Pex Tubing

Are you doing some DIY plumbing tasks at home? Don’t forget to only use PEX tubing and make sure you have the appropriate tools as well.

There are actually 6 main connections that you can do with your PEX tubing – clamping, crimping, expander, Shark bite, compression and press. Below are some steps on how to do some of these easy PEX tubing connections:

For clamping connections, you will need clamping tool, stainless steel rings and HyroPex fittings. To do this, slide the stainless steel ring over your tubing and insert the HydroPEX fitting inside the tube. Place your clamping tool’s jaw over the steel ring to tighten it and secure the connection.

If you want to do crimping connections, you should have copper crimp rings, crimp style fittings and a clamping tool. To crimp your PEX tubing, take the copper crimp ring and slide it over the tube. Slide the crimp style fitting inside the tube before crimping the copper ring with the tool. To check the security of your crimped PEX tubing, use the Go-No-Go gauge to confirm.

Expanders can also be used together with your PEX tubing. If you wish to do this, you would need a ProPEX fitting and rings and well as an expander tool. Bear in mind that, this won’t work with any other tubing but only with a high quality PEX-A tubing. You will begin the expansion by sliding a ProPEX over the PEX tubing’s edge. Insert the appropriate head of the expander tool into the tubing and pump several times to achieve the correct diameter. Extract the expander tool and immediately insert the ProPEX fitting inside the tubing. Wait for the PEX tubing to shrink back to its original size to ensure that the fitting is tight and secure.

Remember before you make any type of connection, make sure you make a clean and even cut on your PEX tubing by using a tube cutter.

When the great Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts", he meant that when two objects are fused together, the resulting object is always better than the two parts taken separately. While this has been questioned and debated by scholars, it certainly is true in case of the polymer chains that are bonded together to promote a stronger, denser, and more temperature resistant polymer. One example of this is cross-linked polyethylene, abbreviated either as XLPE or PEX.

PEX has been around since the 1930s and over the years, several methods of cross-linking the polymers that make it up have been developed. It was not, however, until the 1960s that the production of PEX became commercially viable. A number of European countries have been using PEX tubing since then, but it took another 20 years before it was introduced in the United States.

Polyethylene tubing has a number of advantages over either copper or PVC pipes. Apart from its strength, it is quite flexible. This allows you to bend it to any direction you want without the need for elbow fittings, making installation a breeze even for a tyro DIYer. And if you cut the PEX longer than needed, there is no need to cut it again as you probably would with a PVC pipe. Just bend it and you are good to go.

With its ability to maintain its strength and flexibility within a temperature range that starts below freezing point and moves up to as high as 200°F, PEX is ideal for plumbing systems carrying both hot and cold water, hydronic radiant heating, and ice rink and warehouse refrigeration.

Polyethylene being plastic, PEX is impervious to corrosion and is resistant to chemicals. Because there is a minimum number of fittings used when installing PEX tubing, the possibility of eventual leakages is also minimized. Although it can be installed under a slab as it is not affected by concrete, installing it in areas where it is exposed to sunlight is not recommended.

PEX tubing comes in sizes between 3/8 inch to 2 inches.