This stuff seems to me to be the best thing since sliced bread!!! (Ok, I don't really like sliced bread... but you know what I mean)

I'm curious to hear some of the opinions people have toward PEX. I'm liking it for many reason and would like to know what some others think.

Also, what do you think about for running a distance to hot water baseboard heat? (3/4")

Lastly, there a few compression and expansion tools... what's your favorite brand/style?

PEX (Polyethylene Cross-Linked) is amazing stuff. It's been used for at least a couple decades worldwide and has many miles installed. It been used mostly for only radiant floor/wall heating, but recently fitting have been developed to allow you to use PEX to rough-in a whole house for its domestic water needs. That's where it gets exciting...you can run a entire homes plumbing just as easily as you were to fish an electrical cable. You have no soldering, no joints/couplers/90*'s that you need to worry about being soldered properly. You just have a transition fitting that allows you to stub out to copper.

The only downsides: Many building inspectors haven't seen it being used yet for domestic water - which could slow you down (not to mention not too many contractors are you using it yet). Second, you have the potential for a drywall screw to hit the PEX (as with copper), and you'd have to put a coupler in to fix it.

As far as tools, I forget who...one manufacturer was giving free tools if you attended their training (which cost ~$300-800, I forget).

I'm not a HVAC/Plumber but I believe 3/4 would be fine (what's the distance), however, the key is to loop the water back to your manifold. Many times, if you're not going to homerun each line, you'll want to main branches that run parallel on opposite sides of a house and connected at the end in a loop, with branches taken of these lines to toilets, sinks, heating valves/zones for radiant heat, etc.

Check out finehomebuilding.com - they have a good forum over there geared more towards contractors and serious DIY's.

Shaun

Thanks!

The more I read about this stuff, the more I wish I had used it on a bunch of jobs I've done. But lucky for me (hehe) there is a never ending supply of work to be done.

I think I'll start looking at a complete tool set. I know I need the expander with heads, and the crimper (to slide the ring over the fitting)... what else would you recommend?

Pete

P.S. I'm reading lots here: http://www.pexsupply.com/index.cfm