Tonight billn completed domestic water rough in for the laundry room sink and the ice maker. Those of you who are plumbing-minded will notice the really slick copper bends with PEX fittings on the ends. Neat part. The really observant will see a problem with one of the PEX fittings that we repaired after this photo was made.
We also adjusted the house framing to accommodate the range hood. We had to add wood where the wall bracket will mount and to remove the top part of a
stud to allow space for the duct to discharge through.
stud to allow space for the duct to discharge through. Also, we pulled the radiant ceiling tubing through a hole in the floor joists below the kitchen to allow space for the adaptor fittings from the PEX-AL-PEX to just ordinary barrier PEX.
Can anybody out there tell me why we should be using copper for any of this work?
On a note completely unrelated to the renovation at 70Hack, billn's coworker sent this link to a really funny VT youtube video. It is worth 4 minutes of your life. "Rednecks in Barre always be hatin'"
14 comments:
you ask Can anybody out there tell me why we should be using copper for any of this work?. i respond "i won't tell you if i can. and if i could, i would not tell you."
Evidently the Dangerous Beauty is also a grammarian. Rephrasing, "Why should we use copper tubing instead of PEX?"
Irregardless.
watched the video. looks like you have found some very nice friends.
cabbagePANTS
Oh, those high school kids are not friends of 70hack, but we love how funny their video is and how we know about everything they discussed. We live in a small place.
I feel like I'm watching a Seinfeld show where instead of trying to find the Superman in each episode, I'm trying to find the red pliers in each photo!
I don't know if it is sad or exciting that after only 8.5 months of living here that I find all of our MHS rapper's jokes funny!
i LOVE the rip-off highlights you are doing with the pliers. it's awesome!
I had no idea we were ripping off Hightlights, rather Richard Scary books. Frequently his books have either the pet cat or a spider or some other animal on every page.
It is obvious Shirlsd hasn't uprated her periodical reading since the second grade, fancy degree in chemical engineering not withstanding.
So are you going to tell us or what? The suspense is killing me!
Billn, I think YOU should update your periodicals.....the books you refer to are Mercer Mayer.
so - can we regroup ... "Why should we use copper tubing instead of PEX?" (... and i'll address my reading materials later.)
1. Suspense about what? About PEX? That was a retorical question, copper is $2.+ a foot for 1/2" tubing, PEX is $0.31 per foot. No comparison on price or ease of installation.
2. Richard Scary, Mercer Mayer, whomever. You wouldn't see me make that same mistake with Ayn Rand. John Galt rocks!
That wasn't the question. The question was why should we use copper instead of PEX, not the other way around.
First thought was maybe Copper doesn't leach off plastic-y contaminants? Or maybe the real reason is many stores don't carry it, but evidently your supplier does:
PEX vs. Copper
A new field evaluation report offers time, cost, and performance comparisons of cross-linked polyethylene and copper supply pipe.
Source: BUILDER Magazine
Publication date: October 1, 2006
By BUILDER Staff
THE RISING COST OF COPPER has boosted the appeal of plastic piping alternatives such as cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) among builders. In a field study of copper and PEX water supply systems, the NAHB Research Center and the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) partnered with builder Fernando Pages to provide a definitive comparison of the installation time, material cost, and performance of each in single-family homes.
Testing began in June 2005 at Liberty Village, an urban infill community developed by Pages' Lincoln, Neb., company, Brighton Construction. Four test homes shared the same architectural plan: 1,500 square feet, with two full baths on the second floor; a kitchen sink, powder room, and two hose bibs on the first floor; and washer hookups in the basement. The plumbing systems were installed by the same general contractor, who had experience in both PEX and copper. In two homes, a traditional trunk-and-branch system was used with ½-inch and ¾-inch copper; in the other two homes, a home-run system with ¾-inch, ½-inch, and 3/8-inch PEX was used.
A time-in-motion study was conducted to assess the time required for various tasks associated with each system. PEX's home-run system of flexible sweeps and limited joints offered significant installation time savings over copper, which required additional man-hours for fittings to be sweated. Since both systems had comparable flow rates, performance results were marked by PEX's faster hot water delivery—an average of 30 percent for the lavatory farthest from the hot water heater. Comparisons of material costs at the time of the study (the first quarter of 2006) showed that copper was somewhat less expensive, primarily because of the added cost of the central manifold for PEX and the limited availability of PEX materials in the local plumbing supply. Overall, installation and material costs for PEX were 28 percent less than for copper, on average, in identical houses.
The final report detailing field results, costs, and all time-in-motion factors is now available. For the full report, visit www.toolbase.org/Field-Evaluations/Brighton-Construction-Liberty-Village.
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