I Love PEX!

[Matt Meiser]

So shortly after reading Nathan's plumbing thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=67397) I went downstairs to look at something and noticed a small puddle on the floor under our master bath (the one I JUST remodeled.) I figured out that it was dripping from the water supply to the shower, the only area I didn't replumb with PEX, but I did swap out the shower valve. Uh-Oh :mad:

I had visions of cutting into our freshly faux painted walls to fix the problem, but first took off the trim inside the shower. Pretty quickly I realized that I could get to the fittings to remove everything if I cut the pipe with a hacksaw blade. Off to the hardware store for some fittings and the crimping tool. 3 hours later and it was completely replumbed using PEX with no open-wall surgery required. It was a lot of fun working through an opening I could just barely reach inside, but way better than drywall and paint.

Unfortunately now I need to work all evening to get caught up instead of going to the SE Michigan Woodworkers meeting. :(

[David G Baker]

Matt,
You are going to make a believer out of me. I have a lot of old soft copper plumbing in my basement under my bathroom. At some point in the near future I am going give PEX a serious try. Some of the fittings are joined to galvanized pipe and have quite a bit of corrosion on them. Those will be the first to go.

[Greg Peterson]

One the things I did with my PEX lines was insulate them with the foam pipe insulators at the BORGs. However, to help identify hot from cold supply lines I used a color coded system. Cold water lines got blue zip ties around the insulator and hot water lines got red zip ties.

I did not use the self sealing insulators as PEX does not like adhesives (I understand adhesives are corrosive to PEX).

The insulation prevent any sunlight the can peek into the crawl space from shining on the lines and even though the crawl space never freezes, it's cheap insurance.

Yeah, PEX is pretty great stuff.

[Matt Meiser]

Greg, you can even get the tubing in red and blue.

I've seen several comments on PEX and sunlight. The label on the roll I bought warns against direct sunlight. The insulation is still a good idea though.

[Jake Helmboldt]

What about the price of the crimping tools?:eek: I have a small job to relocate an exterior faucet that runs off of PEX that was just installed in a remodel job. I nearly soiled myself; the tool is several times what the materials will cost for the job.

JH

[Matt Meiser]

Jake, I can rent the tool at my local hardware store for $5/day.

[Greg Peterson]

The PEX tool I used expands the tube opening and the fitting is inserted. PEX has a memory and in twenty to thirty seconds it returns to its original dimension, compressing the fitting in place. Fittings were plastic for lack of a better description. Not bronze or copper.

[Greg Cole]

I had a plumbing leak in a place where you could only access the pipes & fittings when the house was nelwly plumbed... to make a long story short.
I tried one afternoon to replace copper with copper, but it was in a spot where all I did was get more & more pissed off as I tried.
I bit the bullet on the PEX crimpers, fittings and tubing and was done with the repair in about ohh.... 3 minutes.
My BIL in Vermont is a plumber and he hasn't sweat any copper for a couple years now. His advice was what got me to stop the copper fix and "Dude, just spend the $ on PEX and stop _ _ _ _ing around".
The crimper was $100, but I'll have it forever and will not do copper again.

Greg

[Gary Garmar]

One question: with PEX how do you "saddle" off the line to run to a ice maker on a fridge ?

[Matt Meiser]

One question: with PEX how do you "saddle" off the line to run to a ice maker on a fridge ?

If it were me, I'd just cut the line (you can cut it with a utility knife), add a Tee and put on a valve and a fitting to transition to the ice maker line. Or just run pex to right behind the fridge.

[Jason White]

PEX is great stuff, but do your homework in choosing which type of fittings you use...

http://www.zurnclassaction.com/




So shortly after reading Nathan's plumbing thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=67397) I went downstairs to look at something and noticed a small puddle on the floor under our master bath (the one I JUST remodeled.) I figured out that it was dripping from the water supply to the shower, the only area I didn't replumb with PEX, but I did swap out the shower valve. Uh-Oh :mad:

I had visions of cutting into our freshly faux painted walls to fix the problem, but first took off the trim inside the shower. Pretty quickly I realized that I could get to the fittings to remove everything if I cut the pipe with a hacksaw blade. Off to the hardware store for some fittings and the crimping tool. 3 hours later and it was completely replumbed using PEX with no open-wall surgery required. It was a lot of fun working through an opening I could just barely reach inside, but way better than drywall and paint.

Unfortunately now I need to work all evening to get caught up instead of going to the SE Michigan Woodworkers meeting. :(

[Greg Peterson]

Matt is correct about adding onto an existing water circuit. Just put a T into the line. You can get a T that will go from the main line size to the supply line size. Putting a shutoff valve on the line, perhaps behind the fridge, would be a great thing to do.

With PEX, there are a lot of similarities between your water supply system and electrical system. Just don't mix together! :D

Ideally, each major water appliance has it's own hot and cold supply line. Not always practical or possible.

[Matt Meiser]

Were I to plumb a new house with it I would do "homeruns" like they do on This Old House. I like the idea of the big manifold with a separate run to each location.

[Greg Peterson]

Yeah, once see the home run system, the similarity in design to the electrical system is pretty obvious. Unlike any other plumbing material, PEX allows for quick, permanent solutions. Need water supply for a new fridge? Done.