PEX or Copper if I have $$$$

I am building a new house and I love to save money, but I would prefer to have the best if I can. So I was going to put copper in my place, but a friend was telling me about this Pex pipe. Said it is all that and a bag of chips.

What I see is it cost less than copper, which worries me. If it was so great it seems it would cost more. Goes back to the old saying you get what you pay for.

If you were building a new house and had the money for copper or pex which would you go with? And when I say I am building a new house I mean I am doing all the work. I should be at the plumbing stage in a week or two.

Thanks!!!!!!!

You'll get arguments either way. You'll have fewer fittings with pex since you can bend it around corners. Often with pex, people us a manifold(s) and make home runs to each fixture. If you use a manifold with individual shutoffs, you can isolate runs easily. Course, you could do this with copper, too, but nobody does. Because there are fewer fittings and the pipe is smoother, theory has it that you can get by with potentiall smaller runs and maintain the same flow. Keep in mind, though, that the interior size of pex is smaller than the equivalent sized copper. Pex is almost certainly faster to install. There are many brands and fittings systems. Uphonor seems to win amoung those here, if they use pex at all. The tools needed to make the connections are expensive, but are not a consumable like flux and solder and fuel for your torch.

Wirsbo pex vs copper

Tomorow, I am runnig some pex in a frozen up house...

it will take me less time to run the pex, although it wont

look as nice....

the saveings is fairley substantial..... for the overall job...

probably about a $300 difference. the pex being far cheaper to run


a 300 foot roll of 1/2 pex cost about 93 dollars

1/2 hard copper is 1.17 per foot..

Wonder if I can rent the tools from *********. I will give them a call to see what they say. What is the tool called? Do I need mroe than one?

It appears the joints are preasure fitted into the pex pipe???????? No glue or anything to connect them?

I need to order a 1000 foot roll to get water from my well. Then I need some for the house. FUN!

Thanks for the help.

While PEX is approved for use under ground, I would use the plastic pipe normaly used to run from the well to the house then transition over to PEX.

When I run water lines underground I sleeve the line with the 4" corrougated black drain pipe to keep rocks away and not have to back fill with sand. It is much faster and easier.

If your soil has no rocks you don't need it.

The tools you need will depend on the brand of pex and adapters you buy. Uphonor's system uses an expansion tool...you insert it into the pipe, expand it along with a reinforcement ring you installed over the end, quickly remove the tool and insert the fitting. The pipe and reinforcement ring retracts to its original size, making the connection. All of the other types have you insert the fitting, then install a crimp ring. The crimping tool needs to be calibrated occasionally, and each crimp should be checked with the precision gauge tool to verify it is crimped properly.

Sounds like expasion would make a better fit. I am stopping at a local place tonight to see what I can figure out.

Pex

Here's a helpful link:
http://www.pexinfo.com/

Heck, I'm probably not the one to ask because I ONLY use copper for my own home - even for DWV (I'll probably catch heat for this) - no plastic pipe in my hose. So yes, no PEX for me; I just can't see running glorified garden hose inside my walls.

The whole question really comes down to how long will PEX last. We know copper has a proven track record, but what happens when PEX hardens over time - like all hoses will - and the damn thing breaks inside the wall and floods the whole house. Won't happen with copper. It seems most floods in homes are caused by HOSES, washing machine supply hoses, transition hoses to fixtures and toilets, refrigerator ice makers, and so forth. It's rare to see copper burst - other than due to freezing. Usually it just pinholes, giving you some kind of warning. By the way, I've seen my share of CPVC causing flooding.

Most of the cost of any plumbing job is the labor, so my feeling is use the best and most durable materials, and do the job right once.

I will be on a well and I worried it my cuase issue in the future with copper. Hard decision.