Flexible stainless steel lines?

[five.five]

first one for me, but saw a dual water heater installed with flexible stainless steel lines. Located in Texas, New construction, David Weekly home.
Is this alright?

[Gerry Beaumont]

Hi there

The stainless steel braided piping does not bother me if it is rated for the application, but the apparent lack of support does concern me the weight of the valve will colapse the piping over time.

Regards

Gerry

[five.five]

Thank you Mr. Beaumont.
I did note on the report, hot water cross-over needs support strap.
Even the coldwater supply line was a flexible SS line as well.

[twasion]

Though the DYI big houses carry these they were illegal to use where I plumbed and like Gerry said, this one was not supported correctly.

[Jae Williams]

Many products are illegal to use--but legal to sell.

I've been told many times "if its legal to sell it, it must be legal to use it".

Some folks are hard to convince, so I just don't try very hard to do so.

[Russel Ray]

The braided lines are very much the preference out here due to seismic concerns. All the new subdivisions use nothing but flexible stuff (PEX, metal braid, etc) in the houses. Plus the labor is cheaper. Yet the cost of the houses still continues to climb astronomically. Hmmmmmmmmm. Probably rather than lowering the prices due to labor savings, they just figure that savings is more profit for them.

[Andrew Way]

I would also suggest they put some insulation on those lines. Being in an attic they will be subjected to freezing. Funny they put it on the valve and the line leading to the cold water one but not on the SS itself. Granted it may not burst, being braided, but it can still freeze.

[five.five]

good stuff, thanks all.

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

It is doubtful it would freeze with hot water running through it. Some high end homes use hot water circulating through pex tubing to keep driveways free of ice and snow and to warm homes through the flooring. JLC has some good articles on this fairly new technology.

[Andrew Way]

Doug,
That would be true if hot water were running all the time. But they did insulate the ball valve and from what I can see in the pictures the other portions of the plumbing in the attic. So someone was thinking it might freeze. Just odd they didn't bother with the SS lines.