My hot water line in the 1st floor bathroom has some very light weepage that drips down the pipe in to the basement. It's coming from inside the wall where the copper line goes into regular cast metal pipe/valve body/bushings. I opened up the wall to get a decent view. So that definitely needs to come out. It's tight in there with wood support beams attached to the pipes. Easiest and cheapest thing for me is to run some 1/2" PEX (100 psi 180 deg F) from the basement to under the bathroom sink - about a 6 ft run. Haven't done PEX before but it seems preferable to calling in a plumber who will likely charge $500-$1000 to do all 3 lines into the bathroom on that one wall (cold and hot water to sink, and cold line to toilet). Best to do all at once as all those lines are from 1960. The PEX is flexible enough to snake up into the wall and grab it. Will need fittings and new valves....shark bites, etc.
My questions include any code issues here? PEX offers 2 types of clips for compression - a ring style and a clamp style. Not sure which is "better." There are different tools for each. Will need to buy 3 tools regardless (PEX crimper with go-no go gauge, PEX ring remover, PEX cutter for around $100 total). There's another 60 ft of 1/2" cold and hot piping in the basement that will eventually need to be replaced too. At least if that accessible piping leaks I can temporarily patch it with a hose clamp....always works. Doesn't work very well in the walls that are inaccessible. With PEX I should be able to do my own 1/2" line repairs as needed....and avoid soldering copper pipe which I've never done either.
I had one plumber put in about 20 feet of hot/cold lines to my kitchen sink 5 yrs ago. They used some different type of compression fitting that supposedly cost $3000 for the hydraulic crimper. Charged me $750 for about 6 hrs of work. Not doing that again. A furnace guy just did a 12" hot water elbow directly on my furnace that cost $100....3 copper crimps. That's another option though I don't see how you can get access into a wall to use a large copper crimper. The PEX flexes and that crimp can be made outside the wall.
So anything I need to know about PEX that could surprise me in a "bad" way? How often do you make bad crimps? Do the fittings last for 20 years? Is the go-no go gauge pretty much accurate? Are the shark bite crimps from copper to PEX reliable?
Thanks for any inputs.
My questions include any code issues here? PEX offers 2 types of clips for compression - a ring style and a clamp style. Not sure which is "better." There are different tools for each. Will need to buy 3 tools regardless (PEX crimper with go-no go gauge, PEX ring remover, PEX cutter for around $100 total). There's another 60 ft of 1/2" cold and hot piping in the basement that will eventually need to be replaced too. At least if that accessible piping leaks I can temporarily patch it with a hose clamp....always works. Doesn't work very well in the walls that are inaccessible. With PEX I should be able to do my own 1/2" line repairs as needed....and avoid soldering copper pipe which I've never done either.
I had one plumber put in about 20 feet of hot/cold lines to my kitchen sink 5 yrs ago. They used some different type of compression fitting that supposedly cost $3000 for the hydraulic crimper. Charged me $750 for about 6 hrs of work. Not doing that again. A furnace guy just did a 12" hot water elbow directly on my furnace that cost $100....3 copper crimps. That's another option though I don't see how you can get access into a wall to use a large copper crimper. The PEX flexes and that crimp can be made outside the wall.
So anything I need to know about PEX that could surprise me in a "bad" way? How often do you make bad crimps? Do the fittings last for 20 years? Is the go-no go gauge pretty much accurate? Are the shark bite crimps from copper to PEX reliable?
Thanks for any inputs.