PEX - new installation

texacana · 2006-08-01T19:46:39+00:00

I am building a new house and thinking of using PEX. I understand howto distribute it throughout the house, but how do you attach it to thewater meter? I am not using a manifold but will branch it through outthe house.Do you bring the 3/4 PVC from the meter into the house and hook upthere or can you bury the PEX to the meter?Thanks for any info..

Aug 01, 2006 24 Replies

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BobK207 19 years ago

pbs wrote:

I like

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foor tools, fittings & tubing

PEX connectors come in two flavors that I am aware of: crimp type & expansion type

crimp type requires a crimp tool, a crimp ring, a compatible fitting & go / no-go gage

expansion type needs an expander tool ($$$'), an external plastic ring & compatible fittings

the expansion type system takes advantage of the PEX material shape memory;

The expansion tools, hand, pneumatic or battery are pretty spendy where the crimp tool is cheaper.

Online the expanders are ~$300, $600 w/ 1/2"head, $1200 w/o heads.

I opted for the hand expander kit w/ 1/2, 3/4, 1" expander heads (cheapest)..... hard work but if you use the home run technique & don't have a whole lot of fixtures you probably get away with fewer than 40 "expansions"; plus my plan was not to do all expansions in a single day. I moved before I re-plumbed but this next house needs it as well.

The battery powered expander talks about 1 1/4" & 1 1/2" expander heads so there must be large dia PEX available?

cheers Bob

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zxcvbob 19 years ago

What about using a "Flair-it Plus" coupling (NSF and Uniform Plumbing Code certified for potable water, but I don't think they are IPC approved yet) when you need a union and crimp connectors everywhere else?

You're probably gonna have to transition to metal pipe at the water heater anyway, why not use bronze unions (and a gate or ball valve on the cold side) on the metal stubs out the top of the heater?

Best regards, Bob

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YouDontNeedToKnow 19 years ago

Exactly. But obviously no one seems to want to visit the site. Hint: your problems with the water heater and unions can easily be solved -- in fact the whole crimping idea will go away -- with Qest compression fittings. Again: Visit the site above!

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George 19 years ago

Because it doesn't produce a repeatable and consistent result.

There are times when a person wants a pipe that can be taken

There are PEX fittings that do not use the compression rings.

A water heater is one such example. They need to be replaced

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Pops 19 years ago

OK, back to the original questions for those of you who might be looking for the same anwser.

the chase that takes the PEX through the slab to the attic you install a valve box in the yard. There you install a 1" ball valve and reduce to the 3/4" rigid from the meter and attach 1" PEX to the other end.

run 1/2" PEX throughout the rest of the house. snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

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