath tub in an older home.
The water shutoff valve is probably chromed brass, and you can also observe a larger diameter brass tub drain pipe just behind the brass water pipe and valve shown in the foreground.
At the right edge of the photo is a second brass water supply pipe riser, and in the floor we noticed a brass cap over a floor-access plumbing drain access.
Incidentally, from its age, location, and retrofit status, this tub drain did not work very well - it was un-vented. More recently a plumber had installed a vacuum breaker on this drain line, found in a nearby attic knee wall crawl space. |
Life Expectancy of Brass Water Supply Piping
Unlike it's look-alike cousin galvanized iron piping, brass water pipes are less likely to become clogged internally by rust build-up. However if the building water supply is heavy in minerals, mineral deposits, particularly in hot water pipes, can over time clog brass water piping just as it may cause clogs in galvanized iron or copper water pipes.
We often find brass water supply piping working well after more than 50 years and we have inspected and found in good condition brass water supply pipes in buildings more than 75 years old, including some of the photos shown in this article that were obtained in a home built in 1935.
We suspect that the life expectancy of brass water pipes may depend on part on the corrosivity or aggressiveness of the building water supply.
Photos of Brass Drain Piping
Brass drain pipes and on occasion chrome-plated brass drain piping may be more commonly found in buildings than you realize. Lots of plumbing traps and some tub drain parts were made of brass or chrome-plated brass.
This photograph shows brass drain connections at a bath tub. We scratched the horizontal drain connector to better-show its characteristic brass color.
Watch out: even though the brass drain line in this photo appeared to be in good condition with no signs of leaks despite its age, there could be perforations developing on the non-visible underside of the brass pipe.
Worse, in this same location the brass tub drains connected to a lead plumbing drain that will be costly to replace when it leas. |
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Technical Reviewers & References
Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.
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- ABS Plastic Drain/Waste/Vent (DWV) pipe failures: reported for Centaur, Phoenix, Polaris, Gable, and Spartan pipe mfgs. for pipe made between 1985 and 1988. CPSC Hot Line: 800-638-8270 or ABS Drain Leaks/Failures-Class Action Settlement COX settlement through Shell Oil set up by a contractor involved in the settlement. Polybutylene Plumbing Failures: Spencer Class settlement. 10% of replacement cost/damages, only for acetal (plastic)fittings Polybutylene plumbing info at U. Arizona Polybutylene piping lawsuit settlement website Polybutylene plumbing lawsuit proposed settlement-old site
- Polybutylene Plumbing Failures, Lots of Info about, but slow-loading busy site
- Compression fittings for plumbing connections, Wikipedia photograph, web search 08/09/2010, original source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robinetterie-raccords.JPG
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
- Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
er- Plumbing Diagnosis & Repair: Water supply, drainage, septic systems, water testing, water contamination, defective plumbing materials & products.
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