PEX-A vs PEX-B - What's the Difference? Which Should You Use?

pexe versus pex b which is better i get asked a lot of times when i go to do jobs are you putting in pecs or you putting in copper well to be honest i'm getting to where most of the time pecs a might be the best decision so what are plumbers using more of these days we still use a lot of copper where i'm at in the north central texas area for repairs we're normally going and making repairs on an existing copper system we still use a lot of copper but more and more we're looking at the idea or playing with the idea of using pex now we also go into a lot of new home builds that are having problems they're not getting enough water to certain places the problem is pex b and i want to explain why pex a and pex b the pipe is pretty much as you can tell the same size okay i mean literally and they're about the same here's the problem pex b uses a reduced size fitting what i mean is that fitting is designed to go inside the pipe you put a clamp ring on the outside and squeeze it to keep it on there what happens then is whatever size that fitting reduces to that's the flow restriction you get pecse on the other hand also known as open or is an expansion first of all you put a ring on then you expand it you put a full size fitting in there and it clamps down on it forever trying to get back to the size of the pipe that it is so it is continuously improving its connection it's constantly trying to tighten down for the life of that fitting now both pex's are crosslinked polyethylene that's what pex is there's pex a pex b and pec c and the pex is derived from the way that it's chemically processed the process that it goes through all the way up to radiation for some to get it to where it needs to be pex a has a shape memory meaning it is forever trying to get back to the size that it is the way that it's shaped so when you expand it you are literally taking it outside of its comfort zone sticking the fitting in there and it's forever trying to shrink back onto that that to me is a good connection pex b you get a clamp a ring on the outside that you clamp down on it and if it ever rusts if it ever freezes and expands it's not going to shrink back at least with pex a it'll shrink back pex was invented in the 60s and then actually improved in the 70s in the 90s we got upon aqua packs and that's really what we're using today so here's my deal people ask often what are the big differences it's more than just the way it's made it's the fact that pex a is more flexible you can actually bend it you get tighter radiuses it normally doesn't kink but if it does you can take a heat gun heat it up a little bit and actually get it to return to its shape pex b once you kink it you need to cut that out because that's never going to get back to full line size now there's a lot of different things but here's the biggest problem that we run into as a service plumbing company people that put in pex b do an entire house this way and they don't oversize the system now when you put in copper pipe the copper fittings are the full size as the copper pipe you don't get a big flow restriction there now you may get some on a 90 but it's not because it's a flow restrictor built in when you put a fitting into pex bee pipe it actually reduces the flow and can lead to problems just a couple of months ago we went out to a new home build and the buyer was upset because they weren't getting near the flow they thought they would get at the hot water in the master shower the problem is by the time it reduced down at the water heater you reduce flow there then you reduced it again all the way everywhere that there's a joint going over to that shower now we were able to increase the size of some of the lines and yes we put in open or but we increased the size of the lines all the way from the water here to the shower to give them the flow that they needed if you're going to use pex b just remember that make sure that you oversize your system probably just one pipe size and you'll be fine because that would make the fittings about the size of the next smaller size copper pipe another good thing about open or pex a is the expansion and the burst pressures it won't burst not till over around 500 pounds meaning it's tested up to 470 490 somewhere around in there here in texas the reason we don't use copper in the attics is that when it freezes we don't want people's copper lines to freeze and burst pecse has a better capacity to expand and contract remember it's constantly trying to get back to its size so if it expands when it freezes and that pressure builds up in there when it falls out it'll come back down that pressure will actually come down once the pressure is gone and shrink back to its normal size a good thing too about pex a it actually has a better curvature meaning it's a tighter area in which you can make a turn okay now like i said about pex be a while ago if you bend it too tight what's gonna happen is it's gonna kink now i know it's not here right now but if it stays like this eventually it'll kink and when it does you're going to have a problem you can never get that kink out no matter what you do at least with pecs a if you do get a kink in it and yes it will kink literally you can just take a heat gun heat that up and it will return to its normal shape so what are the benefits of it well the fittings cost more okay they do but your labor your labor is one of the biggest factors in any job that we do and to be honest you don't have to clean it you don't have to prep it you don't have to do a lot of things you don't have to get a torch in here so if you're working in an area that a flame is a problem pecs a is even better or any pecs for that matter but i like pecs a because there's no flow restriction it stays full line size a good thing too is stress cracking and chlorine here in texas we had problems with polybutylene popular while back chlorine resistance pecs a is resistant to chlorine 100 now that's a good thing now pex b look it's all resistant to chlorine but we don't want to have that problem in the future of we're having to go in and change pipe from the past because we had problems with it with our chlorine in the system we know we've got to have chlorine in the system to keep mold mildew and bacteria out why is pecs a better here's the deal hexa is going to end up replacing copper you can bury it underground it's resistant to the ground it's resistant to the concrete you're not going to have those problems when you come to a concrete slab still protect it wrap it with six mil tape wrap it with something to protect it coming through because it's still gonna move a little bit you don't want tears and holes in the pipe anywhere where it goes through something like that the water quality is still amazing just like copper look you're going to get good clean potable water through either one of them you just want to make sure you're doing your customers right your homeowner right by not restricting the flow on anything that you do if you use pex b there's nothing wrong with it oversize it don't create a flow restriction in your repair or in your piping system and guys as a service plumber we fix that a lot now good things about it it's flexible so you're going to use less fittings so you're laying it out underground you're looping it up you're doing a line overhead whatever it is maybe you don't have to use a 90 maybe you can actually just make a curve you can do that with either one of them good thing about both of these compared to say cpvc or something no glue no primer no chemicals like that literally pecs a you put the ring on first then you expand it you stick your finishing in there it seals back up it's good to go hex b put the ring on there get it where it goes crimp it it seals up i know pex b people say you can come back and re-crimp it again if it didn't cramp good or if there's a leak there that's a possibility on pex a you can actually heat it up with a gun cut that ring off take it apart put a new ring on expand it again put it right back together say you know on a copper joint you've got flux on it you wait too long it turns green you've got to take it all apart and clean it up again open or pecs a if you don't get your joint together quick enough so you forget so you expand it before lunch you come back you expand it again now you put it together now it's ready to go one last thing that i like better about the open or that i like about pex b when you put your fittings together on pex b say it's a horizontal fitting and you left your crimp ring on there if you don't crimp it you can still see that ring you may look at it from a distance and think okay that was done you cannot put pex a or open or together without expanding it first that way that fitting will go in where it goes so you're not going to have fittings that just blow apart because they didn't get put together properly or the cramp didn't get made there's a lot of reasons to like pecs a versus pex b do me a favor leave a comment below and tell me what your favorite reason is i like it i think pecs a is probably going to end up taking over completely because it's lower than the cost of copper and labor is so much faster putting it in anyway leave me a comment down below and let me know which one you use do you use pex a the expandable or do you use pex b or c and if you do radiant heating are you using the right pex for it i'm roger wakefield lead ap the expert plumber i'll see you in the next video if you don't get flushed

Channel: Roger Wakefield

Views: 587,411

Keywords: pex a, pex b, pex a tubing, pex a vs pex b, pex a or pex b, pex plumbing, pex b tubing, pex tubing, pex pipe, best pex tubing, best pex, uponor tubing, pex a vs pex b pipe, pex a vs pex b fittings tubing, pex

Id: IZlwvf3vIXs

Length: 9min 23sec (563 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2020