Hear from Our Customers
You stop wondering if today’s the day your pipes burst. You stop getting turned down for coverage or hit with premium hikes because of plumbing your inspector flagged. You can sell your home without disclosing a material defect that kills deals.
Kitec isn’t just old plumbing. It’s a known liability. The brass fittings corrode from the inside out—a process called dezincification—and when they go, they don’t drip. They flood.
Insurance companies aren’t taking chances anymore. Some won’t cover Kitec homes at all. Others exclude damage caused by Kitec failure, which means if it bursts, you’re paying for everything. Mortgage lenders are backing away too. If you’re trying to refinance or sell, Kitec becomes a deal-breaker fast.
A professional Kitec repiping service in River, CA removes all of it. You get copper or PEX throughout your home—materials that last decades and don’t scare off buyers or underwriters. No more risk. No more runaround. Just reliable plumbing that works.
Murray Plumbing started when Ryan Murray got his contractor’s license and learned the service side of plumbing from the ground up. That was over 15 years ago. Since then, we’ve repiped homes across River, Placerville, and the surrounding El Dorado County area—many of them dealing with the exact same Kitec problem you’re facing now.
We’re not a franchise. We’re local, licensed, and insured. We show up when we say we will, we tell you the cost before we start, and we don’t tack on surprise charges after the job’s done. Our Google rating sits at 4.7 out of 5 based on 93 reviews, and a lot of those mention two things: we’re fast, and we’re straight with people.
River homeowners call us because they need someone who understands the urgency of Kitec repiping services and won’t drag the process out. We get it done right the first time.
First, we come out and assess your home. We figure out where the Kitec runs, how much needs to be replaced, and what material makes the most sense for your situation—usually copper or PEX. We walk you through the options and give you an exact price. No ballpark. No “we’ll see.” You know what it costs before we touch anything.
Once you’re ready to move forward, we schedule the work around your life. We shut off water to the areas we’re working on, remove the old Kitec piping and fittings, and install the new system. Depending on your home’s size and layout, this usually takes a few days. We’re not tearing apart your whole house—we work in sections and keep disruption as minimal as possible.
After everything’s installed, we test the system to make sure pressure’s right and there are no leaks. Then we walk you through what we did. You’ll have documentation for your insurance company, your lender, or your buyer’s inspector—whoever needs proof that the Kitec is gone.
That’s it. No Kitec. No liability. No more wondering when it’s going to go wrong.
Ready to get started?
When we repipe your River home, we’re replacing every section of Kitec—hot and cold lines, supply lines, and all those brass fittings that are primed to fail. You’re not patching. You’re eliminating the problem completely.
We install either copper or PEX, depending on what fits your home and budget. Copper lasts up to 100 years and comes with a 50-year warranty in most cases. PEX is flexible, faster to install, and handles temperature swings better than Kitec ever did. Both options are approved by insurance companies and lenders, which is half the reason you’re doing this in the first place.
You also get transparency. We tell you what the job costs upfront—typically between $5,000 and $30,000 depending on your home’s size and how accessible the plumbing is. No hidden fees. No change orders unless you ask us to do something different. And because we’re a small, locally-owned company with low overhead, we keep costs down without cutting corners.
River’s housing market has a lot of homes from that 1995–2007 window, which means Kitec is more common here than people realize. If you’re trying to sell, buyers are asking about it. If you’re trying to insure, carriers are flagging it. A residential Kitec repiping service removes that obstacle and lets you move forward.
Check your water heater, under sinks, and in your crawl space or attic where pipes are exposed. Kitec pipes are usually marked with “Kitec” or “KTC” on the tubing itself. The pipes are often orange or blue, though sometimes they’re gray or black.
The fittings are brass and often stamped with the Kitec logo. If your home was built or repiped between 1995 and 2007, there’s a strong chance Kitec was used—it was popular with builders during that time because it was cheap and easy to install.
If you’re not sure, we can come out and confirm. It takes about 10 minutes to identify, and we’ll show you exactly what you’re dealing with. A lot of River homeowners don’t realize they have Kitec until they try to sell or refinance and an inspector flags it.
Some will. Others won’t drop you, but they’ll exclude coverage for any damage caused by Kitec failure—which defeats the purpose of having insurance. A few companies will still cover you but charge higher premiums because of the risk.
It depends on your carrier and your policy. What’s consistent across the board is that insurance companies see Kitec as a liability. If it fails and floods your home, they’re not paying out if the damage was caused by a known defect.
The safest move is to replace it before it becomes an issue. Once the Kitec is gone and you’ve got copper or PEX installed, your coverage goes back to normal. We provide documentation after the repipe so you can send proof to your insurer and close that loop.
Most residential Kitec repiping jobs take between two and five days, depending on the size of your home and how accessible the plumbing is. Single-story homes with a crawl space are usually faster. Two-story homes or homes with plumbing buried in walls take a bit longer.
We work in sections so you’re not without water for days at a time. We’ll shut off water to the area we’re working on, complete that section, test it, and move to the next. You’ll have running water in other parts of the house while we work.
We schedule around your life. If you need us to avoid certain days or work around your schedule, we make it happen. The goal is to get your Kitec replaced as quickly as possible without turning your routine upside down.
Most Kitec repipe projects in River run between $5,000 and $30,000. The range depends on your home’s square footage, how many bathrooms you have, and whether your plumbing is easy to access or buried behind finished walls.
Copper costs more than PEX, but it also lasts longer—up to 100 years versus 50 for PEX. Both are solid options. We’ll walk you through the pros and cons of each and give you a firm price for both materials so you can decide what makes sense.
We don’t do estimates that change halfway through the job. You get an exact number before we start, and that’s what you pay unless you ask us to add something. A lot of our customers in River have told us the final bill came in lower than they expected, which doesn’t happen often in this industry.
Legally, yes—but practically, it’s a problem. You’re required to disclose Kitec as a material defect. Once buyers know it’s there, they either walk away or demand a credit to cover the cost of replacement, which often exceeds what you’d pay to just handle it yourself.
Lenders are also wary of Kitec. Some won’t approve loans for homes with Kitec plumbing still in place. That shrinks your buyer pool to cash offers or people willing to take on the risk, and those buyers usually lowball.
If you’re planning to sell, replacing the Kitec before you list makes the process smoother. You’re not negotiating over it. You’re not losing buyers during inspections. You’ve got documentation showing the system’s been updated with copper or PEX, and that’s a selling point instead of a red flag.
Kitec fails because of how it’s made. The brass fittings contain high levels of zinc, and over time, that zinc corrodes and weakens the fitting—a process called dezincification. Once the fitting’s compromised, it cracks or bursts. It’s not a slow leak. It’s a flood.
The question isn’t if your Kitec will fail. It’s when. Some systems started failing around 2005, roughly 10 years after installation. Since Kitec was used through 2007, many River homes are hitting that failure window now—or already past it.
Insurance companies know this. That’s why they’re refusing coverage or excluding Kitec-related damage. They’ve seen the claims. They’ve seen the lawsuits. The class action settlement closed in 2020, so there’s no compensation available anymore. You’re on your own if it fails, which is why replacing it now—before it becomes an emergency—makes sense.
Local Resources
Other Services we provide in River
