Copper water pipe in dirt

[Michael Sedillo]

Calif.- Can a copper water pipe in a crawl space be laying in the dirt?

Mike

[John Adrian Sopher]

Dont think so, I think it should be hanging / properly supported.

[Michael Sedillo]

Acutally, I knew that. I guess I didnn't phrase my question well. My question is: can copper be in contact with the soil?

Thanks,

Mike

[Stephen Stanczyk]

Yes.  There are a large number of homes with main copper water lines.  The big issue is usually where it enters the crawl space.  It cannot be in contact with the concrete foundation.  Buried in the dirt is fine.

[John Adrian Sopher]

Yeah we see a few houses around here with copper main lines.  I wasn't quite sure if you were talking about copper plumbing in general in contact with Earth or if plumbing in general was allowed to lay on the ground in a crawl.  I use to have a diagram around here that shows what materials were used for what purpose and at what point in time they were allowed. I'm someone around here will have it.

[Richard Overton]

Lets not forget the 10' of copper pipe in the ground that can be used as part of the electrical grounding system.

Copper in the dirt of a crawl space- is it a safety hazard? is it subject to physical damage? My favorite -actually from the Plumbing code, is it "installed in a workman like manner" If I saw something like that, I would pay extra attention to other aspects of the plumbing system simply because what you are describing is so out of the ordinary