Thinking of buying PEX piping for your first home?
Sep 08, 2021
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The revolutionary PEX piping is quite famous in Europe since the late 1900s as it contains antioxidants, which makes it appropriate for drinking water. Now PEX plumbing is commonly used in North America and South America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.
You might have thought of purchasing PEX pipes for your first home. But even the best things have some benefits and drawbacks. It would be beneficial to know about the PEX plumbing disadvantages before you fit them in your new home. This article will help you to understand:
What exactly is PEX plumbing?
Cross-linked polyethylene, commonly abbreviated as PEX or XLPE, is a sort of polyethylene with crosslinking. It is mainly used for insulation of building service plumbing systems, hot water radiant heating systems, domestic water plumbing, and high voltage electrical cables formed in tubes.
Some PEX plumbing disadvantages
1. Sensitivity to UV rays:
A major PEX plumbing disadvantage is its high sensitivity to UV light. Not only sunlight, but the light bulb in our homes is UV light too. It is recommended to pay attention to a certain amount of sunlight while fitting, however, some producers recommend that there should be the absence of light.
2. Solvents and rats can be damage PEX pipes
Solvents and rats both can damage PEX pipes. On the other hand, other types of pipe materials like metal and copper are designed to resist rats. This is a PEX plumbing disadvantage but if there are rats at your home, get rid of the rats to stop the damaging of furniture and pipes.
3. PEX is semi-permeable
The liquid can go into the pipe. If we talk about safety PEX pipes are not antibacterial, so people give preference to copper pipes instead of PEX pipes. The plastic material cannot resist the water getting into the pipe and water can be polluted.
4. Chemicals and pests might cause damage to PEX pipes
The companies which check pests are not in the favor of PEX pipes, as pests damage is a big PEX plumbing disadvantage because it is quite dangerous. Since PEX is made up of plastic, it is more sensitive than other metal pipes. Rats can quickly grind through the tube creating huge problems. Remember that this is more of a pest problem than a PEX problem.
5. PEX pipes are non-recyclable
Like most plastics, PEX pipes cannot be recycled. When installing a new water pipe, large pieces of PEX pipe will be discarded. Unfortunately, we have not yet found a way to reuse these rejected pipes.
Which one is the right choice, copper or PEX pipes?
Both materials are used in the current world, having their problems at the same time. The copper pipes have high installation costs. On the other hand, PEX pipes are used by a huge number of people.
At the end of the day, it depends on a person’s choice. Now it is up to you which material is the best for you.