Plumbing with PEX
#20
(03-19-2018, 11:32 AM)Mr_Mike Wrote: Why do you prefer PEX-A (and the associated expansion tool and fittings) over PEX-A?

PEX-B is about $0.25/ft and PEX-A is about $0.40 per ft.  

Stub Ells seems to be about half price as well.  I assume other fittings likewise.  

Then, of course, there is the expansion tool.  Battery powered at about $400 for three tips.  

You can get a manual crimp tool for under $150 (or the Milwaukee battery one for $600!)

Is the PEX-A system performance worth the extra expense?

Pex A is more flexible and has slightly larger passages like I said before. Pex A is made only by Uponor so you will pay a premium until it's made by other manufacturers. It's like paying the festool or apple tax. In some respects it may be better but you pay a hefty premium for it.  

      No matter what you go with check supplyhouse.com. I started buying pex from them when they were still called pexsupply.com.
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#21
Uponor patent finally expired so there are aftermarket choices now for pex a. Im in the process of adding a line of pex a made by apollo. The price is obviously cheaper in most cases...
Well, Bye...
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#22
(03-19-2018, 12:00 AM)blackhat Wrote: ..... You can't use the expansion fittings on A but A and B can be used with crimp rings. My preference is A with expansion fittings .....

What am I misreading here?
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#23
Should have read you can't use expansion fittings with B, but can crimp A or B. There are mechanical compression fittings available as well, normally on B but not widespread distribution.
Blackhat

Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories. 


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#24
Thanks...makes a lot more sense that way! I'm just following along out of curiosity/haven't looked into the details myself and that one threw me off a bit.
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#25
(03-18-2018, 08:03 AM)Cecil Wrote: I have always used copper for plumbing.  I need to do some work on my current house, i.e. rip out some galvanized pipe.  I may use PEX - I have not decided yet.

I see there are two types of PEX connectors, crimp and expansion.  Some of what I read states that the crimp connectors are nothing more than an insurance claim in waiting.  Is there truth to this?  Is the expansion method better?  Thanks.

Not in my experience.  My old house was built in 1978 and used copper.  I made changes to most of the plumbing remodeling bathrooms and relocating the laundry room.  I used PEX with ratcheting style crimps on nearly all of it.  Some of that work is more than a decade old and it's fine.  There are a few shark bites that were supposed to be temporary.  They're still there and 10 years later they are fine.
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#26
This is the style of crimp rings I prefer.  You can easily open them up with sidecutters and save a fitting when thing change/oops/etc. 
Rolleyes


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#27
That's the style I use, and for that reason. The other advantage I discovered is the crimpers work in much tighter spaces than the big ones you need for the copper rings.
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#28
My PEX tale of amazement. 

I've been using PEX for a decade and love it.  A few years ago I had a frost proof wall hydrant freeze that had been plumbed with PEX.   The shut off for the house was in a nasty crawlspace so I just pulled the hydrant out of the wall (the pex run had enough slack to allow this) and snipped the pex off while the line was under pressure.  Slide a ring and the new hydrant on and had a helper hold the open hydrant on the line against the water pressure and crimped it on.   Close the hydrant... no leaks... slide back into the wall and done.    So much easier then crawling down there and trying to get the line dry enough to solder.
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