Running water line.....

[chrisexv6]

Was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to get a PEX water line thru a wall into my garage (and the other end into my house).

I already have the PEX run behind the garage, the question is getting it in.....a 90 degree angle into the wall is too "tight" for the PEX to go thru in one piece.

Should I use a 90 degree elbow to get thru the wall? I *think* thats the way to go but Im not sure (the elbow would be covered by siding, and yes I plan on blowing the line out every winter.......I dont work in the garage when its that cold ).

Thanks in advance.

-Chris

 

[Vicious_Cycle]

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking... If I understand correctly, I would protect the tubing by sliding it through a conduit of some sort, maybe schedule 40 electrical. But instead of an elbow (too tight a bend), I would use a 90 degree sweep, which would be easier to feed through and less apt to kink.

If I'm out in left field, please ignore!

What diameter PEX are we talking here? Any way to do it underground?

 

[Bib Overalls]

I have a PEX supply line running into my shop. When I built the shop building I put a 1.5" PVC conduit in the slab. The conduit comes in horizontal and males a 90 degree sweeping turn to vertical and comes through the slab inside the bathroom's "wet" partition wall. I used PEX because it is supposed to be freeze tolerant.

 

[chrisexv6]

Thanks for the replies.

Its 3/4" PEX and is already under a patio slab. It comes out of it at a sweeping angle (hey it just happens to be the same diameter the roll was wound in.......I couldnt unwind it very well). I now need that to go behind my siding and into the garage one one end and the house on the other.

I was going to sleeve it anyway, didnt think about the 90 degree sweep to try and get it thru. Thanks for the idea! Hopefully it will work OK. Im not sure if 1" PVC will be big enough though, and didnt want to have to go 1.5" if I didnt have to (would look kinda funny I think). I was planning on a SharkBite elbow because it would allow me to be able to move stuff around while its still connected (in case I dont get all the angles correct). Ill give the PVC a shot today, because that would make life a lot easier

-Chris

 

[Steve Szakats]

Hey, keep me posted...I have the same situation. I ran Pex under the driveway before they paved, and now I have a 10' coil sticking out of the ground at the garage, and at the house. I am totally unsure how to transition either end into the structure....may have to call a plumber.

 

[chrisexv6]

I actually just finished this portion.

Turns out even a 90 sweep in PVC conduit was too tight (unless I wanted to bump up to 1.5" conduit which I thought was too big and unwieldy).

I just used Plan B....Sharkbite 90 degree elbow fitting, one end on the PEX and the other with copper in it (although I suppose you could use PEX inside as well, I chose not to). Bend the PEX back a little towards the outside of the house, feed the copper thru the hole in the house (drill the hole at whatever height you want, then cut the PEX a tad shorter than the hole height), snap the copper into one end of the elbow, snap the other end onto the PEX. You can clamp the pex to the house right before the elbow, if you want (mine is held in pretty nicely by the siding thats over it).

I finally got around to pressure testing a SharkBite fitting (not this one, I havent turned the water on yet) and Im happy to see that it held nicely (as did the few sweated joints I made).

Seems to be a simple solution to the problem. If the line were all copper you could just sweat joints together, but the Sharkbite allows you to transition and make the 90 at the same time (and the radius is tight so it remains as close to the wall as possible). Granted you add a possible leak point, but in my case its easy to get to, and worst case the Sharkbite can be disconnected and re-connected easily (more than I can say about sweated copper joints).

The SharkBites are expensive, but Ive ended up buying them for all joints that I cant solder on the ground. I dont like working in my WOODEN floor rafters with a propane torch plus the Sharkbites allow you to rotate the pipe even after its connected, so if the angles dont line up perfectly you can fix them.

Good luck.

-Chris

 

[Steve Szakats]

What is a Sharkbite?

What pieces do I need to transition from PEX to copper?

Should I run the PEX thru the block into my basement and transition to copper there? Or transition to copper before I poke thru the cinderblock wall?

As you can see, I know nothing about plumbing. A plumber just told me to lay the Pex under the driveway and worry about connecting it later.

Thanks, Steve

 

[Vicious_Cycle]

Should I run the PEX thru the block into my basement and transition to copper there?

YES. You don't really want a joint where it's inaccessible.

 

[chrisexv6]

About where to transition: I transitioned behind my siding. Yes its not the best place to put it, but I can still access it in an emergency (the siding just pops off the bottom rail its installed to). I had no choice because I couldnt get the PEX thru a PVC conduit that was small enough to still be hidden by the siding. If you are not trying to run the pipe behind siding, or somehow you can get the PEX to do a "loose" radius sweep into the house, then leave it as one piece and transition inside the house.

SharkBite fittings are from Cash-Acme (http://www.cashacme.com/sharkbite.php) .....I found them at Home Depot.

Normally for PEX to copper transition you would use crimp rings, fittings and a fairly expensive crimp tool. But if you arent running much line, its probably more cost effective to use the Sharkbite fittings, because the crimp tools are fairly expensive (unless you know someone that will let you borrow one).

The Sharkbite fittings can be used on PEX, copper and CPVC, and all combinations of the 3.

-Chris