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There are a few different systems that I know of. They differ in the connections. I am aware of 2 styles of crimp rings, a system where the pipe expands and then shrinks back over the connector, and the shark bites some here love. There is a difference in cost between them, and availability of parts/tools.
I would check to see what your planned place of purchase usesor recommends and then work from that. It wouldn't be much fun to have a system that is hard to get parts for.
Matt
If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
-Jack Handy
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The best system that was developed by the uponor company. It uses a pex ring that goes around the tube then a tool is inserted and expands it and your have a short time to put it on the fitting. The benefit is slightly more flow as the fittings have bigger holes in them and no restriction at the tube to fitting. Funny thing is the pex rings typically cost as much as copper crimp rings, they should be dirt cheap...
It is sold under the uponor name or other brands known as the pro pex system.
The other system still on the market uses copper rings that are compressed over the tube. Then here are the stainless rings that do the same. Same tubing for both.
I prefer the copper rings to the stainless. The stainless rings have been used in everything from plumbing to automotive to commercial and I have seen way more of them leak than copper rings.
Both systems work well but the pro pex crimper is allot more expensive and not all plumbing suppliers carry it though everyone carry the crimp stuff even the borgs.
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The propex expanding system is IMO the best but slowest and you need the expander which is expensive. Crimp is ok, best if the line is wet. Tools are moderately priced. Pinch rings, I don't trust. Tool is pretty cheap. Sharkbite fittings are expensive but quick. No tools required except the tubing cutter. A PEX tube cutter is a good investment, a sharp knife works but you risk cuts and all the systems require square cuts.
Blackhat
Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories.
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goaliedad said:
I might be doing some plumbing soon. Thinking of going down the slippery slope of pex
What kind of crimper?
Are all pex the same or are things different from one company to the next?
Hints?
Tia
What do you have now? If you have copper, then sharbite/gatorbite fittings will work on both and any connections that connect one to the other. They are my favorite, as they are quick and easy to do. Because the manifold I bought was all PEX connections, I had to breakdown and buy a crimper, so I picked up the least expensive crimper that Home Depot sells. Making the crimps was pretty easy (fabbed up the crimp joints ahead of time so that I could cut the manifold into the piping and turn the water back on to the rest of the house), but I still used SB's for the majority of the joints in what I was doing. I ran out of materials and could not cut in the new manifold (and therefore the rest of the new piping) into my old, yet, but hopefully in a couple of weeks after I recover some from surgery, I'll be able to do that (turning my storage room into a laundry, running the new plumbing in PEX), then I'll find out if those crimps I made hold.
As Blackhat stated, get a PEX cutter, makes quick, neat work of cutting the pipe.
I need to find an alternative to the plastic PEX pipe support clamps. Several out of one pack of clamps I bought broke easily.
Paul
Paul
They were right, I SHOULDN'T have tried it at home!
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Thanks all. I work as a service person for "the " soda company. We use the stainless steel crimp clamps on our systems, so it is the same as pex. That ws simple
