Go Gary Go!!!

Hopefully you don't have as many turnovers. Good luck; I really think re-plumbing with PEX is the way to go given the slab leaks you're experiencing and the fact that you've now got *two* to deal with.

My thoughts exactly. And, what doesn't leak already would be suspect IMO. If it's replumbed with PEX you're only doing it once and it's finished.

Hey y'all, believe it or not but the EverReady Bunny is back!

Took the water heater out of the closet and busted the wall behind it to get to the plumbing. Cut the line going into the slab that I assumed runs to the kitchen sink and walla, my assumption proved to be correct. I set the water heater up in the master closet across the hallway and plumbed it back into the remaining water lines and sure enough, the leak has stopped. So I have cold water throughout the house and hot water everywhere with exception to the kitchen, 1/2 bath and laundry.

Went out and procured PEX lines, insulation sleeving and connectors yesterday. Appreciate everyones inputs to date and agree with y'all that I really need to PEX it all as I'll most likely be fixing the cold water lines at some point in the future. Might as well "do it right the first time"! Now where have I heard that line before? Anyhow that's my plan going forward.

Got a few questions on how y'all would recommend going about doing the job:

1) Do I just run 2 PEX lines (1 for HOT and 1 for COLD water) from water heater to far end of house to laundry room and tee off of them to each of the points I need hot and cold water? NOTE: I do not plan to install a manifold in this house but plan to do so in the house down the street that we eventually plan to move into. Reason is I do not want to invest in the cost of a manifold for a house I plan to move out of and eventually rent out and/or sell in the future.

2) What's the best way to drill holes in the top plates, especially for the walls near the eaves of the house, to snake the PEX line from the attic to the wall drops where the water supply is needed?

3) Some of the drop areas have restrictions (i.e. windows) where I cannot run the PEX line straight down the walls between the studs where the current water lines need to be tied into. What's the best means of snaking the PEX lines from the attic to the needed locations in these situations?

3) I plan to install pipe tubing insulation over the PEX lines in the attic to prevent freezing in the winter time and to keep the water lines insulated from the elements. Is that necessary and recommended or just kind of a luxury? I'm thinking it's worth it to do for several reasons. What say y'all? Surprising thing to me was that the insulation costed more than the PEX line.

4) The water line entering the slab and eventually feeding the water heater and initial cold water feed to the rest of the house is either 5/8" or 3/4" and is then reduced to 1/2" throughout the house. I'm assuming I just stay with the larger feed sized lines in the same places they currently exist and then use 1/2" runs throughout the house from that point forward. Worked like that before so should work like that with PEX as well.

TIA and sorry for the long post!

Regards,
EverReady Bunny, aka Gary79Ag

No advice on pex, but I'm happy to see an update!

ttt for the afternoon crowd!

Anybody have any good advice/inputs for my questions above?

TIA

[This message has been edited by Gary79Ag (edited 10/26/2012 2:52p).]

Any body, any inputs, please!

Thanks to dubi for calling my attention to this ... I barely get to check forums daily due to current workload and projects.

Caveats: I'm not a plumber, I just break things until they work. You might ask these questions over at a site that I also frequent where a lot of people who *do* do pluming as a hobby or living hang out and would be able to answer your questions either in more detail or with better answers based on experience. DIY Stack Exchange

First thing: I hope you bought the crimper and crimp fittings instead of push-in fittings. The push-in fittings have a tendency to loosen or age poorly. Crimp fittings ... well, once it's crimped, it ain't going anywhere.

quote:

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1) Do I just run 2 PEX lines (1 for HOT and 1 for COLD water) from water heater to far end of house to laundry room and tee off of them to each of the points I need hot and cold water? NOTE: I do not plan to install a manifold in this house but plan to do so in the house down the street that we eventually plan to move into. Reason is I do not want to invest in the cost of a manifold for a house I plan to move out of and eventually rent out and/or sell in the future.

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Yep, 1 hot and 1 cold. Don't work too well if they're mixed. Pro tip: Get some colored duck tape or electrical tape and mark which is which at regular intervals.

That works as long as you aren't serving two things that need a lot of draw at once and will be in use at once. I'd personally probably run whatever comes out of your hot water heater (usually 3/4 if I remember correctly) and then switch to half inch at the T's.

quote:

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2) What's the best way to drill holes in the top plates, especially for the walls near the eaves of the house, to snake the PEX line from the attic to the wall drops where the water supply is needed?

3) Some of the drop areas have restrictions (i.e. windows) where I cannot run the PEX line straight down the walls between the studs where the current water lines need to be tied into. What's the best means of snaking the PEX lines from the attic to the needed locations in these situations?

