JoshDIY
New Member
I am not a professional plumber. Just a DIYer looking for some advice.
I am in the process of finishing my basement. I will be adding a full bathroom with 3 fixtures (stand-up shower, toilet & sink). I will also be adding a laundry room with two fixtures (wash machine & large tub/sink). Lastly, I will be adding a bar which will also have a sink. I've scoured the net, done a lot of research and read more about plumbing than I ever thought I would all in an effort to do the job "right". I finally settled on using Uponor AquaPex with the ProPEX expansion fittings. The entire house (approx. 17 yrs old) was done in copper. The main copper line coming in is 3/4" and goes immediately into a series of bypass valves in between a whole-house sediment filter that I will need to relocate. So I am cutting that all off, sweating in a copper to pex fitting and then running the new supply line over to where I am relocating the filter and then tying it all back in to the existing copper, again with the PEX. Here is where my concerns/questions come in. I was going to use 3/4" PEX for the main supply runs and then branch off with 1/2" PEX to the various fixtures (basically matching sizes with copper) However, other forums and articles are saying that if I exceed the specs for the PEX in terms of FPS (a max of 10 feet per second) I run the risk of chemical leaching and causing all sorts of health hazards. Considering I am new to plumbing, have a family, don't want to die, etc., this concerned me. I do not know what GPM I am getting through the main supply lines although a couple buckets and a stop watch I'm sure I can figure it out. My new plan was to then upsize the PEX (use 1" where I was going to use 3/4", use 3/4" where I was going to use 1/2") to avoid the higher FPS. But, I've noticed that all the EP manifolds have 1/2" outlets which obviously wont work if I am going to do 3/4" runs to the fixtures.
The fact that all the manifolds only have 1/2" outlets tells me that what I should be using. Am I making too much out of this leaching and the FPS restrictions, etc??
I am in the process of finishing my basement. I will be adding a full bathroom with 3 fixtures (stand-up shower, toilet & sink). I will also be adding a laundry room with two fixtures (wash machine & large tub/sink). Lastly, I will be adding a bar which will also have a sink. I've scoured the net, done a lot of research and read more about plumbing than I ever thought I would all in an effort to do the job "right". I finally settled on using Uponor AquaPex with the ProPEX expansion fittings. The entire house (approx. 17 yrs old) was done in copper. The main copper line coming in is 3/4" and goes immediately into a series of bypass valves in between a whole-house sediment filter that I will need to relocate. So I am cutting that all off, sweating in a copper to pex fitting and then running the new supply line over to where I am relocating the filter and then tying it all back in to the existing copper, again with the PEX. Here is where my concerns/questions come in. I was going to use 3/4" PEX for the main supply runs and then branch off with 1/2" PEX to the various fixtures (basically matching sizes with copper) However, other forums and articles are saying that if I exceed the specs for the PEX in terms of FPS (a max of 10 feet per second) I run the risk of chemical leaching and causing all sorts of health hazards. Considering I am new to plumbing, have a family, don't want to die, etc., this concerned me. I do not know what GPM I am getting through the main supply lines although a couple buckets and a stop watch I'm sure I can figure it out. My new plan was to then upsize the PEX (use 1" where I was going to use 3/4", use 3/4" where I was going to use 1/2") to avoid the higher FPS. But, I've noticed that all the EP manifolds have 1/2" outlets which obviously wont work if I am going to do 3/4" runs to the fixtures.
The fact that all the manifolds only have 1/2" outlets tells me that what I should be using. Am I making too much out of this leaching and the FPS restrictions, etc??
