Straightening Pex tubing

[Redneck in training]

i am curious why pex has got so popular for things like this, an water lines, when pvc for sure is cheaper, an maybe cpvc?
heehaw

It is very easy to install. In my house every faucet or shower has its own line from a manifold and I did instal 3 naths and kitchen it in single day. I used REHAU PEX (Raupex)and connectors.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Alan, I don't remember the lengths but Home Depot does carry (at least ours does) some straight lengths of 3/4" sharkbite pex. The sharkbite and Watts pex are so close they are actually interchangeable. We have used both and have never had any issues. Our plumbing supply house is where we usually buy the 20' lenghts of straight pex but Home Depot I think has 10' lengths.

 

[simonds]

Yep, I purchase the 20' lengths of pex at a plumbing/electric/ heat supply store. i don't know if the big box stores sell it. I don't do much business with them. I get a much better deal at my local building supplier.
General Contractor for 41 years and still going
Clayton

 

[AlanB]

Lowes and Home Depot both carried the 10' Straight lengths, so I picked up some of them. I felt the roll of whatever brand Lowes had, and pulled some out of the coil and it was MUCH, much, did I mention MUCH more pliable than the Shark bite that I had got from HD. I went home, grabbed my roll off the kitchen table (allowing it to get a bit warmer) and it was stiff as a board, so took it back too HD. I bring it back, and say it is so stiff it is unreasonable, HD plumbing guy comes up, says nahhh, you just straighten it out, grabs it out of the shrink to show me, tries to straighten it, looks at the cashier and says, refund his money. I think I may have just got a bad roll.

Thanks for the insight folks, I will get this tagged together and grab a pic or two to show what I did so others can learn from my errors.

 

[studor]

I wonder what causes a roll to go "bad". I have used PEX in some pretty cold temps and have found that once it gets below about 50 degrees F it is a little sluggish but never had a problem above that. I wonder if it was exposed to too much heat or UV

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Lowes and Home Depot both carried the 10' Straight lengths, so I picked up some of them. I felt the roll of whatever brand Lowes had, and pulled some out of the coil and it was MUCH, much, did I mention MUCH more pliable than the Shark bite that I had got from HD. I went home, grabbed my roll off the kitchen table (allowing it to get a bit warmer) and it was stiff as a board, so took it back too HD. I bring it back, and say it is so stiff it is unreasonable, HD plumbing guy comes up, says nahhh, you just straighten it out, grabs it out of the shrink to show me, tries to straighten it, looks at the cashier and says, refund his money. I think I may have just got a bad roll.

Thanks for the insight folks, I will get this tagged together and grab a pic or two to show what I did so others can learn from my errors.

Did you compare the other rolls at Home Depot? I noticed the straight lengths of Sharkbite Pex are stiffer then the Watts Pex even though they are basically the same thing. I have never bought a roll of Sharkbite Pex as we only have bought from Home Depot for pex when we ran out of something and needed to finish a job on late saturday or Sunday when the plumbing supply is closed.

I wonder if all the Sharkbite pex is stiffer as it may be just enough diffence in composition then Watts pex.

 

[CurlyDave]

It is entirely possible that the sharkbite fittings need stiffer pipe than other types of fittings.

 

[heehaw]

cpvc is straight...and pretty cheap..
heehaw

 

[kenmac]

It is entirely possible that the sharkbite fittings need stiffer pipe than other types of fittings.

Don't know about that. The fittings ( shark bite / gator bite) come with a stiffener that inserts inside the pex

 

[AlanB]

So I did a short write up with pictures on the projects page.

AlanB's Barn Airlines - TractorByNet.com