PEX vs. PE

justjeepin86

justjeepin86

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
So, turns out that I need to replace the feed line from my water main to the house. From what I understand, it appears that I have Blue Max water line and it's crapping out on me. I have repaired 2 spots in the last month and it's still leaking elsewhere. Question is, PEX or PE? I like the PEX fittings and the crimp style much better than hose clamps. It seems better to me. I have used PEX inside my home to do some rearranging before. Cost does not bother me with the PEX being a little more. I would buy a crimp tool. I have over 300' to run to my house.

Plan is to rent a trencher and run the new line beside the old one then hook up. I also plan to put some sand in the trench for the pipe to lay on, and cover with sand as well.
 
Not sure which is more ideal, I seem to remember some plumbers saying not to run either directly straight from meter to house as the temp changes cause dimensional changes in both. They would curve the trench and main so that when the length changes due to temp, it wouldn’t cause an issue at the house or main.

My house as a PE main and then transitions to Pex after the regulator.

Most new houses I’m seeing a Pex main.

A few I have seen that switched from well to city/county water with the meter near the old well pump, run the new Pex inside the old Larger PE to keep from retrenching yard, and I assume would also help protect it.
 
Personally, I like PEX better. When I re plumbed our rental house I used all pex and a lot of "shark bite" fittings.
 
Literally JUST went through this at my house. Mine was only about 100', but the cost difference was negligible between the black pipe (which I have repaired no less than 6 times in the past 8 years) and PEX. I hand dug the trench and ran it side by side from the old line. The shark bite fittings make the job CAKE compared to the PE. Push them together, pull a little to make sure you have it seated properly and done. Pressure is higher in the house, probably due to the fact that I no longer have half a dozen splices and have one continuous piece of 3/4" PEX.

What made the decision for me was hearing that a friend who builds high end homes ONLY uses PEX in his main runs. Since switching, he has never had a call back like he used to.
 
We always use pex in our new construction, that being said get a good crimp tool. The only problems we've had is when someone doesn't crimp all the way (or nails from framers)
 
Do you know what kind of pressures your town/city water has. The plumber we use said pex has a max psi rating and that most city water systems will spike above that. He won't install pex unless there is a pressure regulator before the pex


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Loganwayne said:
Do you know what kind of pressures your town/city water has. The plumber we use said pex has a max psi rating and that most city water systems will spike above that. He won't install pex unless there is a pressure regulator before the pex


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Don't know what the limits are, but if the City water is That high, or above 60psi, you Should have a psi reducer anyway. My new water heater I recently installed noted It should not be over 50psi. My house has a reducer in the basement, & I've got it set on 60, but my normal city psi is 50. When the City built a new water tower, they Warned customers, pis could jump to 80, depending on location.
 
I had a regular right after my water meter that went bad. Then moved it to my garage so there would be about a 40ft line that is unregulated. And he advised me not to use pex


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Loganwayne said:
Do you know what kind of pressures your town/city water has. The plumber we use said pex has a max psi rating and that most city water systems will spike above that. He won't install pex unless there is a pressure regulator before the pex


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I did speak with our county water company. He recommended using 200 psi rated line. I mostly assume that is because it's thicker and would last longer. He also said, if it were his place, he would run PE.
 
justjeepin86 said:
I did speak with our county water company. He recommended using 200 psi rated line. I mostly assume that is because it's thicker and would last longer. He also said, if it were his place, he would run PE.
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What PART of Winston?

The pressure varies all over. If you're near the pumping station close to Stratford Rd you're going to have spikes near 90psi. Downtown you can have between 75 and 40

Northern Davidson county (specifically at the new Oak Grove HS) I had to have the plumber install a PRV on the PRV bypass because we were getting 115psi at the mechanical room.



Loganwayne said:
He won't install pex unless there is a pressure regulator before the pex

If I'm understanding him correctly, he has a 300ft run from the street to his home. You can't install a PRV at the street without a hot box, and you really wouldn't WANT to run 300ft if wire back to that box.
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If you want an accurate reading of what the pressure is in your area, contact Ron McInnis ronwm@cityofws.org and he can give you a pressure report (Static/Residual & GPM) via fireflow worksheet to know what you're dealing with.
 
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Whatever you do, use bigger than 3/4" for the main run. Remember - Pex is denoted by OD, same as copper, but the pipe walls are thicker, and the fittings go inside the pipe, further reducing the ID. Main runs should all be 3/4" or bigger, only fixture stubs should be 1/2".
 
CasterTroy said:
What PART of Winston?

The pressure varies all over. If you're near the pumping station close to Stratford Rd you're going to have spikes near 90psi. Downtown you can have between 75 and 40

Northern Davidson county (specifically at the new Oak Grove HS) I had to have the plumber install a PRV on the PRV bypass because we were getting 115psi at the mechanical room.

If you want an accurate reading of what the pressure is in your area, contact Ron McInnis ronwm@cityofws.org and he can give you a pressure report (Static/Residual & GPM) via fireflow worksheet to know what you're dealing with.
Click to expand...

I'm in Midway and on Davidson water. I called Davidson water, and that's the guy that told me to run 200 PSi line.
 
shawn said:
Whatever you do, use bigger than 3/4" for the main run. Remember - Pex is denoted by OD, same as copper, but the pipe walls are thicker, and the fittings go inside the pipe, further reducing the ID. Main runs should all be 3/4" or bigger, only fixture stubs should be 1/2".
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Yea, it has 3/4 and I'm planning on running 1".
 
justjeepin86 said:
I'm in Midway and on Davidson water. I called Davidson water, and that's the guy that told me to run 200 PSi line.
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Damn, you're literally between my house and Oak Grove Middle and HS

Those towers attribute to a great deal of pressure! Just be aware
 
Forgive my ignorance, but what's PE? I know what PEX is. I'll be doing some plumbing once my shop is built and I just figured I'd keep on keeping on with PVC in the ground and might use PEX in the shop itself.
 
Well, I'm mostly done. I ran my line to the back of my house to avoid the driveway where the original line goes. I just have to move the line across the ceiling in the garage to the other side. Hook that up and hook it up at the meter. Then I have a little shoveling to do. The ditch is filled in now, minus the ends. I had extra line, so I ran one to my shed to plumb air out there from my compressor. Why not!
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