PEX is Here: Are You Ready?

By Chip O'Neil

"Engineered solution" provides an easy way to route PEX among steel framing.

Industry trends are often a leading force that affect your business. Many times, such trends incur positive results for your company. For example, if you incorporate current industry trends with existing practices, you will likely position your business for continued success. One such positive trend that is gaining industry attention is the adaptation from copper tubing to cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) tubing systems.

There are several reasons for the transition to PEX tubing. First, a significant fluctuation in material costs associated with copper tubing occurred in 2006. Therefore, to remain competitive, plumbing contractors and builders began seeking ways to reduce overall costs -- PEX tubing offered that solution. Second, contractors found that installing PEX for single-family homes and low-density, multifamily housing offered certain benefits to homeowners. For example, PEX provides a quieter system and also helps to enhance water efficiency. In addition, PEX is gaining popularity for its installation benefits. Depending on the pipe support system that a contractor uses, minimizing or eliminating flames, chemicals and soldering will help to reduce the overall installation costs for a project.

For the last several years, PEX has been used primarily in single-family homes and low-rise, multifamily construction. But, as PEX tubing systems continue to be the choice of industry professionals, contractors and builders are seeing the value in using it for projects such as high-rise condos and hotels. With this growth, many contractors are asking, "How do I support PEX?" My response to them is always the same. You can't support PEX the same way you have always supported copper or CPVC tubing. This article lends some tips on how to support PEX and ultimately reduce installed costs.

If you currently use a block of wood or a makeshift method to support your copper or other tubing, you will need to rethink how you support PEX. Because of the benefits of minimizing concealed joints and reducing in-wall fittings associated with PEX, solutions must be used that provide rigidity and maintain the integrity of the tubing. For example, multiple blocks of wood would be needed for all of your mid-span support requirements in order to keep the tubing from coming into contact with various noise-transferring building components, such as sheet rock. Also, you must ensure the correct "bend radius" of the tubing at fixture stub out locations without damaging the tube or compromising the water flow. Look toward solutions that might cost more than finding a scrap of wood, but reduces your actual installed costs for the project.

Contractors who are using more of an "engineered solution" with brackets to support tubing will find it easy to transition to PEX. Although a common way to stub out for fixtures is still with copper bullet, I'm also seeing an increase in the number of stub outs done in PEX. Like brackets made for copper tubing, specific brackets are made especially for PEX that exactly position the tubing at the desired stub out location. For many contractors and builders, stubbing out in PEX is now a shop standard. Ironically, several of these contractors said they would never stub out with anything but copper. They were also the same group that said they would never use PEX tubing to begin with.

Another support application for PEX tubing is the installation within an elevated concrete slab. You can reduce your overall installation cost by using products that provide 90-degree "pop-up" solutions instead of the makeshift method of using electrical conduit 90s, strap rebar, high wire and zip ties. One example of this improved method is the Juhl Condo project in Las Vegas. NV. Interstate Plumbing and Air Conditioning installed this type of product that sent PEX tubing through the slab. Sam Riccihiazzi, who oversees the commercial construction, and Mike Calix, foreman, mentioned that the system they use provides flexibility for securing not only single-run tubing, but also interlocking the pop-up chairs to create a manifold installation. The end result is a professional installation while reducing his overall installation costs.

As PEX becomes an industry standard in high-rise condos and hotels, plumbing contractors and builders will need to re-evaluate, and even re-establish, what their shop standard should be when supporting PEX tubing. PEX is here. Are you ready to support it?

Chip O'Neil is director of business development for Hubbard Enterprises/holdrite, located in Vista, CA. He can be reached at 800/321-0316 or coneil@holdrite.com. Hubbard Enterprises/holdrite is a leading U.S. manufacturer of pipe support systems, seismic water heater supports and acoustical plumbing products. For more information, visit them at www.holdrite.com.