I am in process of plumbing my own house with Wirsbo "Pro-PEX" system. I am amazed at lack of DETAILED installation info. (I realize the MFGR. hates me for using their product & won't help since this undercuts highly trained "Pros")
I will share my experience so far in case it helps someone.
The $350 expander - $350 won't get you 2 HRS with a plumber so just buy it & sell it when done. The 1" joints are NOT easy with the hand tool. Each one requires a WORKOUT and you think the tool is going to break because it requires so much force. Fortunately if you plan right you need less than 4 joints for 1" line from meter to house. The 3/4" & 1/2" joints are a breeze. (I chose not to use any 3/8" because the process didn't make sense to me)
I have made about 50 connections and the only problem has been tiny drips because I can't wait to turn the water on! I turn it on almost immediatly. The few dripping fittings have corrected themselves within 3 hours when the plastic shrinks enough. TIP: leave exp. head just loose enough so you can turn it slightly each time with fingers instead of turning the whole tool which is difficult in a crawl space.
I was sceptical about these fittings. I am using all plastic. Until you put one together and try to twist, pull & otherwise destroy it you can't appreciate how strong they are. Truly amazing!
OK - the stuff I don't get. I was able to pull my 1" main thruogh a few TJI 1-1/2" knock outs but I gave up on trying to put the rest "Inside" the joist cavaties. It just seems like too much truoble so I am just hanging it below joists with plastic "plumbing tape" AFTER carefully insulating it. IF you had 3 people you could probably run it all through the TJI knockouts OR bored holes if lumber joists. The coils are very difficult to deal with by yourself.(2 people to pull & 1 to manage the coil of tubing)
Bending: I find the radius to be much less than what they say you can do w/o kinking tubing. I have used "drop eared" bend supports at ends where sink stops will be and they work well. Otherwise I am carefull to bend it only about half the radius they say you can get away with.(maybe with a heat gun but why enter a whole new step to the process-no thanks)
Questions I still have: Can you share a TJI knockout with say ONE Pex tube & ONE 12-2 NM electric cable? If not why not?
Do you put a plastic sleeve/hanger thing at each knockout hole (hope not) or just pull the tube across the bare wood?
Does 3M Red Fire Caulk eventually eat through the plastic? (really hope not!) What kind of caulk would you use then?
Where can I get detailed info! (Although I have lots of questions I am still impressed by the stuff and think overall it is way better than the alternatives) Just would like to hear from more folks with practical experience.
Thanks - anyone?

Cannot share the hole with wires. Code
If the pex is insulated no need to put the plastic sleeve at each hole.
But if not, I would do it to prevent wear on the pex from expansion and contraction thus causing leaks in the future. Also noise, Pex expands a lot with temp changes as hot water moves through it. The movement of the pipe will wear the pipe as well as make noises from the expansion. Using proper fittings, supports etc. will prevent this from occuring. Also will look more professional.
I assume your fire sealing through levels. You can purchase fire rated insulation bats to seal holes if your worried about eating pipe with caulk. But I really did not hear this issue before.

If your looking for advice on this Ask your township inspector. That is his job to help the owner who wants to do it him/her self. Regardless of what people think. They are really helpfull.

quote:

If your looking for advice on this Ask your township inspector. That is his job to help the owner who wants to do it him/her self. Regardless of what people think. They are really helpfull.

LOL - I can't tell you how many times I've heard this. Unfortunately have come to conclusion: DO NOT bother me. How do you not bother me? DO NOT ask any questions.

I could go on for hours about my nightmare scenario with this city & my remodel but I have
burned too many bridges on other websites so I'll try not to.

To say they discourage DIY persons would be putting it extremely lightly.

Thanks for your help.

I understand your difficulty with working with some inpsectors. They have the opinion that they are better then god and often are to comsumed by their position then why they were hired.
I had the same issue with a city inspector. I simply called the mayors office and complained that they were not being helpfull to the voting public and they blew me off when I asked for advice on a project. The next time I called he was more then helpfull.
I am sure you understand however. Its not their job to provide engineering answers. Only advice on methods of construction. What happens is they are asked over and over again by folks that have no clue on how to build something and like any other business they get tired of answering the same thing over and over again.
Just be sure to keep the questions short and to the point. They do have several building evaluations to review and to check. If your town is like many others, they are building like mad and not adding any additional help to assist them with inspections.
Do not give up hope.

I completely understand what your saying. But you'd think that after a few inspections it would be obvious that I am not totally clueless. It's funny that you mentioned to make sure PEX is allowed in this AHJ. My very 1st "foray" into this nightmare before I even designed my plans or applied for permit was to walk in there and try to ask about PEX. The guy at the counter tried to get the guy to answer my question. He litteraly wouldn't even come out of his cubicle. He just yelled at the guy to tell me "It's all in the UPC - tell him it's all in the UPC". How's that for a nice helpfull answer to one simple question!
Imagine trying to ask about a foundation hold down or something. I haven't failed any inspections yet but it just ***** working on stuff and constantly worrying if I missed some stupid little detail.

Passed inspection. I didn't sleave anything. He barely looked at it. So I don't know if I just did a great job or would some other inspector have failed it?

hope this thread is not completely dead - just finished installing wirsbo in our cottage and loved working with it. From everything I have read, I did it right, and the connections should be excellent - - but....went to move some electrical around and had to pull on one of my propex connections (brass ball valve), and it spun a bit on the pex tubing. I assume this could happen because the tubing is so smooth and the copper just twisted in it's groove from when the line shrunk back over it, but of course now I am worried that it will leak. Have not had the water system up and running yet since installation, anyone confirm that these joints are leak-proof over copper even if they can be twisted a bit? thanks

If you followed the directions on how to properly fasten the fittings. You should have no leaks. Fittings rotate many times when fitting the pipes into place all the time.
As long as its fastened properly, secured to walls and allowances have been made so the pipes do not move within holes and rub from expansion due to water pressures and hot and cold water temp. No issue should be observed. Be sure to place nail plates over studs that are drilled outside of the center of the board. Nailing sheetrock can puncture holes quite quickly and make a mess fast. Be sure to have water on when rocking. Just in case you hit the plastic, you will know what nail did it. If you wait until later, you will find you end up cutting holes all over the place to find the leak.