Anyone Do Plastic Plumbing, "PEX" ???

[R12rules]

At church, we are looking into re-piping all the water lines. The subject of plastic PEX came up. Is this a good alternative to copper?

Any advice would be helpful and appreciated.


Thanks.


The area gets hot but is mild in the winter. Austin, Texas.

[Collin]

90% of our jobs are PEX. The rest are copper.
We have had no problems.

[muskie770]

I learned the plumbing trade from an old timer. We refuse to install pex. Seen it installed and it's not very pretty, but if plumbing skills are limited then it would be good alternative. Not sure but I think the tubing has a 15 or 20 year warentee, whereas copper should remain in a wall for a lifetime. The pex system meterials probably cost more, but should save labor time. Same type of deal, black iron vs CSST, I pipe in black iron.

[James 3528]

12, where have you been?

[square2round]

I know a couple of plumbers who use pex...and I know one who refuses. Pex is the norm around here for plumbing, but the one plumber says the fittings reduce the flow of water too much, so he stays away from it. He uses CPVC and copper.

[Collin]

I had to help on an emergency service in the middle of the night because a copper water line in a 60 year old house sprang a leak. The turbulence following an elbow caused the copper to slowly erode.
Last year, my copper water main sprang a leak 2 feet from the meter box.
Point is, don't think copper lasts forever.

[Collin]

[muskie770]

Point well taken. And it's a good thing, or else I'd probally be out of business.


Collin, you guys do great work!

[amickracing]

Around here PEX is the majority. The better companies run copper in the mech room up into the joists then PEX from there.

A few companies use that stuff collin posted, most of them use the colored stuff, guess it helps them not get too confused lol.

The only downsides I see of PEX is the special tools used to put it together and it tends to look kinda fugly. But, if you love tools and can hide most of the PEX it wouldn't be a problem.

[Collin]

Actually, I think the biggest problem is anyone can use a crimping tool. We do see a lot of butcher jobs in spec home construction.

[Dowadudda]

Just cause something was the norm such as copper has been for many years and stable, should not be the only reason a guy can not look to the benefits of a new technology. I was describing on another thread in the Technical Forum on here about seeing this stuff on a jobsite recently. And I was even at first sort of like, screw that, old school should be the only way. But after I thought about it, what am I as one person going to do really to stop the advancement of things. It sure does suck from a money making aspect. Less skill, means less money plain and simple.

Beenny Cool said something the other day on here about, Live by the times or Die by them. You gotta simply change the way you think is what I get from a comment like that. And it's true.

Service and repair of mechanical systems will always be much more stable than what is happeing to the construction world of all our associated trades.

Go look at Natural Gas lines. All Flex now a days, and soon to be creeping into commercial equipment, most likely not having black iron pipe going across the roof anymore to RTUS but rather flex gas penetrating roof at point of entry to equipment. Is that good? If it works, then I have to say, it's better.

Look at Ductboard and Flex. Much easier to install. Cheaper to at this point in time. Takes less skill. Less work. It's got good qualities for sound attenuation and sealing.

I don't really see the point of veiw from a construction veiwpoint because I have always been service oriented. But. You can't stop advancing the times.

[rich pickering]

If you don't begin to use it, you WILL lose bids. Most customers don't care what it looks like. They look at the granite countertops, not the plumbing.

[muskie770]

This thread has given me much to think about.

Just hard to change old habits.

Thanks everyone.