Straightening PEX pipe

[cmyoung2]

I'm putting in an outdoor water stove, using 1" PEX as the suppy lines. What is an easy way to straight the curl so I can get the paired lines in the insulation tubes and then into a drain line for protection? The lines are about 100' long.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

What type of pex are you using? One way though that will work with all types of pex is to lay the pipes out on the ground on a warm day and the sun will warm it up making it easier to work with. You won't ever really get all the curve out of the ends but once its laid out you can slide the insulation over the curved end section and once your past that the rest will go easy.

AquaPex is different, you can actually heat that up with a heat gun and it will straighten out but most do it yourselfers tend to use the Watts brand or SharkBite brand of pex that use crimps for the connectors where as AquaPex by Uponor uses collars that you have to expand and let shrink back down over the fitting.

 

[SpringHollow]

I usually recommend buying the coil of the manufactured insulated pipe. If you shop around, the prices are very competitive with doing it yourself.

Ken

 

[20 20]

I will 2nd what robert wrote, set it out in the sun if possible.

 

[Kays Supply]

The Nibco pipe will roll out and lay almost flat if you just hold it for a few minutes. The sun also helps. Some brands tend to roll back up more than others. I have never had much trouble putting sleeving on it. I use the 6' uncut sleeve insulation.

 

[cmyoung2]

I unrolled the pipe in the sun, tied both ends down to keep it from rolling back up. Put the insulation on with very little trouble, slid it in the drain pipe a lot easier than I had imaged.. I used this component system rather than buying ready made because I could get some of the product free. I've got about $2.75/foot in it. The insulation is made for two 1" pipes, 9'long, 5" dia. It slid nicely in 6" coragated drain pipe. The problem I had the first day was the lenght was only about 20'. That was much harder to handle than the 100'+ lenghts. Next time I won't cut it until after I get the insulation and drain pipe on the short lenghts.

 

[Kays Supply]

You can buy Nibco in 20' straight pipe. It is the same price as roll by the foot. I use it a lot in crawl spaces. In Illinois we have to use larger pipe than any other state.