I want to redo the piping to one bathroom plus a garden hose bib. My neighbor has a Wirsbo tool with both 1/2" and 3/4" expanders. BTW, this is code legal and standard practice in my County. Job is under-house with generous workspace.
Question:
I know what to do if I were using copper. With PEX do I simply run supply lines (hot and cold) to the vicinity of the fixtures and then change over to copper for the risers? Do I buy a manifold and split the PEX near the bathroom and run individual PEX lines to the fixtures? BTW, the bathroom is being gutted and I will have access to all of the walls. It would be nice to have no copper under the house due to freezing, although no pipes have frozen in the last 20± years.
That's a whole lot of questions...unfortunately the answer.....it depends.
Depends on the house / bathroom (& kitchen / laundry) layout.
The layout for a 1 1/2 story house with stacked bathrooms would be (should be) different than a spread out ranch style.
The house I just did was a 1 1/2 story house with stacked bathrooms. I put the manifolds in the tiny utility basement with the water heater & did home runs to every fixture.
Maximum wait time for hot water (kitchen & laundry) is 15 seconds. Upstairs bathroom wait time is less than 10 seconds.
A spread out floor plan might benefit from a remote manifold (if there are mulitple bathrooms far from the water service & water heater). A hot water circulating systems might also be a good idea.
I had a different house but sold it before the re-pipe. The galv pipe was so badly choked & the runs so long that the hot water wait time was 120 seconds! I had planned remote manifolds to service to back to back bathrooms. Total demand was 7 colds & 5 hots...so manifolds make sense.
My bias is towards an easily accesible manifold with home runs, only connections at manifold & fixture shut off.
As to copper risers, PEX can easily make the sweep bend up through the wall plates. Metal & PVC sweep supports exist. I prefer to use all plastic PVC electrical conduit to protect the PEX (no kinking on bend & acts as a sleeve through the plate)
I got my stuff from pexsupply.com they have all sorts of fittings, even PEX drop ear elbow for threaded stubs or PEX "bullet" stye terminations.
PEX may be more freeze tolerant but its not "freeze-proof"
Manifolds minimize the wait time for hot water and reduce the scalding problem when someone flushes a toilet while the shower is on. I've not seen anyone stack tees back at teh source, but it sounds like it would work the same.
-- "Tell me what I should do, Annie." "Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars
Yes they do. I've replaced the supply side of my copper system with PEX from the service entrance right to the shut off valves for the toilet and sinks.
FWIW: I used this:
formatting link
Soooo much cheaper than a ratchet crimper and gets into tighter spots too!
a
Have you seen the size of the ratchet crimpers? Plus, with the vice-grips, you can squeeze the tool at almost angle - I crimped connections up over the foundation sill between joists which I never would have been able to get at with a traditional tool.
Further to freezing if frozen more than twice in one spot it should be replaced as it pressure rating is halve of stated rating this is told to me by the rep for Bowflex remember that copper fittings will still crack if frozen
Yes, there is a stainless steel sleeve that you insert into the end of the PEX, then you attach a regular compression fitting(shut off valve) and tighten it down. Thats what you do if you dont want to put a copper stub on the end.
Thanks everybody for your replies to my PEX questions. I now understand that the function of the manifold is to allow home runs and also a convenient location for all shutoff valves. Clever!
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.