Haven’t run into this before – in-construction house, phase inspection, plumbing is 3/4-1 inch white plastic-looking piping; easy to install, etc. Builder claims plumber says it’s “better than copper”, “I’ll attach copper fittings to it at each extension from the wall,” “nobody steals this [as they do the copper]”.
I have a call in to both the city and the county for the code information (I know, I don’t do code!). The ‘red flags’ for me comes from our discussions of polybutylene, which this is not. However, the elbows and other fittings look a lot those of the poly, but not crimped. I’ll try to attach a photo.
Thanks, in advance, for any light you can shed; direction to go to determine its suitability.
North Witcher
Omaha
It’s not PB. It’s pex. It comes in several colors, red and blue are common, as well as white. From what I hear it’s good stuff. Watch for the copper connectors though.
This DOES NOT come in blue and red. Opaque white is all that I have seen. They do make red and blue PEX that you can buy at the big orange box down at the corner, but it is not like this.
Mark said to watch out for the copper connectors. That is true with the red and blue, but not with this. As you can see from the photo, there are no copper connectors. They utilize a PEX sleeve that fits on the outside of the PEX pipe. This is installed by expanding the PEX end and slipping a fitting into it before it contracts. There are no crimp rings and the fittings do not come apart. If a mistake was made, the PEX has to be cut off. Very good stuff.
A drawback to this is that you have to have an expander to work with it. Any repairs will require a PEX professional. Sharkbites do and will work, but they detract from the quality of the installation, in my opinion.
There are 2 different types of fittings, brass and plastic. Watch out for the plastic fittings like you have in that home. Watch out for kinks at bends and ensure that it is adequately supported and protected from nails like any other.
The Wirsbo Pex is top of the line when it comes to the pex family. They have a smaller bend radius than the other brands. This product and the fittings have a 100% memory so when the rings are applied over the tubing and larger fittings, they hold great. No glues, no soldering and fast.
