Fishing PEX through old pipe runs

[Jm66208]

I am replacing some rusted galvanized water lines vertical up through an interior wall. I was thinking of pulling a string down through the wall when I remove the old pipe then attaching the strings somehow to the PEX to help guide it through the previously drilled holes. I was wondering if there is some kind of bullet shaped device i could thread into the end of the pex with a string attached to it to pull the pex up through the old holes. Does this make sense?​

 

[Reach4]

One thing that comes to mind is to heat the tip with a flame and form it into a more tapered shape on the end. I have not tried that.

I have run tubing (this was plastic electrical tubing) through some spaces by having an electrical snake inside of the tube. Then pull the snake through. Push the tubing guided by the snake. When there is some snagging, wiggle or rotate the tubing. The snake keeps the tubing from going too far from the path.

 

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[Craigpump]

Yep........

Might be hard for you to find, but my pump supplier has plastic vents for well seals used on buried wells. We use them all the time when shove Pex thru larger diameter pipe, if I were doing your job, I'd find one, drill a hole in the end of it, run a string through it and pull it where you need it.

Or, you could try taping a marble to the end of the PEX to act as a round nose.