Old school copper plumbing - what is this stuff?

[crazylunker]

My house was built in 52 so it's all copper except for the iron waste pipe. Some of the runs to the bathroom sinks are just under 1/2" c. What I learned that there was a flexible L copper back then which came in roll was the latest greatest sneaky. This is different than the roll copper tubing that is commonly used in oil,gas and propane.

 

[mike93lx]

My house was built in 52 so it's all copper except for the iron waste pipe. Some of the runs to the bathroom sinks are just under 1/2" c. What I learned that there was a flexible L copper back then which came in roll was the latest greatest sneaky. This is different than the roll copper tubing that is commonly used in oil,gas and propane.

My house was built in 2003 and all the supply lines are copper, but drains are all pvc. I wish I had a cast iron stack for the noise damping, but I'm OK with not using copper for the drains.

 

[DGersic]

My house was built in 52 so it's all copper except for the iron waste pipe. Some of the runs to the bathroom sinks are just under 1/2" c. What I learned that there was a flexible L copper back then which came in roll was the latest greatest sneaky. This is different than the roll copper tubing that is commonly used in oil,gas and propane.

That’s what the plumber thought it could be that I have. What’s the OD of your copper? And are there fittings on it, or did they just bend the tube and swage the joints?

 

[rlitman]

My house was built in 2003 and all the supply lines are copper, but drains are all pvc. I wish I had a cast iron stack for the noise damping, but I'm OK with not using copper for the drains.

Most of my drains were cast iron. The stack still is, but a lot of the horizontal has been replaced by PVC after I've had failures in the cast. I wrapped the PVC in MLV (mass loaded vinyl sound dampening sheet) before closing, and it's quieter now as PVC than it was when it was cast. I also had one copper drain from a tub that rotted out on me. Now it's PVC too.

 

[brit vet]

I plumbed my first house in refrigeration copper as I got it free from the air conditioning company I worked for. I just soldered a stub of plumbing copper in at each terminal to a basin, pump etc.. That was 40 years ago and by now it's no doubt gone through more changes. I wonder what the plumber thought when he tried to connect to the 5/8" & 7/8" that took the place of 12mm & 22mm plumbing pipe

 

[cpakalolo]

Probably just copper tubing, pipe is nominal tube is actual OD.

Did you fix these spots?

If the pipe was ever frozen it would be larger than it used to be. However, the thicker AC/R tubing is sized by OD rather than ID. It is 3/8, 5/8, 7/8 and 1 1/8 inches to the outside diameter. You did the best thing by swaging that fitting. It is what refrigeration guys always do. I had a million dollar box of fittings in very odd sizes and configurations, but I preferred to swage and braze. I never used couplings. Made my own very long radius elbows. (They are 20 bucks each now) Bending and swaging is faster. Plumbing is always weird when you get into old copper. I like PEX now.