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Posted: 9/11/2024 10:40:46 PM EDT
I need to run some pex from my well to my pressure tank, it's about a 75' total run. Was thinking of using 1" pex. I noticed Lowe's sells 1" as PEX-A and PEX-B. What's the difference between the A&B?
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Originally Posted By DD1801: I need to run some pex from my well to my pressure tank, it's about a 75' total run. Was thinking of using 1" pex. I noticed Lowe's sells 1" as PEX-A and PEX-B. What's the difference between the A&B? View Quote |
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Originally Posted By armoredsaint: Copper and pro press master race here View Quote I'd take Pex-A with expansion fittings over Pro Press any day. OP the difference is technically the way the polymer is cross linked. In practical terms Pex-A uses expansion fittings which are amazing. Pex-A is also more flexible. Pex-B uses crimp rings. Pex-A is superior. |
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Pex A is more resistant to burst pressure. B is more rigid..
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Pex A is more flexible, more freeze/burst-resistant, and handles pressure better.
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Pex A has a larger bore through the fittings. It flows better.
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Originally Posted By armoredsaint: Copper and pro press master race here View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By armoredsaint: Originally Posted By DD1801: I need to run some pex from my well to my pressure tank, it's about a 75' total run. Was thinking of using 1" pex. I noticed Lowe's sells 1" as PEX-A and PEX-B. What's the difference between the A&B? Attached File Pex underground should be rated for it. Burried copper is shit... Won't ever do the unless you HAVE to. I will snake PEX theough sch-80 before I ever fucking deal with buried copper again. |
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PEX-A is preferential over B, but required and expansion tool. B also required tooling depending on cinch, crimp, or press.
For underground applications I would opt for HDPE, CTS (Copper tube size) Less costly, no special tooling with a dimensional ratio of DR-11, it far superior. Use stainless steel stiffeners and compression fittings. Alternatively use copper type K soft temper with flare fittings. But still, HDPE is preferred. |
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Sounds like PEX-A is what I want. Now to see if my CFO will approve the Dewalt 20v expansion tool. Have a new home build going up as well, so I will double check what the plumber has roughed in.
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I ran 1 inch pex into my house. Milwaukee pex tool is more better
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Originally Posted By DD1801: I need to run some pex from my well to my pressure tank, it's about a 75' total run. Was thinking of using 1" pex. I noticed Lowe's sells 1" as PEX-A and PEX-B. What's the difference between the A&B? View Quote |
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Originally Posted By PolarBear416: What's the maximum pressure in the line? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By PolarBear416: Originally Posted By DD1801: I need to run some pex from my well to my pressure tank, it's about a 75' total run. Was thinking of using 1" pex. I noticed Lowe's sells 1" as PEX-A and PEX-B. What's the difference between the A&B? I'll have to get back to you on that. Are you asking what is my well pump's pressure? What the pressure tank "draws"? What are you asking? |
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He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. |
Originally Posted By DD1801: I'll have to get back to you on that. Are you asking what is my well pump's pressure? What the pressure tank "draws"? What are you asking? View Quote Well, I can say it has no issue at 120 psi. Found that out last night at 9pm. Apparently my pressure switch caught some debris in the line and was malfunctioning and causing the pump to run way over pressure. It was misreading the pressure saying it was only 30 psi and it caused a few leaks and my pre-filter to launch a ton of water from the o-ring. |
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He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. |
Pex A all day
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Originally Posted By DD1801: I'll have to get back to you on that. Are you asking what is my well pump's pressure? What the pressure tank "draws"? What are you asking? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By DD1801: Originally Posted By PolarBear416: Originally Posted By DD1801: I need to run some pex from my well to my pressure tank, it's about a 75' total run. Was thinking of using 1" pex. I noticed Lowe's sells 1" as PEX-A and PEX-B. What's the difference between the A&B? I'll have to get back to you on that. Are you asking what is my well pump's pressure? What the pressure tank "draws"? What are you asking? If you are on flat ground probably not an issue but if you're on a hill and there's an elevation difference, or your pump acts weird, you might want to check that you're not going over its rating. Wells sometimes have non standard pressures, mine does Also PEX degrades in the sun so you will want ALL of it it buried or enclosed in a conduit. Should be fine if none of that applies |
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Use pex A. If you compare the I.D. of pex A vs pex B fittings, you'll have your answer on why. Pex A fitting I.D. is much larger than B fittings.
FYI, You can use pex B fittings with crimp rings in pex A pipe. You cant use A fittings in B pipe(for the most part). |
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Can you also crimp Pex-A, or does it only work on B?
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Sweated copper. Anything relying on an o-ring or polymer is just a bad idea. History tells us this.
