Living on a Aluminium hulled houseboat on land does nothing good to the copper pipes on board when things get nipply outside. Had pipes burst in several places and the admiral had to deal with having to get water from the pump shed as I was at work in SC. So now that I am home I am replacing all copper pipes with PEX and relocating them away from the metal skin of the boat where I can do so. The problem is that the furniture on a boat like in a camper is all bolted and screwed in place and I have to get that out of the way before I can get at the pipes ..... It was a " fun " 3 days pulling all tat stuff apart and back together again with the 4 nosy dogs helping me. After all Was on the floor just to play with them in their minds. Being heaped with toys to play with while trying to put new plumbing into tight spaces is sooo much fun. To top it off, my knee is playing up again and is swelling up to the point that the velcro of the knee pads is barely long enough to hold on. But at least I'll be able to have a hot shower tonight.

Sounds like a real PITA... I guess it doesn't get cold enough in S. Carolina to have had those issues before, plus the piping was probably part "under" water...anyway I'm sure the hot water will feel good on all your parts!,

PEX for sure is the way to go. I bought the crimp tool and not the plier size one as had one came loose this summer on me.

You know the kids think daddy is there to entertain them of course. Just the way things are, I am sure you loved every tormented minute of that harassment.
We need pitchers.................

Pex rocks. The expansion style fittings work better in potential freezing conditions compared to the crimp style. With the expansion style, if it freezes and expands, it'll just shrink back into place. With the crimp style, if it freezes and expands your crimp, it won't crimp itself back down.

I have both. The tool for the stainless straps and the copper rings. The actual pipe work was a giggle. Getting to the stuff not so much. The old stuff was all 3/8" copper with flares. Now its 1/2" pex. Using Pet I could plumb a house in in under a day. When I started out doing plumbing on ships, we had to braze copper pipe and used expander tools instead of slip on fittings wherever we could get to things. This is so much easier even with 4 dogs helping. When the Ibuprofen kick in , I'll put the tools away and walk the dogs. I wonder what color they will be when we get back as it is now officially mud season.

The house we just bought in Wisconsin is mostly Pex!! That stuff is the best.

I don't know how it holds up over time Randall, but given the ease of fixing the stuff. I take it.

The only problem I’ve heard of was on a geothermal furnace something with the temperature and surging made it break, that’s what my hvac guy told me, and he still uses it on everything else so I’d say it’s pretty good.

Thats good to hear. More so for a guy like me that is a bit old school in stuff like that and has a bit of mistrust in this new fangled stuff.

PEX is a great product. It can expand up to 3 times its diameter and not split. It will push off fittings when it does if the ice is close to the fitting. It is also sensitive to UV radiation. It will get brittle and break when exposed to sunlight for a little while. It is a good product but will never dethrone copper tubing as the best water line product.

If you have sulphur water it will eat up the metal fittings and after several years will start leaks.