Replies

1. 
   SteveInCleveland | Mar 18, 2009 03:48am | #1

   Oh man, go with pex.

    

    

    

   "Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words."  - St. Francis of Assisi

2. 
   fingersandtoes | Mar 18, 2009 04:34am | #2

   You might want to try an advanced search. Pex has been debated to death here in the past few months.

3. 
   RobWes | Mar 18, 2009 05:01am | #3

   Do the search thing and you too will convert to PEX.

   It's the only way to fly.

4. 
   rdesigns | Mar 18, 2009 04:44pm | #4

   If we need to worry about polyethelene in contact with water, then we've got far more to worry about.

   PEX stands for cross-linked polyethelene, as you no doubt already know since you've done some research into this. (The "cross-linking" part means that the polymers that make up the material have been webbed together to give it radial as well as longitudinal strength.) What this means is that many, if not most, of the liquid food products that we all consume daily are packaged in polyethelene Many of these food products are acidic, or in other ways are more aggressive than water, so the probability of leaching anything harmful from the poly is greater.

   Not saying that there's no possibility of harmful chemical leaching from PEX piping that nobody knows about yet; just saying it's pretty far down on the list.

   Performance-wise and installation-wise, there's no question whatsoever: go with PEX.

1. 
   bikeguy | Mar 18, 2009 06:08pm | #5

   Thanks for the replies, I will do a search and read some more, but it looks like pex will be it. I am looking at adding solar to the system and the new unit mentioned in the latest FHB mag uses pex, so it seem to be the way to go for the whole system.

1. 
   FingerJoint | Mar 18, 2009 06:25pm | #6

   My house was re-plumbed with an earlier version of PEX several years ago.  The system is probably 20 years old, or more.  I have no problems with it.  European countries have used PEX for much longer.  Most of the early failures that were reported in the U.S. were installation error. 

2. 
   fingersandtoes | Mar 18, 2009 08:48pm | #7

   Now you are into another whole can of worms: which system of joining the pex to use.

1. 
   Henley | Mar 19, 2009 01:54am | #8

   solder

1. 
   fingersandtoes | Mar 19, 2009 01:59am | #9

   Nail guns and other tools have made it into recent horror movies I am too afraid to watch. How long before crimp rings?

2. 
   RobWes | Mar 19, 2009 02:26am | #10

   If we don't move away from the old dark clouds, how the hell do you think we will move ahead?

   Pex is the balls.

    

3. 
   bikeguy | Mar 20, 2009 02:58am | #11

   Ok, I did the advanced search, holy cow, lots out there. I'm going to keep reading, but I'm still not convinced it's totally safe. I like all of the other benefits of the pex. It's a small house, I'm comfortable with working with copper and I'm doing the work so labor is cheap. If the s**t hits the fan, I can always rip out the copper and trade it for food!
   Thanks for the help,
   Andy

4. 
   Henley | Mar 20, 2009 03:03am | #12

   Yeah, I was feeling the same way.
   Then you do your research and give it a try. That's when you realize copper is done.

5. 
   rez | Mar 20, 2009 06:12am | #14

   Yep, copper is for making manifolds and repair work from now on.

   Just tested my first pex plumbing job today on an upstairs apt. reno. in an old vickey.

   Old coil copper ran up from basement thru a beam, between studs and around corners going all over.

   Pulling the pex thru being taped to the old copper was the cat's meow and not a wet weep anywhere in all the connections.

   Whoever just said pex is the balls has it right.

    

   Who drinks city water anymore anyhow.

     

6. 
   fingersandtoes | Mar 20, 2009 05:49am | #13

   The way things were going around here for a while you'd be lucky if it was only you trying to tear out your copper. Seems to have died down a bit with the decrease in metal prices lately.

7. 
   popawheelie | Mar 20, 2009 06:40am | #15

   Testing of water and food has come a long way. If it has been tested by independent labs I'm confident it is safe.

   They have test now that can detect VERY small amounts of contaminants.