I am going to be moving into a new house with PEX A throughout. It will have a water softener loop in the garage. When I install the water softener, I'd like to add an additional ball valve as a main shutoff (I'll use this later with automated leak detectors to shut of the water in the event of a leak) as well as a tee with a pressure gauge and a bypass for the softener. I may even add a whole house filter later.
So, when I cut the loop to add in my components, I was thinking I'd like to make my assembly (shutoff, gauge, bypass, etc.) be removable so I could reconfigure/redo it at a later date if needed, or even just to service the various components. Since the water softener loop only extends from the wall about 6 inches, I wouldn't want to have to cut the pipe back more than once. So my thought was to cut the loop as far out as possible and add in a union of sorts on the incoming and outgoing sides so that anything I attach in between could be disassembled and added back without needing to cut the original incoming/outgoing loop pipes back to the wall.
With regard to PEX A, the closest thing I could find to a union was a female swivel adapter (FIP), which I assume would mate to a male adapter (MIP). Is this a reasonable solution or is there a better type of PEX A fitting that allows disassembly and reassembly? I also thought I could use Sharkbites since they are removeable (and all of this work would be exposed at all times), but they could leave the outside of the PEX scored so that they couldn't be put back on without cutting back the original PEX again to get a pristine seal for the o-ring. Thus, my desire for some type of standard union type fitting. A union would also allow me to build my "assembly" separately from the loop rather than having to build it "in place" (not that it's a big deal but just a bit easier).
Thanks!
So, when I cut the loop to add in my components, I was thinking I'd like to make my assembly (shutoff, gauge, bypass, etc.) be removable so I could reconfigure/redo it at a later date if needed, or even just to service the various components. Since the water softener loop only extends from the wall about 6 inches, I wouldn't want to have to cut the pipe back more than once. So my thought was to cut the loop as far out as possible and add in a union of sorts on the incoming and outgoing sides so that anything I attach in between could be disassembled and added back without needing to cut the original incoming/outgoing loop pipes back to the wall.
With regard to PEX A, the closest thing I could find to a union was a female swivel adapter (FIP), which I assume would mate to a male adapter (MIP). Is this a reasonable solution or is there a better type of PEX A fitting that allows disassembly and reassembly? I also thought I could use Sharkbites since they are removeable (and all of this work would be exposed at all times), but they could leave the outside of the PEX scored so that they couldn't be put back on without cutting back the original PEX again to get a pristine seal for the o-ring. Thus, my desire for some type of standard union type fitting. A union would also allow me to build my "assembly" separately from the loop rather than having to build it "in place" (not that it's a big deal but just a bit easier).
Thanks!