Pex in cabin? Freezes? Minerals?

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Zimmee66

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Hello all!

I have a "real-world experience" type question for the list...

I've got a primative cabin (really just a shack, 80 years old)
currently plumbed with mostly 1/2 copper supplys. It's on a well, with high-iron water but modest pressure. can't be more that 30 feet total of supply piping in the cabin. There is a small electric water heater.

Nothing fancy, but it was all sloppily done by the previous owner, and I frequently have to resolder tees and elbows because it was just a wham-bam job.

Ive decided its probably easiest to just replumb...my questions are:

1) is PEX is OK with well-water/mineral-rich (mostly iron) water?

2) How does PEX handle freezes? With the copper it just pops a solder joint somewhere.

Accidental freezes *do* occur up there in spite of best efforts--it can get very cold very fast and its a long drive, so sometimes I blow it.

3) *nothing* is straight in the building so flexibility is good. Also there is some vibration from the pump transmited through the lines. Is this another reason PEX might be better?

4) Finally--Is there any sort of clever "relief valve" available that I could attach to the system? All the current stop valves do have weep drains, but I mean some sort of master relief or other strategy that could be built-in as a margin of safety...

Any advice is very much appreciated!
 

Jadnashua

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If you used copper and soldered the joints properly, they wouldn't pop off, the pipe would split...that probably wouldn't happen with pex. Most of the pexes rely on being stretched in order to allow the fitting to be inserted. That being said, the freezing would affect the weakest point in the system if everything freezes, then you might split a valve or something. Surprised the WH lives through it all.

Assuming you try to drain the system when you are going to be gone, that will be harder with pex, since it would always likely have some dips. In that case, though, freezing probably wouldn't hurt anything.

Given the tools you'd have to buy to do pex, and the amount of plumbing you have to do, I'd think redoing it with copper installed so you could reliably drain it via gravity might be good. Mice, etc. seem to like to chew on pex, so that is a consideration, too.
 

Gary Swart

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If you redo with copper, about all you would have to buy would be fittings. Most of the pipe could easily be reused. You'd lose a few inches for each fitting you had to cut off, but it wouldn't be too many feet. As previously mentioned, a properly soldered joint will not come apart if it freezes, but the pipe will split. Do you have any kind of air compressor? If so, you can easily rig up an adaptor to connect the compressor to the water system and blow it out when leaving for the winter. Treat it like an irrigation system. Put RV antifreeze in the toilets and all other traps. Don't forget to empty the toilet tank and drain the water heater (after the power is turned off) If you can't blow the lines out, then when you replumb, make certain the lines will drain to a low spot where you can install a drain valve.
 
R

Rancher

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PEX and Mice

Mice eat PEX, Oh No here I thought I had the solution for my next house project.

Rancher
 

Master Plumber Mark

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pex and freezeing

if you use WIRSBO pex it is supposed to expand

wether the joints will hold up or not is questionable....


but the actual pipe is supposed to be able to expand quite
a bit before it freezes....



something else you can do is simply wrap the pipes with
the cable SS type heat tape then insualte them
and leave it plugged in year round...

this type of cable is used all the time in trailer parks
and it only useses power if it gets cold enough to make it react ....
to the area or section of pipe that is about to freeze....
 
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