Any Difference Between Theses Two PEX's

[Frank Aaberg]

New here so I'll have some probably pretty stupid questions!

Any difference between Wirsbo hePex and the stuff Me**rds sells called Sioux Chief "Pex-A"? If it helps, the Me**rds site says it is:

• For use with PowerPEX™ A Fittings
• Compatible with all F1960 PEX Expansion Systems

Or, are all Pex A's the same? (At $76 for a 1/2" x 250" it so much less than the Wirsbo hePex.)

EDIT: I should add that this will be used for radiant floors.

EDIT 2: I'm also seeing they have 1/2"X300' PEX-A OXY BARRIER @ $116. Maybe this stuff is a better comparable?

 

[Jadnashua]

PEX-A differs from -B and -C in the manufacturing method. It's really hard to say without extensive testing whether one brand is better than the other. Personally, I do not have enough experience to say. Like many things in life, attempting to do something in the same way does not always result in the same results when done by different people/companies. WIrsbo is a vertical manufacturer, meaning that they manufacture the raw materials used in their tubing, so that they have ultimate, final control of the product. They've been doing it for probably longer than any other manufacturer, which does not necessarily mean it is still the best.

Maybe one of the pros will have some better insight. OFten, if you can access wholesale prices, they may not differ much, it's when you're forced into retail and not at a big box store which has large volume prices to the public, is where you may get hit with the differences in price.

Some might say, which is better Ford or Chevy...I do not know if that applies here.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

For a heating system it MUST BE oxygen barrier PEX.

 

[Frank Aaberg]

Got it - has to be the PEX-A "Oxy Barrier" type. That being said, that type still comes in at half the cost of Wirsbo hePEX. Still, is there a difference between the two (hePEX vs the Sioux Chief brand)?