In Floor Pex Tubing Problems

To avoid these potential problems be sure to follow these four tips when installing pex pipe.

In floor pex tubing problems. Pex tubing or piping is used for water supply lines as well as radiant floor heating. While pex is generally considered a safe product and accepted by building codes the materials and components that comprise the system have several vulnerabilities and several defective fittings and systems produced by various manufacturers have resulted in leaks and system failures. It can be buried underground in concrete in radiant floor heating installations but it is not meant for external piping applications. Polyethylene including pex has dimensional stability problems i e it shrinks back over time.

For example by increasing the flow through 1 2 pex tubing by only 0 1 gpm floor output will increase at 5 btu sq. It cannot be recycled. Before opting for pex plumbing you might want to know about the problems associated with it. When i built my last home in 2005 the plumber tried to pull a switch and substitute pex for the copper pipe he had quoted saying pex was superior.

It cannot be used outside. As more and more people are using pex tubing over the past few years failures are being reported. I fired him on the spot. The reasons for this are twofold.

Here are some of the pex pipe problems you ll want to know about before making any decisions. Pex piping is not meant for external use. Most of the failures can be tied to 2 specific areas. Pex tubing is easier and faster to install than most other types of plumbing pipe which makes it a popular choice for beginning plumbers.

Unconfirmed estimates say there are approximately 200 000 homes in bc with poly b water systems and some 700 000 homes across canada. However if pex pipe is incorrectly installed leaks kinks and other common challenges can easily occur. With 1 2 tubing a 6 pattern is sometimes used in smaller spaces such as bathrooms and for extreme cold climates while 8 and 9 patterns are standard for most living areas in most climates and a 12 pattern is used in garages. No single pipe tubing system used in the us has been 100 problem free and pex is no exception.

It s not a good choice for water pipe under pressure. At plastic expert group our experts in pex analysis will determine if the pipe failed due to defective installation or because of a manufacturing defect. Poly b is a flexible grey pipe used in residential plumbing and hot water heating systems from the mid 70s through the 80s and into the mid 90s. Some of the disadvantages of pex include.

There s been a lot of debate over pex for the last several years because pex has a few downsides that you might not expect. The flexible tubing is embedded in a.