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Jesus Christ, why can't they just make it simple? They had pex, but couldn't just leave it alone or think this through? This is why I find PVC pipe and abs pipe mixed together under my rental house, glued to one another with Elmer's, because the hardware store has multiple kinds of plumbing that all does the same basic shit, and nobody knows WTF is going on.
So, what happens if you use the crimp rings with the wrong fittings or PEX? I plumbed two entire houses with PEX, I don't know what flavor, and used brass fittings and stainless crimp rings. I never even saw two varieties of PEX at the store. They had red white and blue and I bought accordingly. I use copper in my home because I don't believe for a second that plastics aren't leaching shit into the water, even though I know all the lines upstream are made out of God knows what at the municipal level. |
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Strength Determination Merciless Forever
PA, USA
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Home plumbing fittings is the most archaic overly complicated bullshit industry in the world.
When I become world dictator everyone will use swagelok. |
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I’ve always used the 1” black plastic pipe with brass barb fittings and stainless worm gear hose clamps for from the well to the house and from the pitless adapter down to the pump. Am I doing it wrong?
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We ran Pex A to both cabins, the one run is about 175’.
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Montani Semper Liberi
Deuteronomy 31:6 ~ Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” |
Strength Determination Merciless Forever
PA, USA
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Originally Posted By SpacemanSpiff: Swagelok is awful and a shit company. Fail. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By SpacemanSpiff: Originally Posted By Into_the_Void: Home plumbing fittings is the most archaic overly complicated bullshit industry in the world. When I become world dictator everyone will use swagelok. Swagelok is awful and a shit company. Fail. You work for Parker don't you? |
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Originally Posted By stg45: PEX-A is preferential over B, but required and expansion tool. B also required tooling depending on cinch, crimp, or press. For underground applications I would opt for HDPE, CTS (Copper tube size) Less costly, no special tooling with a dimensional ratio of DR-11, it far superior. Use stainless steel stiffeners and compression fittings. Alternatively use copper type K soft temper with flare fittings. But still, HDPE is preferred. View Quote If it were my house, first choice would be hdpe, second pex A, third schedule k soft copper. And honestly the pex A and copper would be a toss up on. |
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Originally Posted By DD1801: Sounds like PEX-A is what I want. Now to see if my CFO will approve the Dewalt 20v expansion tool. Have a new home build going up as well, so I will double check what the plumber has roughed in. View Quote Don’t let the CFO know, but they do make a manual expansion tool if you’re only doing a couple of fittings. Delete this post after reading. |
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Originally Posted By Bashby: I've always used the 1" black plastic pipe with brass barb fittings and stainless worm gear hose clamps for from the well to the house and from the pitless adapter down to the pump. Am I doing it wrong? View Quote Since the over pressure valve at the pressure tank Tee is going to blow off at 80-90 PSI System pressure should never go above that and PEX-A is rated up to 500psi ( I wouldnt want to test that but OK) So there is no reason PEX A would be any worse or better than black poly or whatever else. The pressure switch is going to shut off at 40-50 psi anyway. Copper's only advantage these days is that copper is slightly antimicrobial running soft copper from a well to the house in 1in (3/4 is too small) would be super expensive I dont know too many places that even have 1in soft copper rolls on hand and needless to say hard to install and probably going to fail way before poly or PEX. In a well application hell PVC would probably be better. Would make a nice ground though. Dewalt vs. Milwaukee? --since in this case they are both doing the same job the same way and the only difference is the battery format --if you have the Dewalt batteries already go that way. The only reason I got the Milwaukee was that was all that was available at the time. Between Mil and DeW the cones are interchangeable as they are spec'd by uponor or under license from them I have not used one but the Dewalt is supposed to be smother and quieter than the Milwaukee. When the Milwaukee wears out or quits I will likely try the Dewalt. If the plumber did not rough in the house in PEX-A I would strongly recommend it be changed if there is still the option to do so your going to get better flow and not have to try to make up in pressure for volume to fixtures. From a new construction standpoint PEX -A is superior IMHO as the full port fittings do not create restrictions in the system before its even placed in service. |
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Originally Posted By Blu3Ridge: Can you also crimp Pex-A, or does it only work on B? View Quote |
