Wednesday, May 2, 2007

PEX tubing, more electrical

Tonight billn cleaned the ashes from the fireplace out, added another coat of drywall compound to the second floor patches. Also, he thought carefully about the future boiler location, and pulled wires into the toy room outlets.

Billn also installed the rough-in box for the laundry (drain and water supply valve) and the refrigerator water supply box. Billn enjoyed his first experience with PEX tubing and fittings. It is very flexible, but billn made a kink in the line (it isn't that flexible, he tried to pull the tubing through a too-tight turn). Tomorrow he'll have to take the kinks out (using a heat gun). Kink removal with heat is one of the really great features of PEX. PEX has "memory" so it will return to its original shape.

Billn installed one piece of PEX, the hot water line from the garage (future location of hot water heater) to the washing machine laundry rough-in box. The first crimp ring he squeezed broke. Evidently the key is to go slowly when squeezing the fitting. The second attempt was fine, squeeze slowly and the fitting is tight and leak-proof.

No comments: