Pex water line.. does it hold up as well as copper?

There is PEX and Polybutylene (PB) They look the same but is very different. The old PB stuff is crap, it started in the market around the 80s and continued through 95 or so. It would get brittle and leak sometimes catastrophically. There were lawsuits/etc about it and was removed from the market/code approval. PEX is the next generation stuff. If your house is from the early 90s you need to make sure what you have. The PB pipe started to really degrade after about 10 years, PEX has been around for 10+ years and has not suffered the same early degrading as PB, but is it coming at 25 years? Who knows

 

I built my house 3 years ago with pex throughout. Love that shit, I used the crimp style hose clamps and have yet to have a leak. I go under our house every 2-3 months to check stuff and every line and clamp is still holding nicely.

I ran separate manifolds for each main room of the house to minimize pressure loss on our well system and would use everything again in a heartbeat.

My father in law is an old school PVC/Cu guy and he even commented how easy it was to work with and install. Liked it so much he told my brother in law to use it throughout on his renovation.

 

Is that a local code requirement? Where are you located?

 

Minnesooota

 

Plumbers like it for these reasons ^^^^
I asked a plumber how much time he actually saved running PEX....he told me he could run twice the amount of PEX compared to copper...
I asked him if that savings was reflected in his bid pricing....
His answer....No, it was a gold mine for him......

I still prefer copper....
But as has been mentioned, stay away from the copper Home Depot or Lowes sells to the public....

 

What the inferior egg said.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufer_ground

 

Copper is antimicrobial. Is pex?

 

I built my house using pex runs with copper manifolds and the copper elbows with plates at the point of use. I then sweated quarter turn ball valves on before running the hoses to the faucets/toilets. I would do this setup again without hesitation. The 2 upper manifolds are cold water and connected to the well expansion tank. The lower is hot from the boilermate.
Copper elbow with plate
http://www.machine--tools.com/By-Lo...x-copper-stub-out-elbow-3-1-2-X6-X1-2-img.jpg

 

Lots of heavy metals are antimicrobial. I would not recommend ingesting them in large amounts. Copper builds up in the body over time and has been linked to various ailments.

 

Guy that quoted me today, said one customer had multiple copper leaks. So, the insurance company said he would have a 40k deductible unless he repiped. The only repipe, they would accept is PEX.

Also he has a customer in Pasadena that repiped from galvanized 9 years ago to copper. Has already had multiple pinhole leaks and just hired him to repipe in PEX.

 

I wonder if the astronomical price of copper has made PEX more prominent?

 

Might have to check the grades.

 

Point taken, but the plastics issue is also one to consider..

I just drink my water from the lake. ;-)

 

Copper can't kill the stuff living here. Lol. The fact its antimicrobial is one of the reasons its been used since the Greeks. Every little bit helps, I guess..

Cpvc is anti microbial, too.

 

Silver plate the pipe interiors. Anti-viral.

 

There's plenty of water in beer!

 

my copper started getting pinholes after about 25 years. pulled it all out and replumbed my house with PEX. no regrets

 

I plumbed my new house with PEX and would never use anything else again. PEX can freeze and not burst. I can add a tap for faucet in 5 minutes. I even run LP from my tank to the house in buried PEX, but had to switch to iron pipe inside the house for code.