My wife is pushing for one of these very expensive home water treatment/filtration systems, but it all feels like a scam to me. No one I know has one, so turning to random strangers on the internet for opinions.
Edit: We’re on city water in a decent area. No well water. It’s more about removing the chlorine and microplastics than anything.
Lead solder does not contact water, and if it did, it’s a fraction of a percent of the area in a pipe.
What happens to old PEX plastic? We will find out. PEX is about fast and cheap plumbing.
Copper slowly dissolves in tap water, so the pipes are only expected to last about 70 years. While we don’t have long term data on PEX, it so far is looking good and plenty of experts expect it to last longer than copper.
Copper lasts well over 100 years in my area. Plumbers love PEX because they leak in about a decade. Rodents love to chew the plastic. I’ve never see a PEX install without copper connectors or unions.
PEX is cheap labor, but full of real-world issues.