LOL, Had a client a few weeks ago who was very excited to know he had some copper drain lines. He planned on taking out the copper drain lines to pay for some repairs.
Here is another thread about sulfur off gassing on Chinese made sheetrock that is causing extensive copper damage. One of the symptoms is copper turning black.
I just inspected a condo built in the early 1900’s and the home was repiped in with copper lines, all of which have turned black. The crawl space was infested with cat and cat poop. The copper line was bonded with a galvanized clamp and the pipes were sprayed with ammonia. By the way, cat poop is hard on the knees when its a hundred years old. :twisted:
Is the black on the outside of the lines? If so, sounds like an airborne cemical reaction. Perhaps a high concentration of off gasing hydrogen sulfide gases from “chinese” drywall of the earth. From the earth it could be from excessive organic mater under the soil, ie a bog.
Let me add to the confusion.
I did a house yesterday that was built it 2004 (pre-chinese drywall). It had a recently finished basement, but I could see the back side of a lot of the drywall and it was manufactured in the US.
The water line from where it entered the house at the slab to where it changed over to PEX was almost black. The cold water line going into the WH was dark, but not as dark as the service entrance pipe. The hot water line coming out of the WH looked normal.
Some of the copper bands on the PEX and some of the copper fittings joining the PEX had turned color, but some hadn’t.
It can’t be electrolysis because the pipe on the WH wasn’t in contact with any other metallic pipe or wire or hanger.
It can’t be a gas leak, or some other kind of fume or vapor because some of the copper close to the discolored copper looked normal.
The bus bars were discolored with a bit of a patina, just enough to take the shine off of them, but the wiring inside the panel wasn’t.
No signs of any moisture in the basement. No odor in the house. No signs of any deterioration of the pipe.
I have no explanation.
I’m gonna write it up as being unusual and let it go at that I guess.
It kinda bugs me though.
Edited to add - Maybe it’s a simple explanation, like the plumber had some copper left over from another job that he had been carrying around on his truck (which began to change color), and since they needed so little for this property, he just used what he had.
These pics aren’t the greatest, but I think they show it well enough.
I have encountered this condition at a plant that processed corn into alcohol for mixing in gasoline. As we were installing new A/C units in equipment rooms the copper tubing would have turned black before installed was completed. It turned out to be ( so2 ) that was in the air all through out the plant. The life expectancy of the systems was about 3-5 years depending on where they were located. The joints were the first to start leaking. we used (stay-silv 15) to solder the joints.
I now find that this condition is present in my house ( I live 60 miles from the plant so one is not related to the other ) . The A coil in my central air unit has turned black along with all the other cooper pipe. I also have a drain that is a slow drainer and believe this is the cause. I must have a brake in the drain line and the caustic nature of the drain opener is producing so2 or something like it. The A coil is only 4 years old and it is total loss.
Just saw this for the first time at an inspection I had today. I’ve read through the thread and since the last post was 9 years ago I was just wondering if anyone had any different opinion of what may be causing the cooper to turn black like shown. @mwilles any thoughts on this ?
Sometimes copper pipes turn very dark over many years. I have no idea why this happens. It’s very common in old homes. One theory is sulfur in sewer gas.
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Image please.
Is the home on well? Did the water smell like sulphur?
Is Copper Pipe Corrosion Causing my Plumbing Pipes to turn black…
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So what would the recommendation be in these cases? Is that something a plumber can fix or further evaluate ?
It’s just the color of the copper pipe. It doesn’t make the copper defective in anyway.
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