My Industrial Cabin Build

   / My Industrial Cabin Build
  • Thread Starter
#2,361  
I swung by Ferguson plumbing yesterday. I had my plumbing planned out and had a list of everything I wanted to buy and order. I was informed that there is a nationwide shortage of Uponer pex. There are no 300 foot rolls to be had. I was planning to run 3/4 thru the conduit to the other side and come off that with a multiport to 1/2 inch lines. After getting the 3/4 inch in my hands and feeling how tough it is I changed my plan. I am sure I could force the 3/4 thru with me pushing and my wife pulling a line on the other side. But I decided to pull two 1/2 inch line instead. I am feeding a bathroom and laundry on the other side. So one shower, one toilet, one sink, and one clothes washer. I will probably just use one line for the bathroom and one for the laundry. I was also going to run 3/4 to the kitchen and multi-port off that. I could probably get away with one 1/2 inch line to the kitchen. I have dishwasher and sink that need hot. Sink, pot filler, and refrigerator that need cold. Master bath and 1/2 bath will get multiple separate lines.
The lines from the other side of the house wont make it all the way to my distribution point. But they will probably make it to the mechanical room. I did find a 1,000 foot roll that I could order online and wait that would get me all the way to the bathroom and to the laundry hookup without any other fittings in between. That would drastically reduce chance of leaks and the flow would be unrestricted, although pex-a usually does very well because of fitting design.
 
   / My Industrial Cabin Build #2,362  
I would be tempted to find a way to run both lines running to the other side of the house as one. Isolate them with valves so that if you have trouble with one line you can still use the other to supply both ares on the other side till repairs are made. Chances are that you will never have to isolate but now is the chance to make life easier for yourself if it ever happens.
 
   / My Industrial Cabin Build #2,363  
The best thing about PEX is the ability to run it from the manifold to the destination without any joints. That means lots of PEX, but it also means never having a leak anywhere along the line. If this isn't possible, running a main line and then a manifold where you can access it is the next best thing. Then run from the manifold to each destination. You really don't want your main line to be half inch. Home Depot has plenty of 300 foot rolls of 3/4 PEX in stock where I live. Have you checked with them?

Never do easy when harder is better.
 
   / My Industrial Cabin Build #2,365  
   / My Industrial Cabin Build
  • Thread Starter
#2,366  
I’m going to go with the two lines of half inch. If they don’t perform, I’ll be cutting open the wall and pushing in a piece of 3/4. Total distance for the bathroom run is less than half the max distance I have read about. It should not exceed 150 feet and 1/2 is supposed to be good to 350 feet without pressure issues.

Eddie, while home depot has uponer pex (pex-a) on their web site, the stuff you usually see in the store is pex-b. The shark bite pex is made in US but some of their fittings are made in China. Uponer is made in Minnesota and in Sweden.
The fitting system is completely different. The Pex-a uses propex fittings that wont reduce the diameter of the pipe.
I have used sharbite pex b in the past and was fine with it’s performance and longevity but I really want to use the uponer if I can get it.
 
   / My Industrial Cabin Build #2,367  
The issue that people always overlook is that the smaller diameter tubing results in higher flow velocity for a given flow rate. Friction losses scale with the square of the velocity, which ends up being like diameter to the 4th power. To pass the same amount of flow you have about 5X losses in a 1/2" tube compared to 3/4". Even if you run two 1/2" at half the flow rate you're talking about 2.5X losses.

That is not something to accept with plumbing unless you have no other choice. Nobody likes weak water pressure / low flow at a sink or shower. Some appliances won't tolerate it well. Issues with water hammer are worse. If you're on a well you're wasting pressure and energy. It's just got too many downsides. Don't build a new house and make the plumbing behave like a 80 year old house with blocked pipes!
 
   / My Industrial Cabin Build #2,369  
I wouldn't water my yard with a 1/2" hose. My preference would be to find a way to run 3/4".
 
   / My Industrial Cabin Build #2,370  
There is 5/8" PEX also...
 
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