Reserve Funds

September 9, 2024 Published by Toronto and Area Chapter - By Sophia Rojenko, Sally Thompson

Throwing Cold Water on Cold Water Pipe Replacements

From the Summer 2024 issue of CCI Toronto Condovoice Magazine.

Site Description

The corporation consists of a high-rise residential building with over 400 residential units, constructed in the mid-1980s. The building has copper pipes for domestic water distribution; 37 hot and 37 cold water risers.

Reserve Fund Assumptions

Pinhole leaks had been a persistent issue on the domestic hot water system for several years, so hot water piping replacement was planned in the near term in the reserve fund study. A mechanical engineer was engaged to design and tender the piping replacement. They recommended that when the domestic hot water piping was replaced, all the cold-water piping should also be replaced.

The Reality

The cost to replace the cold-water piping would be would be significant, typically costing many hundreds of thousands of dollars. The mechanical engineer’s investigation did not find technical problems with the cold-water piping, but rather the justification was that the walls would already be opened to replace the hot water piping, so the cold piping should also be replaced. The reserve fund study planner did not agree with this recommendation. The study was finalized with hot water piping replacement in the near term, an allowance for some cold-water piping repair (during the hot water project) and a long service life for the cold-water piping.

Lessons Learned for Reserve Fund Planners

Hot water piping develops pinhole leaks and requires replacement more frequently than cold water piping. This is because corrosion rates increase at higher temperatures, making hot water more aggressive than cold water. Further, hot water distribution systems incorporate recirculation, which means that water is always flowing and will cause erosion of the pipe walls, which leads to pinhole leaks. Cold water systems do not recirculate, making pinhole failures unlikely. Most coldwater leaks are localized and are related to contact with dissimilar metals, or poor solder joints. These can be locally repaired at minimal cost. Copper has been used for more than 50 years and as an industry we have not seen any significant failures in domestic cold-water piping.

In the absence of widespread issues with the cold-water piping, consider the timing of hot water and cold-water piping separately; there is no need to tie these projects together.

Takeaways for Board of Directors and Property Managers

If you get the advice that you should change your cold-water piping at the same time as your hot water piping; push back! In almost all cases, the cold-water piping can continue to serve for decades.

Sophia Rojenko is a Project Manager at Synergy Partners. In her role, Sophia has participated in preparing dozens of reserve fund studies. She has experience in understanding declarations, shared facilities agreements, and condominium legislation and regulations.

Sally Thompson is a Project Director at Synergy Partners with over thirty years experience advising condominiums with respect to reserve fund studies.