Okay, I know the stuff gets a lot of good reviews. Here is my question. When Pex freezes does it burst like copper? I have seen responses both ways. I have read that Pex expands and does not burst or rupture. Other that what one reads on the internet which if it's on the internet it has to be true......... Does anyone have any personal experience with Pex freezing? Good or bad!!!
I've had frozen pex a few times and never a problem. Not a ton of experience though.
Alan
my neighbor has pex in his mobile home. he didn't get to skirt this year, so his water froze 3 times. only once did it leak. that was when it broke one of the fittings. It never broke any pex, and I must say I was impressed.
PEX does expand when the water in the line freezes. Water froze in the lines in our cabin. No issues developed.
The Uponor/Wirsbo pex system uses a tool that expands the tubing for fitting installations. Then the tubing shrinks back and a retaining collar is pulled over the joint.
Thanks for the responses. I know the stuff has been around, but improvements to products do occur. For the little plumbing I have to do I think I am going to go with pex. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be.
Just don't do what a (professional) plumber in NC did. My friend is having a place built in NC, and went with PEX. They installed the manifold as you are supposed to, but he then proceeded to make all of his direction changes with fittings! He said there must be 200 fittings in his system, many behind the walls. I guess he ran the tubing dead straight, and used elbows like you would with copper or PVC.
d* d* PEX only needs corner turning fittings for real sharp bends. Even then there are 90 tubing holders. I don;t recall the proper name. The tubing snaps into them and the ones I have have provision for nailing to a stud. They prevent the tube from kinking.
Our house installation uses copper el stubs for turning out of the wall in places like under the sink, toilet water supply and so on. Hardly any fittings to speak of at all.
Quote from: MountainDon on March 14, 2011, 01:15:51 PM
The Uponor/Wirsbo pex system uses a tool that expands the tubing for fitting installations. Then the tubing shrinks back and a retaining collar is pulled over the joint.
The retaining ring is also expanded by the tool, then the tube and ring are fitted over the fitting barb.
If its cold out the pex shrinks back slower, than when warm. Some plumbers, and myself have notice some fitting failures due to improper seating during cold weather. Now I notice the professionals using heat guns to help speed up the time for the tube and collar (ring) to shrink back. Wirsbo/Uponor also make a ratchet style ring system with their pex as an alternative to the expander method.
Try www.pexsupply.com they have they 90 degree braces as well as a wealth of info. I did the the plumbing and radiant heat in my new place by myself and virtually all of the stuff came from them..
PEX has performed so well that, according to plumber friends, it is hard to find anyone using copper for new construction. Repairs to existing copper systems and the small areas such as Mtn Don described is about it for copper. The ease of installation and resulting $$$ savings for labor from PEX add to its' wide acceptance. Only drawback I have noted is that when it does freeze you can't hook up a pipe thawer and shoot some amps to thaw it out. Of course, doing that sometimes results in multiple leaks in copper systems when the user misjudges the required amperage or timing---a classic "aw shit' moment.
Welders used to work great for that on Iron pipe.
Just the union plumbers down here in the Peoples Republic don't like PEX - too fast and trouble free for the most part.
Glenn, I can believe you----I'm even old enough to remember when the union painters were refusing to use rollers. Can't recall the carpenters ever refusing to use nail guns though.