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A drill with a 90 degree head, a spiral bit (not a spade bit) and a lot of patience. You might also need the willingness to break some drywall so that you can run the pipe down and then laterally through the wall.

quote:

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4) I plan to install pipe tubing insulation over the PEX lines in the attic to prevent freezing in the winter time and to keep the water lines insulated from the elements. Is that necessary and recommended or just kind of a luxury? I'm thinking it's worth it to do for several reasons. What say y'all? Surprising thing to me was that the insulation costed more than the PEX line.

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The insulation isn't really the best way to keep it from freezing. In a freezing situation, all you need to do is drip the tap a little bit ... moving water won't freeze. (I laugh like a hyena at all the people putting dolly parton covers on their spigots around these here parts, and worse, wrapping things like their above-ground sprinkler backflow devices in diapers and duct tape -- it's stupid and doesn't do much. Just keep water moving in any exterior pipes that you haven't drained and you're fine.)

If you're interested in insulating, what you actually want to do is run the PEX as close to the inside ceilings of your house as you can (I generally run it along a ceiling joist, if I'm going in the right direction, stapling it low as I go) and then put a batt of insulation or heap blown-in insulation over top of it. Insulating it independently does *nothing* if you don't have a renewable source of fresh heat entering the cavity where it's insulated.

quote:

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5) The water line entering the slab and eventually feeding the water heater and initial cold water feed to the rest of the house is either 5/8" or 3/4" and is then reduced to 1/2" throughout the house. I'm assuming I just stay with the larger feed sized lines in the same places they currently exist and then use 1/2" runs throughout the house from that point forward. Worked like that before so should work like that with PEX as well.

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Yep, exactly.

[This message has been edited by superspeck (edited 10/29/2012 2:56p).]

Superspeck, thanks so much as your replies are exactly what I was waiting for before I got too far into it. Also, thank you dubi for bring this thread to superspeck's attention.

quote:

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Yep, 1 hot and 1 cold. Don't work too well if they're mixed. Pro tip: Get some colored duck tape or electrical tape and mark which is which at regular intervals.

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Yes, I understand and wasn't planning on mixing them as I already procured red PEX for the hot and blue PEX for the cold water. Same price for white PEX and eliminates the need to mark the lines with tape.

What I meant and therefore should have worded it as such was: Should I run a single series PEX line for cold water and a single series PEX line for hot water from the water heater which is at one end of the house to the opposite end of the house and then tap off of each of these series PEX lines at the points where I need hot and/or cold water to be supplied to the appliances, faucets, etc,? Or, should I run parallel PEX lines to each of those points? You answered my concerns by the following response.

quote:

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That works as long as you aren't serving two things that need a lot of draw at once and will be in use at once. I'd personally probably run whatever comes out of your hot water heater (usually 3/4 if I remember correctly) and then switch to half inch at the T's.

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Wish I'd have waited to procure the PEX as it turns out I've already purchased 1/2" PEX as that is the size of copper tubing that currently ran as a single series line for hot and a single series line for cold to each point.

The only larger sized copper lines (5/8" or 3/4") currently existing in the slab run from the main entry point into the house through the slab to the cold side into the water heater and then from the hot side output of the water heater down the side of the heater to about 6" from it entering the slab. From that point it's reduced down to 1/2" and continues as such as 1/2" copper line throughout the slab and house.

Again, thanks so much Superspeck! Now it's time for me to proceed and get-r-done! I'll report back as things progress.

quote:

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The only larger sized copper lines (5/8" or 3/4") currently existing in the slab run from the main entry point into the house through the slab to the cold side into the water heater and then from the hot side output of the water heater down the side of the heater to about 6" from it entering the slab. From that point it's reduced down to 1/2" and continues as such as 1/2" copper line throughout the slab and house.

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Then it's safe to just run a 1/2 line and tee it as you go. Mine's run differently as far as I can tell; it's got a 3/4 line run from the heater to a T somewhere in the slab that reduces to a half inch line after the tee and services the kitchen from one half of the tee and the rest of the house (bathrooms) from another half of the tee. If you can do it that way, it's wonderful to be able to take a shower while the dishwasher or laundry is running. If not, no big deal.

quote:

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First thing: I hope you bought the crimper and crimp fittings instead of push-in fittings. The push-in fittings have a tendency to loosen or age poorly. Crimp fittings ... well, once it's crimped, it ain't going anywhere.

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Forgot to respond to this comment earlier. Yes, I have a crimper and plan to use crimp fittings even though I've used both in the past depending on ease of push-in fittings in some of the applications. Plan to use crimp fittings from here on as I sure don't need to be replacing them in the future. Plus the crimp-on fittings are alot cheaper!

I called the place I purchased the 1/2" PEX from and asked if I could exchange for 3/4". They have no problem with doing so so I'm going to exchange it now!

Later!