Pex

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How difficult is this stuff to work with? The lumber yard by me rents out the tool. Appears pretty easy from what I can see.

The water heater for my sauna is on it’s last legs and need to install a new one. Was going to run a little bit of additional plumbing in the building as well.
 
The only thing I know for sure is make sure the fittings are metal...they had issues with plastic fittings some time ago, and there are homes in this area that insurance companies still won't insure because of the PEX fittings they have installed.

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My entire first project should only be one PVC to pex union, five pex elbows and one copper to pex union. I shouldn’t be able to FSU too badly lol.
If you want to make it really simple with no clamps, buy Sharkbite fittings. Cost is more, but easy to do. Changed my owb out with a new one, changed hot water heater and made a by pass for air handler. Used Sharkbite and it was a snap.
 
The only thing I know for sure is make sure the fittings are metal...they had issues with plastic fittings some time ago, and there are homes in this area that insurance companies still won't insure because of the PEX fittings they have installed.

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That was poly B pipe and fittings.
If you kinked the pipe it eventually leaked there.
The fittings were attached by chlorine.
In canada we never got the plastic fittings.
My home is 25 yrs old and has poly b,, not an issue yet.
The city water has near zero chlorine.
 
My first project is connecting a new water heater and running water to a second sink.

At some point I’d like to put a heat exchanger in my boiler loop so it can heat hot water for me all winter. That entire system is copper though so maybe just have a real plumber put it in with copper as well.
 
PEX is very easy to work with. Depending on you room you can use corner clamps that will put a nice radius in the tubing and avoid the 90s all together but they need a fair bit of room to work.

The clamp system is a good way of doing it just use a gauge if they have one available to check your first few presses.

I prefer to use PEX A tubing because it can be expanded or crimped. It comes in clear which I prefer because you can see water quality, it also comes in red and blue for keeping things organized. Regardless of which one you use just take your time and it’s an easy process.

Be consistent with which type of fittings you chooses because different places sell different types and they can look similar between expansion type or crimp type fittings.
 
Sweating copper is really not that hard, clean well, flux and watch your temp. If you want it to look nice, wipe it with a wet towel. Helped neighbors, family members build homes and asked my Grandfather to show me how it was done. He was not a plumber, but a cable splicer, (big cables) he spliced power cables running under Mackinaw bridge. Long ago, sure they have been redone.
 
That was poly B pipe and fittings.
If you kinked the pipe it eventually leaked there.
The fittings were attached by chlorine.
In canada we never got the plastic fittings.
My home is 25 yrs old and has poly b,, not an issue yet.
The city water has near zero chlorine.
Around here it was PEX pipe, and the piping wasn't the issue; the fittings were...the fittings were brittle and cracked after some time.

A friend of mine bought a $300k home probably 15 years back...his homeowners wouldn't cover the house for water damage because it had plastic fittings (they inspected his house for the insurance). He tried to have them removed where he could access them, but one in a wall failed and cause several thousands in damage. He is on a well, no chlorine ever.

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My only other thought with PEX is watch your diameters. We had a softener installed and they used PEX. We suffered decreased water volumes and pressures. I removed and replumbed with 1" PVC after several months and found that, while the PEX was 1/2" ID, the fittings (brass) were slightly less than 3/8"...3/8" to supply an entire house.

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My only other thought with PEX is watch your diameters. We had a softener installed and they used PEX. We suffered decreased water volumes and pressures. I removed and replumbed with 1" PVC after several months and found that, while the PEX was 1/2" ID, the fittings (brass) were slightly less than 3/8"...3/8" to supply an entire house.

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Glad you mentioned that part. We had a big house remodel, but the contractor used a big commercial plumbing company. They used pex, which I love, but they undersized it. I remember seeing it roughed in and commented to them it looked awfully small. Pretty sure I was right. Still mad about it. We have a well, which I'm guessing from the plumbing company they didn't know much about a well at all. Our pressure switch is 30/50 psi. I can really tell in the new plumbing when the pressure drops with the smaller pipes.
 

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