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Originally Posted By offctr: No Black poly has been standard for decades. PEX is not wrong either --just newer and gaining in acceptance-- There is PEX rated for underground use. You would have to get fittings sized for the application. PEX-A does not chop down the inside size of the pipe IE you get a full diameter fitting (inside) vs. PEX-B. A should work nicely as long as you use UG rated pipe. Since the over pressure valve at the pressure tank Tee is going to blow off at 80-90 PSI System pressure should never go above that and PEX-A is rated up to 500psi ( I wouldnt want to test that but OK) So there is no reason PEX A would be any worse or better than black poly or whatever else. The pressure switch is going to shout off at 40-50 psi anyway. Copper's only advantage these days is that copper is slightly antimicrobial running soft copper from a well to the house in 1in (3/4 is too small) would be super expensive I dont know too many places that even have 1in soft copper rolls on hand and needless to say hard to install and probably going to fail way before poly or PEX. In a well application hell PVC would probably be better. Would make a nice ground though. Dewalt vs. Milwaukee? --since in this case they are both doing the same job the same way and the only difference is the battery format --if you have the Dewalt batteries already go that way. The only reason I got the Milwaukee was that was all that was available at the time. If the plumber did not rough in the house in PEX-A I would strongly recommend it be changed if there is still the option to do so your going to get better flow and not have to try to make up in pressure for volume to fixtures. From a new construction standpoint PEX -A is superior IMHO as the full port fittings do not create restrictions in the system before its even placed in service. View Quote Good post. |
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Originally Posted By Into_the_Void: You work for Parker don't you? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By Into_the_Void: Originally Posted By SpacemanSpiff: Originally Posted By Into_the_Void: Home plumbing fittings is the most archaic overly complicated bullshit industry in the world. When I become world dictator everyone will use swagelok. Swagelok is awful and a shit company. Fail. You work for Parker don't you? No just a happy long time customer. |
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Originally Posted By Into_the_Void: Home plumbing fittings is the most archaic overly complicated bullshit industry in the world. When I become world dictator everyone will use swagelok. View Quote |
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Copper underground makes for a great ground for the building. Galvanic corrosion will thin the pipe and eventually cause pin hole leaks. Happened to my house, had to replace the incoming line and interior lines to the first grounded item in the house, used pex to do it, no more corrosion. If you use copper, be sure to go to plastic as soon as you come into the house, then you can go back to copper if you want to.
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Originally Posted By dirtyboy: Copper underground makes for a great ground for the building. Galvanic corrosion will thin the pipe and eventually cause pin hole leaks. Happened to my house, had to replace the incoming line and interior lines to the first grounded item in the house, used pex to do it, no more corrosion. If you use copper, be sure to go to plastic as soon as you come into the house, then you can go back to copper if you want to. View Quote The what some (cheap) people do is run just two conductors to the well or down the well to the pump and cut the ground lead off. Then dont understand why the well pump keeps "burning up"... Copper INSIDE the house will do the same thing and I have had customers with wells who develop pinholes in the copper and when you go to cut and fix it the copper is literally paper thin and crushes rather than cuts cleanly. Not usually a problem with PEX. |
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Originally Posted By SpacemanSpiff: lol My history tells me you are wrong View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By SpacemanSpiff: Originally Posted By n20junkie: Sweated copper. Anything relying on an o-ring or polymer is just a bad idea. History tells us this. lol My history tells me you are wrong During the Icepocalypse my cousins house had split copper pipes from freezing. I have pex B for 18 years and had no issues. Not sure what O-ring is being referred to. ? Crimp ring maybe. Idk. Also with the pex B having smaller diameter fittings , I haven't noticed any drawbacks as it delivers plenty of water to the fixtures. I would say if doing it yourself then A or B but B brass fittings and crimp rings. If a plumber use all A . He probably has the expander tool ready. |
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Originally Posted By stg45: PEX-A is preferential over B, but required and expansion tool. B also required tooling depending on cinch, crimp, or press. For underground applications I would opt for HDPE, CTS (Copper tube size) Less costly, no special tooling with a dimensional ratio of DR-11, it far superior. Use stainless steel stiffeners and compression fittings. Alternatively use copper type K soft temper with flare fittings. But still, HDPE is preferred. View Quote Exactly. HDPE is the way to go for this application. Far stronger than pex. |
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Originally Posted By Codyboy: During the Icepocalypse my cousins house had split copper pipes from freezing. I have pex B for 18 years and had no issues. Not sure what O-ring is being referred to. ? Crimp ring maybe. Idk. Also with the pex B having smaller diameter fittings , I haven't noticed any drawbacks as it delivers plenty of water to the fixtures. I would say if doing it yourself then A or B but B brass fittings and crimp rings. If a plumber use all A . He probably has the expander tool ready. View Quote As a guy who makes his living fitting and welding pressure pipe… Pro-Press (crimp copper with an o-ring) is fine for comm/ind use where it can be inspected and repaired. Would NEVER put o-rings inside my residential walls. Press can also be a raging bitch to physically get the gun into position to make a crimp. You can also expect a small, but non-zero, number of failures when testing a large system. Pex B with crimp fittings are fine, mechanically, IMO. The big problem is the restricted bore size means you have to go up a NPS to get the same flow. Naturally, sweat copper is less than ideal for most residential repair, due to the fire hazard. Beyond that, it’s more than proven. If freezing is a concern, PEX is the clear winner. Never leave a SharkBite where you can’t see it. Absolutely use them for that 2am burst pipe to cap it off or whatever, to get the situation under control until you can repair it properly (when the store opens, not when you get a round-tuit). |
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I have acidic water, no copper for me.
