Posted by Sherman in Idaho [209.33.95.254] on Tuesday, January 06, 2015 at 00:42:49 :
In Reply to: Far off topic posted by Bob Thompson [172.249.80.183] on Monday, January 05, 2015 at 23:56:01 :
...and will be using a lot of it in my major building rehab project. The advantages are that it's much easier and cheaper to do long runs through intricate spaces than with rigid copper, and cheaper than with soft copper, you can connect it without using a torch (handy inside of dry old walls), and it will take an occasional freeze without breaking. I also use it for my shop air lines.
The main disadvantage is the fittings are much more expensive. Also it's too flexible to support sink supply valves, shower heads, etc by itself. What I've settled on is to use PEX for the long runs, and then once you get into an intricate area with lots of sharp right-angle bends, tees, valves, etc, use copper for all that stuff. I suppose part of my reasoning is a still have piles of 1/2" copper pipe and fittings on hand.
If you've never used copper, you might as well just start with PEX, because soldering copper, especially in tricky locations where the solder has to flow up, or where water keeps trying to get into where you're soldering, takes some extra skills compared to PEX. With PEX you can either use barb-type connectors with crimp rings (expensive and you need a special tool) or "Shark-bite" type push-in connectors that are even more expensive but don't need a special too.
The jury's still out on how long it will last in the real world. I'm told that even type M copper will eventually wear out if you have a lot of flow going through sharp elbows. I haven't seen it myself, but that doesn't prove anything. On the other hand, I've never known a plastic that didn't eventually deteriorate. Perhaps it will last as long as iron pipe, which is usually considered to be good for 50 years. It also occurs to me that the older I get, the less long my work has to last, if all I care about is myself.
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