Paulcmaine
New Member
My house is fully plumbed with bolybutyl, unfortunately. On the plus side it's post on pier so it's about as easy as it gets - I only need to cut out two small squares of drywall to repipe the entire house! I've done a lot of plumbing before but this will be the biggest job to date. This site seems very kind to homeowners and I would love to hear it if anyone has the time to read this and see if I'm making any glaring errors!
Quick overview - 1400 sq ft house, 2 bath, just two of us living here.
Down here (LA) plumbing is all just run under the house, typically uninsulated! I will be insulating everything with pipe insulation.
All fixtures but two are very close to each other and I will be switching out the old water heater to a 160,000 btu indoor on-demand unit located in the kitchen almost dead center between them all (it fits nicely behind the fridge).
I will also be putting in a 13kw electric unit to run a 1.5 bath (shower no tub) located on the other end of the house.
I have 3/4 iron pipe coming from the water meter to under the house. My plan is to go from that to pex and run pex for everything with copper stub-out fitting for aesthetics and rigidity. I can stub out most fixtures directly through the floor with the exception of a few that will be in the walls. Then propress 1/4 turn valves for fixtures.
Piping will be 1" pex for the trunk line which will run directly to the tankless heater in the kitchen near the back of the house. Along the way I will tee off 1/2" lines for cold water and one to run the electric on-demand for the small bathroom. Then a 3/4 trunk line out of the WH with 1/2 tee'd off to fixtures. I'm borrowing a propress tool for the crimps.
I know there are a lot of mixed opinions about tankless heaters but I'm pretty much set on that decision for a few reasons so not really looking for advice there. However I am also pricing out a/c systems and am slightly concerned that if I go with central I might have a gas supply issue with gas dryer, a furnace and the 160,000 btu WH all located about 50' from the meter on 3/4" pipe. I think that I will be going with mini-splits though in which case this shouldn't be a concern.
Just a couple of questions -
-Any glaring errors or things I'm missing?
-It does freeze here once or twice a year with the occasional hard freeze and the usual approach is just to drip your pipes. Given that I should use Pex-A, right? My understanding is it's slightly less likely to burst if it were to freeze? I'll be using copper crimp rings with a milwaukee propress tool.
-Is it worth the extra cost for copper fittings? I've used both plastic and copper for years on various projects and never had either fail.
-Looking at the small bathroom as an example, I've got a 1" cold water trunk line running along the sill and I need to get 1/2" to toilet, shower, sink and 1/2" to the 13KW electric on-demand and then from there to shower and sink. It's a small bathroom so all fixtures are within a couple feet of each other. Is there a correct and incorrect way to pipe this? My OCD wants to run individual lines off of the trunk with a series of 1"x1/2"x1/2" tees or a 1" x 1/2" (x4) manifold if I can get one but I suppose it would be a couple feet less of pipe to do a 1"x3/4"x1" tee and then a series of 1/2" tees off of that to split to the various fixtures. Is there a 'standard' way to do this or is it just personal preference?
Quick overview - 1400 sq ft house, 2 bath, just two of us living here.
Down here (LA) plumbing is all just run under the house, typically uninsulated! I will be insulating everything with pipe insulation.
All fixtures but two are very close to each other and I will be switching out the old water heater to a 160,000 btu indoor on-demand unit located in the kitchen almost dead center between them all (it fits nicely behind the fridge).
I will also be putting in a 13kw electric unit to run a 1.5 bath (shower no tub) located on the other end of the house.
I have 3/4 iron pipe coming from the water meter to under the house. My plan is to go from that to pex and run pex for everything with copper stub-out fitting for aesthetics and rigidity. I can stub out most fixtures directly through the floor with the exception of a few that will be in the walls. Then propress 1/4 turn valves for fixtures.
Piping will be 1" pex for the trunk line which will run directly to the tankless heater in the kitchen near the back of the house. Along the way I will tee off 1/2" lines for cold water and one to run the electric on-demand for the small bathroom. Then a 3/4 trunk line out of the WH with 1/2 tee'd off to fixtures. I'm borrowing a propress tool for the crimps.
I know there are a lot of mixed opinions about tankless heaters but I'm pretty much set on that decision for a few reasons so not really looking for advice there. However I am also pricing out a/c systems and am slightly concerned that if I go with central I might have a gas supply issue with gas dryer, a furnace and the 160,000 btu WH all located about 50' from the meter on 3/4" pipe. I think that I will be going with mini-splits though in which case this shouldn't be a concern.
Just a couple of questions -
-Any glaring errors or things I'm missing?
-It does freeze here once or twice a year with the occasional hard freeze and the usual approach is just to drip your pipes. Given that I should use Pex-A, right? My understanding is it's slightly less likely to burst if it were to freeze? I'll be using copper crimp rings with a milwaukee propress tool.
-Is it worth the extra cost for copper fittings? I've used both plastic and copper for years on various projects and never had either fail.
-Looking at the small bathroom as an example, I've got a 1" cold water trunk line running along the sill and I need to get 1/2" to toilet, shower, sink and 1/2" to the 13KW electric on-demand and then from there to shower and sink. It's a small bathroom so all fixtures are within a couple feet of each other. Is there a correct and incorrect way to pipe this? My OCD wants to run individual lines off of the trunk with a series of 1"x1/2"x1/2" tees or a 1" x 1/2" (x4) manifold if I can get one but I suppose it would be a couple feet less of pipe to do a 1"x3/4"x1" tee and then a series of 1/2" tees off of that to split to the various fixtures. Is there a 'standard' way to do this or is it just personal preference?