One Thing You Can Do Today to Prevent Issues With Your Copper Pipes

If you have copper pipes in your home and want to prevent leaks in the future, you can take a simple action today to reduce the likelihood of pinhole leaks developing in your copper pipes.

And if you’ve never had any pinhole leaks in your copper pipes, this easy action could prove even more helpful for preventing future issues.

First, why is this an issue?

If you missed this previous post, here’s some background: it’s possible for copper pipes to fail long before they reach their expected life span of 50-70 years.

Most of the time, the issue is a small pinhole leak, but this is often a sign that more leaks will develop in the near future.

Leaks in copper pipes can be caused by several variables, including the type of copper, the quality of the installation, and the chemical composition of the water.

Even external electric currents can lead to premature corrosion through a process known as electrolysis.

In our service area, we are continuing to see copper pipes fail early and need to be replaced. Due to the number of variables mentioned above, the exact reason for this is still unknown, but we are seeing some ideas emerge out of the ongoing research and testing on this issue.

One thing you can do today

While this research is ongoing and cannot produce any definite conclusions, it does appear that stagnant water might be one of the factors that lead to pinhole leaks in copper pipes.

To prevent stagnant water from causing issues, here’s what you should do:

• In bathrooms and other faucets that don’t get used often, run the water for 30 seconds once a week.

This simple action will prevent stagnant water from contributing to the development of pinhole leaks in your copper pipes. And while the pinhole leaks might still develop eventually, you can do something today to help slow down this process.

If you think you might have a leak or need any assistance, you can reach us at 770.560.1792.