Curse

Lord Asakurra · Feb 26, 2015, 05:50 PM // 17:50

This may be the most random topic on GWGuru I've ever seen, but I have a question for fellow handymen/builders.

I plan on replacing all my galvanized water lines (which currently consists of everything in my house, built in 1942 blah blah only been replaced once in the 80s I believe). I was wondering if PEX would be a good replacement?

Keep in mind, I'm only 21 years old, so money is a bit stingy at the moment (just bought the house, low budget etc) and I know copper is more expensive than PEX here in Washington. I live in a 4 season area so we get anywhere from -15 degrees F (in extreme circumstances) to 105 degrees F. I read that PEX expands rather well with the climate changes but I was wondering if it's hardy enough to replace my exterior water lines as well? Currently the lines running outside for sprinklers are in odd places so there's about 30ft of line exposed to the outside temps.

Just wanted to double check with any of you who may have experience with PEX that it would be wise to switch to it as the only expensive part of it seems to be the fittings.

Thanks!

Pleikki · Feb 26, 2015, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Atleast here in Finland we've used PEX only on new buildings last 5-10years, because of the cost and how easy it is to asseble compared copper lines, and easyer fix etc. And we get tempature changes here from 105F heat at summer to -40F at winter and it works fine, just needs insulation on house of course.

Also for renovations on old houses lines usually are changed from copper to Pex lines

For outside i dont have idea how it works, personally wouldnt use it without insulation tho.

Lord Asakurra · Feb 26, 2015, 06:56 PM // 18:56

Ah ok, thanks for the input! Was looking for an alternative to copper/exterior galvanized seeing as I hate torching due to my uncanny bad habit of spilling solder on myself xD

**cosyfiep** · Feb 26, 2015, 07:09 PM // 19:09

first you should check with your state and county to see if you can even use pex (lots of places only allow it for commercial buildings). 2ndly, a licensed plumber should be consulted before you even consider it---you will need to put in 2 runs for each pipe (one going one returning)...and this could become quite costly.
It is not really something you can do on your own--
as for the seasons, they use it a LOT in canada and they get some pretty extreme weather up there.
For the outside faucets--they have ones that you should use for that (cant remember what they are called). My husband did some indepth studying about pex (and we cant use them where we live

).
but I would suggest contacting your county building department since you might also need a permit to make that kind of change and they might be able to tell you more than we can.

Lord Asakurra · Feb 27, 2015, 04:21 PM // 16:21

For my area, it is legal to use on residential properties interior and exterior, else I wouldn't have even considered it, good call though I didn't even think about that! I also read that you can run it in the same insulated conduit as electrical as long as it's below the frost line, which sounds extremely sketch as I type it lol...

Yea, I think I'll keep it for interior use only- getting digging permits and running insulated conduit to feed my sprinklers sounds less than efficient, especially when it comes time to blow out the lines again next winter. Thanks for the input Pleikki and Cosy!

*Darcy* · Mar 01, 2015, 09:16 PM // 21:16

Try your local building supply for advice on types and installation. You would be surprised how helpful they can be.