knobbyhead
Next off the Island.
pex is the best, it might not be cheaper than copper, but its safer and cheaper than a plumber
The DIY thread - DIYourself
- Thread starter Red Mosquito
- Start date
Fat Trout
Well-Known Member
yup. Now that i'm Pex I'm not afraid to take on some things that I might have steered clear of due to lots of copper. Replacement water heater, and full well pump pressure tank assembly were relatively straight forward. Manifolds are nice for individual shut offs and reduced pressure drop issues.
Sure I can sweat pipe if gravity is my friend....but making that shit go uphill tends to end badly for me...plus excessive paranoia.
However you gotta check twice to make sure you made all your pex crimps. Full disclosure when I was filling my new hot water tank I heard a hissing noise. It took a minute for me to realize it was from a fit but un-crimped fitting on the discharge side. I was able to shut off before old faithful spewed forth.
i did the same thing soldering up my brother's place - all test fit and soldered - missed one.
no problem going uphill - just heat mid joint, rather than all the way back.
Fat Trout
Well-Known Member
hmmmm. noted.....secret tricks.
I'm pretty sold on PEX but it's one single fitting. Although it would be like me to address one small leak by replacing all of the piping in my house with PEX.
Fat Trout
Well-Known Member
Yup...acknowledged I sort of hijacked your question. Everything said was spot on though on the copper. I will say ....if you find your leak is from bad soldering that's one thing. If you find its from pin hole leaks you have a pitting problem related to water quality. Check the piece you cut out. Oh and I can totally relate to going waaaay to far on something simple. I have that tendency and that's exactly how my biking and fishing "problem" have gotten out of hand.
Wildwalker
Active Member
You might want to check out shark bites no soldering needed.
Wildwalker
Active Member
So I moved into a new house not to long ago, no garage but i do have a good size shed that I made a work bench got my tools set up....yada yada yada........I needed to make some kind of bike repair stand that I could clamp in my vice, didnt take up much room and just throw under the work bench. I made it out of some scrap metal that I had. I didnt want to go to the store just to buy steel. I know it's not pretty but it works. I glued in some rubber to not scratch the frame.
It's a thought. I've used shark bite fittings to temporarily cap water lines in the past when doing a bathroom remodel but someone I'm still reluctant to use them in a more permanent fashion, even though people seem to have good luck.
ekuhn
Well-Known Member
agreed. Its prolly just the plastic bits that make me most nervous about sharkbites.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Well, the plumber came and flushed the system shutting down the two half loops individually as previously suggested...it worked. Added another project to the list, I’ll be merging all the 1st floor into one loop and the 2nd floor into a second one, may eventually add a new zone for the second floor (I already have the unit, I will need a second pump and thermostat. More crawlsoace wars.
single pump, zone valves. easier, cheaper.
the house already runs on 1 pump, so it isn't a sizing issue.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
w_b
Well-Known Member
so, basically, not DIY at all.
zone valves get cut in just above the pump after the split - one on each branch (is 1 upstairs and the other down?)
then the thermostats are wired through the zone valves, and when one of them is "made" (by the zone valve opening)
it engages the pump/heater through the current thermostat connection to the controller.
if you want to go two pumps, put them side-by-side vertical and split the two halves below replacing the split - then bring them together
where the current pump is. watch the arrows on the pump too - it should be on the return side....
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
I am pretty confident this one pump is on the feed side. I maybe tackling this later once the ratio [time spent in the crawlspace]/[time spent above the crawlspace] goes down a bit...
Free firewood is splitting nicely.thats the first one that came up on my google search. 😛
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