Why no PEX sweep 90 fittings?

[wwhitney]

in your picture you can almost make out a kink in the pipe geometry where it passes through the metal support so I am guessing the situation was similar.

Not sure what you're seeing, but there's no kink or almost kink. The bend support has a turned up tab of significant width at the ends where the tube outer edge wants to press on it. The bend support by itself doesn't make a 90 degree bend, more like 80 degrees, you finish the bend with the normal brackets on either side of the metal support. Which also takes some of the force off the ends of the bend support.

What brand/type of PEX were you using? This is Uponor PEX-A, the only one I have experience with (just on this one project). The bend support I used (which I have a bunch of extra of if anyone wants some and wants to pay for shipping, just PM me):

https://www.pexsuperstore.com/product/10-pcs-1-heavy-duty-steel-tube-bend-support/

Cheers, Wayne

 

[Jadnashua]

In order of flexibility and thus the minimum bend radius, pex-a is the most flexible and has the most resilient memory. You may find that a bend support for type-a may or may not work well with say -c pex, or even -b that often require a larger minimum bend. Make sure things match up. Take a look at the spec sheet to determine the minimum bend radius for the pex tubing you have and do not exceed that. IF things are cold when you try to do it, that could be part of the problem. The minimum bend radius is usually specified as a X-factor of the tubing diameter, so a larger piece of pex will have a larger minimum bend than a smaller diameter choice.

Some don't like pex, because it can look pretty sloppy unless you take a lot of extra time. It does need to be supported at the indicated spacing, but for the most part, if it's inside the walls, who really cares if it looks sloppy if it's going to be covered up?!