Pex, vinyl tubing or???

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Vinyl hose shouldn’t be used on pressurized hot water.

also it can develop some strange odors and tastes

[Rotten Ricky]

Regarding tight bends in awkward places when using flexible vinyl tube (or rubber hose with your engjne) the tube/hose will often collapse. You can easily prevent this by cutting a number of short (say, 1/2" long) pieces of another stiffer pipe (like PVC, ABS or copper, brass) that is of slightly larger diameter, and threading them onto the soft tube before installing. The rings simply refuse to let the tubing inside collapse when you bend it, and hold the tube open. Works very well. So cheap and easy. Excellent for tight bends on hot engine hoses, and protects them from abrasion.

Hmmmm.... unlike wedding rings on a finger - these are a bit more long-lived than a lot of real wedding rings!

Cheers, RR.

[oleman]

Originally Posted by aa1bflyboy

I’m replumbing an Aloha 32. Presently she has the 30+ year old gray plastic that I’m told is the precursor to pex. It has been suggested to use the reinforced vinyl hose as it is flexible and therefore reduces the need for fittings and a specialized tool for installation. IE: clamping/crimping tool & cutter. I’ve been pricing pex pipe and fittings vs the vinyl and seeing the cost of pex to be less and seems to me would be a better job. Pex is quite flexible and I don’t see any drawbacks other than maybe the clamping/crimping tool cost and it use in tight areas.
Your comments are appreciated, thanks in advance.

I just tossed a 60' section of Shark 3/4" pex in the garbage by cutting it into 36" sections using looping shears BECAUSE it was left in the sun for a couple of years and had become stiff and brittle. Like all plastics UV will eventually take its toll if the PEX is not sheltered. My next potable water line will be nylon encased in ss mesh, it has become very common in the BB stores for under sink connections.

[xxxxx]

Originally Posted by Pitchondesign

My boat is 30 years old. I have a combination of pex with shark bite fittings and reinforced vinyl.

I'm refitting an old boat and I've decided on a "hybrid" system as well.


The runs will be crimped PEX, but the final connections will be with reinforced vinyl tube.



IMHO, it's the best best of both worlds.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I have done many houses in PEX and never had a problem. The crimping tool I have was expensive at $180, but I never had a crimp fail. I have replumbed several boats in PEX, blue fresh cold, red fresh hot, white freshwater feed to the pumps. For the saltwater foot pumps, I go with reinforced vinyl that I change once a year.

[Kd9truck]

I replaced all my factory hot and cold fresh water lines with Pex, shark bites with pvc valves, every water thing is tight after the first year of service.
3 heads
1 galley
2 AC zones
1 water heater

Have at it, good luck

[bstreep]

We redid our boat plumbing in a weekend. 22 sharkbite fixture connections with PEX. Piece of cake.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Redline452

I have nothing to add.



(actually, plenty, but can't decide...)

Well we know what his autocorrect says

[sailingharry]

I have just installed hydronic heat on my boat. I used PEX A, which is a slightly more flexible version of PEX. Big box stores sell PEX B which is not as flexible. I found it easy enough to route through the boat in most places, but it is nowhere near as easy to work with in tight places as vinyl. I also did the last foot of all runs in radiator hose, because routing the PEX directly to the fixture did not seem viable.

Note that the expansion fittings that have been mentioned in this thread require pexay, paxby will not work with them.

I do want to mention one special PEX fitting. Most crimp style fittings require you to come in at right angles to the pipe. I had two I could not do that with. These fittings are more expensive and very difficult to get enough pressure to seal. They also had to be special ordered. But they did the job. I could reach in along the pipe with a big pair of slip joint pliers, and with a struggle, finished the joint.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/PEXLock-...0762/308745741

[keepondancin]

If using the Sharkbite type plastic fittings, there are so many different fittings available. Stackable "T"s, manifolds, stackable elbows, so it is easy to do a valve system to isolate tanks, fixtures, etc.. Using crimp fittings you reduce the flow a little, but I haven't been on a boat yet that had a high flow/pressure system. What I found with Sharkbite type fittings is, if they are side loaded, they can leak, so I go out of my way to avoid that. I have done houses and boats in PEX and think it is the way to go. Can't see spending for the expansion tool just to do one boat, crimps work well, and I have never had a problem with a properly done installation.

[gonesail]

I used something called Flair-it fittings for pex and polybutylene. they seem to be stronger than the press on fittings. these can also be removed if needed

[JD-MDR]

So now I'm getting confused. Ideally I would like to use the push on type fittings. That would be so easy and I don't have a pressurized system. I see that there are so many types , Expansion fittings ,crimp fittings , clamp fittings and Pex lok fittings . I guess those can be locked on with regular pliers but the other clamp type look like they get a better seal. They wrap around the pipe two times. When I've used Pex at work I like the SS clamps. The tool is not so big and doesn't require so much room too get a grip.They, like the crimp tool do require a lot of force. I few years ago it wouldn't be so bad but now I'm getting arthritis in my hand

[mlydon]

As I posted earlier, i seriously dislike shark bite - very expensive, bulky, etc. I’m a strong proponent of expansion fittings - all plastic, neat and clean. Btw, you can get ‘bend guides’ to make 90 degree turns in pex in a 6” radius.
Promised I’d post a pic of the install.

Bear in mind it’s currently a hybrid - I plumbed the heater and valves, but left the vinyl runs for now - 1/2” pex fits in 5/8” vinyl just fine....

The valves on the heater are pex one side, 1/2” npt the other, and the cross valve is pex/pex. One of those 90 bend guides is behind the heater, center top of the first pic.

Matt