Old House Plumbing Problem.

[ustmd]

PEX is pretty much the standard out here. I installed all of the plumbing in my cabin kit myself. All PEX. Very easy. Almost 15 years and no problems associated with the PEX or my install and this was my first plumbing job ever.

My previous home was on a well. The water destroyed the copper lines in that house. Constantly wore through the copper, especially at the bends. Several major and expensive leaks and I had all PEX installed.

In my current house, the contractor who put on the master bath addition ran the supply and drain lines outside the house. The scoundrel did not insulate the box that they ran down the outside wall for the pipes. We normally don't get serious cold here but for the last 10 days we did not get much above freezing with nighttime temps in the single digits. We were out of town and the outside PEX line froze solid but did not burst. I was impressed. As soon as it warms up I will remove the 'box', insulate the pipes, add pipe warmer strips, put insulation in the box and then close it back in. I'm really not into DIY and usually don't enjoy it.............even though it seems I am constantly doing everything myself....but it is hard to get quality work these days and even cheap work is expensive.....and you have to pay for cheap work TWICE.

Fortunately, thanks to all the expertise here at TBN I can do stuff myself and do it right.

Matt Risinger (a custom hombuilder in Austin) did a great video comparing PEX vs Copper vs PVC for freezing. Copper actually came out the worst:

Copper vs Pex vs SharkBite - Freeze Testing - YouTube

 

[ultrarunner]

Even in a mild climate I have had to repair ruptured exposed copper... mostly type M

So far... never had freeze damage to galvanized of copper L

Understand the strong point of PEX is not that it doesn't freeze but it is more forgiving to freeze conditions.

 

[N80]

Understand the strong point of PEX is not that it doesn't freeze but it is more forgiving to freeze conditions.

Yes, it probably freezes as readily as anything else but it expands without cracking. I'd guess repeated freezing and expanding would probably eventually lead to failure. Also, PEX hasn't been around all that long so who knows what issues might arise in the future.....but it has been around well over 20 years and I've had it in my home that long and in my cabin 15 years with no problems.

I'd guess that it causes cancer in California. But I'm in SC so that won't affect me. ;-)

 

[fried1765]

^^^Smart man... adding some full port quarter turn ball valves is cheap insurance...

One of the builders around here puts them in for the showers he installs... cuts and access behind the valve which is usually in a closet and then adds a metal access door... hot and cold have shut offs... all fixtures in the homes he builds can be shut off individually...

Nothing unique about that!
THAT has been the PROPER method for the last 100 years!

 

[N80]

Nothing unique about that!
THAT has been the PROPER method for the last 100 years!

Might be good. Might be proper. But it sure isn't code and I've never seen it in any house I've ever lived in. I wish it had been in every house I've ever lived in though.

Plumbing makes me insane in general. So much plumbing is installed as if it will NEVER fail. In other words, in walls, ceilings etc. and in places that are inaccessible and/or without access panels. Drive me nuts. All plumbing fails eventually, why have to destroy walls and ceilings to fix it. Granted, the problem is daunting in a 2 story house and most of my homes have been 2 story. But with a little clever design even those problems could be overcome. In my ideally engineered home..........which would be one story only, every inch of plumbing would be accessible without having to destroy something else or be a gymnast to get to.

Simple (large) access panels, smart locations, redundant shut off valves would all go a long way toward that goal.

 

[ultrarunner]

Nothing unique about that!
THAT has been the PROPER method for the last 100 years!

Never seen angle stops in tract home showers... never.

If the valve needs attention it means shutting down the water to structure...

The small in wall angle stops are not commonly stocked around here either.

The valves are usally 1/2 angle stop Unions...

https://media.statesupply.com/catal...8eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/n/ln1135_1.jpg

 

[/pine]

...One of the builders around here puts them in for the showers he installs... cuts and access behind the valve which is usually in a closet and then adds a metal access door...

FWIW...Shower valve access has been a standard building code requirement for as long as I can remember...

 

[fried1765]

Never seen angle stops in tract home showers... never.

If the valve needs attention it means shutting down the water to structure...

The small in wall angle stops are not commonly stocked around here either.

The valves are usally 1/2 angle stop Unions...

https://media.statesupply.com/catal...8eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/n/ln1135_1.jpg

I NEVER HAVE LIVED IN A "TRACT HOME"!

 

[tractorshopper]

One day my dream is to install a full PEX manifold in the basement. Will probably never happen but if I was starting from new that would be a no-brainer in my opinion for an old house that is _always_ going to have some sort of plumbing issue going on.

My brother and I are flipping an old house right now built in 1920's. We started with PEX right at the street with a new supply line to the house, then a 3/4" nice ball valve, then into a manifold. Everything for the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms all come from this single manifold. In fact, the cold supply feeds right through the block, out to the hot water heater, then back from the water heater to the manifold. Really slick system and you can shut off each individual item right from the manifold. Also have the individual PEX shutoffs at each usage point, but it's redundant really.

This is the first time I've used a manifold of any type. If I were building my own home, I'd do this again for sure. Balanced water supply, etc.

We also ran the PEX where hard to access in the low points of the crawl space inside PVC as a conduit sleeve. This way, if the new home-owner ever has to replace a supply line to the kitchen per se, all they have to do is cut the old one, pull it out, and push the new one right back to the sink without ever crawling through a tight space or re-routing.

 

[N80]

My brother and I are flipping an old house right now built in 1920's. We started with PEX right at the street with a new supply line to the house, then a 3/4" nice ball valve, then into a manifold. Everything for the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms all come from this single manifold. In fact, the cold supply feeds right through the block, out to the hot water heater, then back from the water heater to the manifold. Really slick system and you can shut off each individual item right from the manifold. Also have the individual PEX shutoffs at each usage point, but it's redundant really.

This is the first time I've used a manifold of any type. If I were building my own home, I'd do this again for sure. Balanced water supply, etc.

We also ran the PEX where hard to access in the low points of the crawl space inside PVC as a conduit sleeve. This way, if the new home-owner ever has to replace a supply line to the kitchen per se, all they have to do is cut the old one, pull it out, and push the new one right back to the sink without ever crawling through a tight space or re-routing.

Nice work!