I when I redid the basement and the inspector was here looking at the slab rough in I asked about pex vs cpvc which I already had. He said cpvc before I even finished the sentence, I asked why. He stated they are starting to see problems with pex. Between the B fittings getting eaten by acidic water and leaks in general at fitting he said cpvc with out doubt. I said they make plastic fittings for the pex, and he said they are seeing them breaking years after the install. I know it could be the installers, but I am sparky so would i really trust my install ability...yes and no. |
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Originally Posted By offctr: No Black poly has been standard for decades. PEX is not wrong either --just newer and gaining in acceptance-- There is PEX rated for underground use. You would have to get fittings sized for the application. PEX-A does not chop down the inside size of the pipe IE you get a full diameter fitting (inside) vs. PEX-B. A should work nicely as long as you use UG rated pipe. Since the over pressure valve at the pressure tank Tee is going to blow off at 80-90 PSI System pressure should never go above that and PEX-A is rated up to 500psi ( I wouldnt want to test that but OK) So there is no reason PEX A would be any worse or better than black poly or whatever else. The pressure switch is going to shut off at 40-50 psi anyway. Copper's only advantage these days is that copper is slightly antimicrobial running soft copper from a well to the house in 1in (3/4 is too small) would be super expensive I dont know too many places that even have 1in soft copper rolls on hand and needless to say hard to install and probably going to fail way before poly or PEX. In a well application hell PVC would probably be better. Would make a nice ground though. Dewalt vs. Milwaukee? --since in this case they are both doing the same job the same way and the only difference is the battery format --if you have the Dewalt batteries already go that way. The only reason I got the Milwaukee was that was all that was available at the time. Between Mil and DeW the cones are interchangeable as they are spec'd by uponor or under license from them I have not used one but the Dewalt is supposed to be smother and quieter than the Milwaukee. When the Milwaukee wears out or quits I will likely try the Dewalt. If the plumber did not rough in the house in PEX-A I would strongly recommend it be changed if there is still the option to do so your going to get better flow and not have to try to make up in pressure for volume to fixtures. From a new construction standpoint PEX -A is superior IMHO as the full port fittings do not create restrictions in the system before its even placed in service. View Quote What PEX-a connection is rated for 500 psi? I do not think it exists and certainly isnt available at the local hardware store. |
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Originally Posted By StaccatoC2: I have acidic water, no copper for me. I when I redid the basement and the inspector was here looking at the slab rough in I asked about pex vs cpvc which I already had. He said cpvc before I even finished the sentence, I asked why. He stated they are starting to see problems with pex. Between the B fittings getting eaten by acidic water and leaks in general at fitting he said cpvc with out doubt. I said they make plastic fittings for the pex, and he said they are seeing them breaking years after the install. I know it could be the installers, but I am sparky so would i really trust my install ability...yes and no. View Quote Some shit brands like zurn had dezincification of their fittings. I can see their plastic ones breaking too. They are on the brittle side of things. I doubt you'll see the glass fiber reinforced uponor fittings breaking any time soon. |
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Originally Posted By offctr: It does but as you said alot of times the Electrician will use it instead of driving his own ground and this will create problems with sneak currents and galvanic corrosion. On wells I have seen where the electrician hooks to the nearest water pipe (copper) as ground but ignores the fact that the pipe turns to poly before it goes outside.... The what some (cheap) people do is run just two conductors to the well or down the well to the pump and cut the ground lead off. Then dont understand why the well pump keeps "burning up"... Copper INSIDE the house will do the same thing and I have had customers with wells who develop pinholes in the copper and when you go to cut and fix it the copper is literally paper thin and crushes rather than cuts cleanly. Not usually a problem with PEX. View Quote My house has a good grounding rod but the copper pipe seemed to be a better ground. Just a terrible idea not to have a non conducting section of water pipe between the system and the outside. I used pex b for the replacement, all fittings (in house) visible. Mainly stainless crimps and a few sharkbites. Crimps all have white dust on them from seepage, sharkbites do not have that. |
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Where do you all get your PEX A fittings and supplies? HD, or is it better/cheaper online?
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I just tried out PEX for the first time on my DIY camper van conversion and it was fun. Super easy to use and much faster to assemble the parts than PVC or copper IMO. I used the crimp ring PEX and think it’s perfect for this application.
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