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I would be more worried about plastic or pex piping leaching dangerous stuff into my water more than copper
Copper's track record is safety and reliability over half a century in tens of millions of homes all over the country. PEX's record is a tiny blip compared to that.
I'd be more concerned with the dihydrogen monoxide that my pipes are full of. No matter how much I open the faucets the dihydrogen monoxide levels remain! My uncle's bookkeeper's cousin has PEX and has the same problem!
I am interested in buying a house that says it has copper pipes. I have read about some health risks associated with copper pipes, specifically the body's effects of ingesting too much copper that gets into the water. Apparently Alzheimer's disease is also linked to copper pipes.
How can I find out the age of the copper pipes, and would an inspection tell me the condition of these pipes? Any thoughts about the health risks? Should I consider ripping them all out and having them replaced?
There are more "health risks" with steel pipe. I have seen some flat nasty old galvy in houses. So long as the copper is installed correctly, with lead free solder, you will be fine. Copper is a good material. Its seeing a lot less use in houses these days because of PEX pipe. A composite plastic. Cheaper and way easier to install than copper.
I've been drinking from copper pipes for over 70 years and I ain't dead yet. Quality of your water should be your concern, not the copper piping.
In AZ (the copper state) up until a few years ago copper piping was required by law in all construction. Now you have a choice of piping.
IMO you're fine with any combination of copper or PEX. My preference is copper main lines / PEX going out to fixtures but that's due mostly to ease of installation on my part. Galvanized is something I find more or less impossible to work with.
I have no idea why people worry so much about their tap water, something that's easily solved with the right tap water filter. There are numerous kinds of filter sets, some which can be expensive, but others aren't. Just think about this: people buy bottled water thinking it's the purest, without realizing that they could be buying water tap water
What I do is to have the water tested by a local lab, and then install a good filter set that removes most impurities. Most tap-water filters remove lead, copper, calcium, bleach, sediments, and so on. Some others remove the same, plus organic materials, including fertilizers, etc. The tap water filter at my home (not just a sediment filter), is installed under the sink, and has its own faucet mounted next to the sink's faucet in the kitchen. Not need to spend money on bottled water any more.
By the way, a lot of the commercial expresso coffee machines have copper lines. Then the little ones we buy at the store have a boiler that is made of cast aluminum. I would think that aluminum would be worst than copper.
...that's easily solved with the right tap water filter...
Most of us out here believe (i.e. "know") that tap water is safe. However, if anyone wants to install a (useless for safety) filter on their water lines they absolutely should be sure to regularly change the filtering element.
There are probably millions of filters out here in the world installed to "purify" tap water that have never been changed, resulting in water that is MUCH "dirtier" than what arrived to the residence.
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...people buy bottled water thinking it's the purest, without realizing that they could be buying water tap water...
In fact, COSTCO used to sell their own brand of spring water here in Northern Virginia (probably east coast area at least since it was sourced in PA). At some point, they changed it to be tap water but kept the same label-look (they did take away the "spring water" lettering, of course). It was really a surprise to read the label one day and see that what USED to be spring water was now just "purified water". Caveat Emptor!
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