Seems everyone has a different opinion on flexible piping. I would love to hear from anyone with experience, especially Plumbers who've had to go back to repair. TIA
Posts: 14 | Location: VA | Registered: 03 November 2005
i'm a do-it-yourselfer who plumbed his way thru college (pre-pex)..pex is far superior to cpvc..better against freezing..much more flexible and less brittle, overall..
Posts: 10 | Location: south carolina | Registered: 12 May 2006
I am building a new house and my plumber has installed Plex. He has been using it for a couple of years. From the research I've done it seems to be a superior product considering the cost of copper and the copper thieves.
The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of rigidity when connections are made to the fixtures.
I understand Pex has volume restrictions when the fittings are installed so most of the fixtures have to be home runs (back to a central manifold). Good news, this eliminates a lot of joints in the walls, bad news is a lot of material is used and bundles of tubing take up space in the walls, joists, soffits etc. It would seem 10 or 12 home runs to the other end of the house to catch a couple of bathrooms may eliminate the cost savings vs. one 3/4 copper line.
I've heard (from local plumbing board official studying whether to allow the stuff in our area) pex does not perform well when water has high chlorine, so it may not be right for some municiple water systems.
It seems most plastic tubing, fittings etc, have some type of recall, weakness, failure over time. It would be nice to know how this stuff will be performing 10-40 years from now. I know copper is tried and true.
InspectorMark
Posts: 87 | Location: OmahaNE | Registered: 26 July 2005
I did residential plumbing for years and was there when pex first hit the scene. there are ways of making fixture connections firmer but it costs more so most plumbers won't use them. IMHO I will never use pex on ANY project, I have seen way too many issues with it and just don't trust it. the little bit of added cost for copper is far better than fighting the problems pex offers. again, JMHO
