PEX on a major remodel, fittings, & weak water flow

[Ward Mahowald]

Our home sustained major damage in a tornado, and other than some parts of the wall framing, everything inside and out had to be demoed and replaced. The original house (15 yrs old) was piped in copper with much of it below the slab. The plumbers felt it would be better to re-pipe the entire house using PEX, which after researching I agreed to. As they started installing, I started raising some major questions about how they were doing things, and raised significant concerns that due to the excessive number of fittings being used, we would not have the same water flow we previously had (since PEX fittings have a much smaller inner diameter than copper fittings, just seemed logical). I thought a main advantage of PEX is that it is flexible plastic pipe so you can avoid most (or all) of the fittings, but they used tons of 90s and fittings. I'm not a plumber, and realize people in the trade don't like to be told how to do things - so they stuck a pressure gauge on one of the shower heads and told me "you have good pressure here, the old was 1/2" copper, we used new 1/2" PEX, so you'll be fine." I assumed they knew what they were doing so I shut up. Well it's done now and it's not fine. The water flow is about 50% of what it used to be in the showers.

Looking for some professional advice - is this what a PEX installation should look like? Seems like an awful lot of joints and fittings in just one shower, and things looks similar throughout the house:

https://flic.kr/p/2m7a9ej

As you can see in the finished bathroom, this will be a major issue to access/change now:

https://flic.kr/p/2m7eSPx

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Terry]

I don't like how it's plumbed either.
That being said, the newer shower heads have more restriction in them as the codes tighten down on water usage. If you remove the shower head, how much water is there at the shower arm? Perhaps you just need to adjust at the flow restrictors or change the shower heads.
Some will remove the flow restrictor, and sometimes you can slightly enlarge with a drill bit

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Ward Mahowald]

First thing I did was remove the flow restrictors from the shower heads. That obviously made it better than it was, but its still about 50% of what was when it was copper. Same problem all over the house, even the hose bibs outside are really weak (which are now plumbed in 1/2 PEX too).

I am seriously bummed because I made a big deal out of this when the walls were all open and it would have been easy to fix. Every house on our street is also under construction (due to the tornado) and I walked a few of them - showers are all piped in 3/4" PEX without all the fittings. I even pointed this out to the plumbers at the time, they still said "it will be fine". uggh

 

[Reach4]

What is your water pressure at the hot on the laundry tap or the drain for the water heater, while you are running both shower heads all-hot? Also, what is the pressure when you turn the showers off and do not use water?

A 3/4 should be able to supply enough hot flow for two showers, so you may have some other factor contributing?

 

[Jeff H Young]

somethings going on. you have 3/4 right there 3/4 oughta run a shower. pull that head off see how much water you are getting. bad gate valve ? plugged lines?

 

[Ward Mahowald]

Sorry if my comment above was confusing. They plumbed my showers with 1/2" PEX with lots of 90's and fittings (see photo above). The other houses around me, which are all being rebuilt due to the same storm, are plumbed with 3/4" PEX to the showers.

 

[JohnCT]

so they stuck a pressure gauge on one of the shower heads and told me "you have good pressure here, the old was 1/2" copper, we used new 1/2" PEX, so you'll be fine."

System pressure means exactly zip.

You could have a pipe the size of a WD-40 straw and it will give you the exact same pressure as your old 1/2 copper if there's no water running. Once the water is turned off, the WD-40 straw sized pipe will eventually produce the same pressure. It's pressure *and* flow that's important.

John

 

[Reach4]

Sorry if my comment above was confusing. They plumbed my showers with 1/2" PEX with lots of 90's and fittings (see photo above).

I don't think so. Look at the tee pointed to by the topmost green arrow. That looks to be 3/4 into the top of the tee, and that supplies water to your showers. Then on the other two ports there is a 1/2 pex that each supplies hot water to one shower.

A garden hose pressure gauge will be under $20, and often under 10. The two pressures I asked for in #4 can be useful for diagnosing low flow.