PEX & Kinks

[Dftodd]

Properly installed PEX is ok for RVs and mobile homes that don’t have a long life expectancy anyway. I would never use it in a permanent home. Copper is more expensive but will last much longer (70+ years) if installed properly.

Most new home builds use pex.

If installed correctly. It will last a long time.

My issue with the camper we just purchased (second hand) had some cobbled together plumbing that the RV sales place should have caught.

The former owner must have frozen it at some point. And did a half arsed repair. Used some cheap PVC push lock fittings for Pex. Cut the water line to the shower and clamped it to a smooth piece of PVC.

The fitting blew apart a few days after using the heat for the first time. And the sudden pop caused all those seals in the pushlock fittings to fail.

I ended up fixing it myself since the RV place wouldn't honor the 1yr warranty on the camper.

So I got a crash course in crimping pex in positions a contortionist would have a hard time reaching.

I invented quite a few new swear words as well.

We've only had the camper for 45 days. Hence my beef with the camper sales place

 

[paulsharvey]

I know this is a regional thing; but down here, it's 99% cpvc inside a building. When I was a plumbers helper, 20 Years ago, we did do roll copper under the slab and stick copper in walls/ceiling on commercial buildings.

 

[Chewwy]

Most new home builds use pex.
. . .

Depends on the neighborhood. Popularity is not a great indicator of quality, only of cost.

 

[Dftodd]

Depends on the neighborhood. Popularity is not a great indicator of quality, only of cost.

Look at the majority of new home construction.

It's your cookie cutter neighborhoods that are being thrown up as fast and cheap as possible.

I didn't say I agreed with it. Heck.... I don't agree with most building trends you see.

 

[ponytug]

Properly installed PEX is ok for RVs and mobile homes that don’t have a long life expectancy anyway. I would never use it in a permanent home. Copper is more expensive but will last much longer (70+ years) if installed properly.

I think it depends on water quality. Here PEX A is thought to have a 50 lifespan, far beyond copper. There are certainly different grades, and types of PEX. I'm not a personal fan of type B PEX. They are less likely to fail due to water hammer, or the odd earthquake. YMMV.

https://www.uponor.com/getmedia/7a09ca4a-a77f-4c0d-b5ae-a9d467c817fb/uponor-vs-pex-b-info-sheet.pdf

Of course, if you have, or expect to have rodents in your walls, that is different.

All the best,

Peter

 

[not2old]

I built myself a new house in 1996 that is worth about $3.5 million today. I reluctantly used polyB because I was talked into it by my plumber as being superior to copper. Cost had nothing to do with it. That's the main reason I'm not sorry that I don't still own it.

 

[4570Man]

Properly installed PEX is ok for RVs and mobile homes that don’t have a long life expectancy anyway. I would never use it in a permanent home. Copper is more expensive but will last much longer (70+ years) if installed properly.

In theory maybe but hard water can and does eat away at the pipes which causes leaks much faster. It’s also common to have it incorrectly installed against steel which causes more leaks. And pex can withstand some amount of freezing where any freezing at all will bust the copper. When you do get leaks soldering wet copper is extremely difficult where fixing wet pex is easy. And pex last a long time. It doesn’t go around failing all the time like some people seem to believe.

 

[4570Man]

Depends on the neighborhood. Popularity is not a great indicator of quality, only of cost.

Construction is always a compromise between affordability and quality. You could build everything twice as good but housing is already unaffordable so that’s not really an option. Very few people want to spend 5x as much on plumbing that they’ll never see. And pex is actually a good product. It last a long time. I’d argue it lasts better than copper.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

pex-a I wouldn't worry. A heat gun will take the kink out and fix. pex-a be stronger and more forgiving.
pex-b on the other it will be permanently weakened so a simple fix would be done if me.

if your plumber still be around a simple fix and you be good to go. I would fix it. A buck or two and its fixed if plumber their.

 

[5030]

Properly installed PEX is ok for RVs and mobile homes that don’t have a long life expectancy anyway. I would never use it in a permanent home. Copper is more expensive but will last much longer (70+ years) if installed properly.

Post number 4 covers it nicely. However, my PEX has been in my concrete slab or over 20 years now with no issues but I installed it myself, always mindful of the minimum radius. That kink-crease will fail, have it replaced asap.