The Best Alternative To Copper Repipe

Although using copper repipe was the way to fix busted and leaky pipes before, now most people opt out of copper for numerous reasons. This kind of repipe can be expensive and in this day and age no one seems to use copper anymore.

PEX or cross linked polyethylene, is now a more affordable and efficient way to this kind of repipe. With the high density polyethylene that is in almost all PEX tubing, the pipes can withstand a variety of chemicals and weather.

PEX was invented in the early 1930’s after a lot of scientific testing but was not considered an affordable alternative to copper repipe until around 1978. After more tweaking and the addition of cross linking and vinyl-silane PEX was then transformed into a new repipe option. You can still repipe with copper but it may end up costing you more depending on the area you leave.

Home owners began using PEX as an alternative because it was more flexible and of course, affordable. It allowed you to bend the tubing in a wider radius and if you inserted a PVC elbow you could extend the reach even more. Red PEX will guide to the hot water pipe and blue PEX to the cold water lines.

The PEX-AL-PEX option is where a piece of aluminum tubing is inserted between two layers of standard PEX. This option lets the aluminum service as an oxygen barrier to help stop the pipe from corroding. The PEX-AL-PEX tubing is also much more flexible because the aluminum offsets the shape memory naturally installed in PEX. PEX prices depend on the size you need and the place you buy them at. You can generally find your piping need for $20 to $50 for a single pipe.

To learn more about copper repipe and copper pipe types, head over to my site before you go shopping.

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