Thinking about having plumbing replaced in apartment building. Is pex plumbing a good alternative. The building is located in California and we do get snow. any suggestions? What is the cost of PEX vs. copper? Expected life? TIA.
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Per foot it's roughly 1/3 the cost of copper. Under normal conditions you won't have any problems.
I cant say anything bad about PEX. I have four houses that all have Pex in them. Its cheaper, goes in ten times quicker, and it will expand to ten times its size without bursting should it freeze.
When we do remodels there is no easier part of the job to sell to clients.
I'm in the Seattle area & build highrise condo/hotels, & apartments.
I come from the heavy commercial/ industrial end of the field before I got into highrise residential. I'm old school & still say copper is the best, BUT I have & will install pex for water piping in my own house.
We put in over 75,000 feet of 1/2" pex in a 42 story hotel/condo if that helps put your concerns to ease.
"History
The first PEX material was prepared in the 1930s, by irradiating the extruded tube with an electron beam. This process was made feasible in 1970s but was still expensive. In the 1960s, Engel cross-linking was perfected. In this method a peroxide is mixed with the HDPE before extruding, with the cross-linking taking place during the passage of the melted polymer through a long heated die. In 1968, the Sioplas process using silane was patented, followed by another silane-based process, Monosil, in 1974. A process using vinylsilane followed in 1986.[2]"
"Wirsbo emerged as the leader in the polyethylene pipe industry in 1968 when German inventor, Dr. Thomas Engel, developed a method to chemically crosslink polyethylene (PEX). A year later, Wirsbo successfully developed a viable manufacturing process, and in 1984, Wirsbo was incorporated. "
That was interesting - the ways that cross-linking can be achieved.
plumbbill, have you got a discovery and mfg. history for the defunct Poly-Butylene piping?
Nope sure don't.
I have never installed pb I have replaced & made repairs------ I was pizzed that the class action lawsuit didn't cover my trailer ( the camping kind).
"Why do you hurt me when I do bad things to you?" My youngest son to his older brother
Check with your local BI. Pex is not yet considered OK on a statewide basis, but local officials can approve it if they so choose. You will have to mail order it in CA.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
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