How to Bring Your Plumbing into the 21st Century

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• PEX-AL-PEX
• Composite Benefits

Canadians probably would have been okay continuing their reliance on copper water supply pipes. Copper’s been used successfully for years, and it really is pretty good stuff. But sometimes the best advancements improve on something that wasn’t too bad in the first place.

That’s the case with an emerging system of composite water supply pipes that you’ve probably noticed in hardware stores and building supply yards. The most popular brands are red, blue and orange these days, and this technology can be at least a little confusing at first glance.

PEX-AL-PEX

For the last 30 years, the world's easiest-to-install water supply hardware has been commonplace in Europe, and this is the same technology that’s catching on here in Canada. Generically known by the hard-to-say name of PEX-AL-PEX, this product is offered most commonly by companies like Ipex and Rehau.

• This flexible, tough, composite pipe goes together without heat, solder or solvent, making it quick, safe and easy to install.
• Unlike other solder-free plumbing systems that have come and gone amid a flurry of legal litigation, PEX-AL-PEX has a long and reliable track record. It’s even rated to withstand several freeze-thaw cycles without cracking.
• You’ll find it listed under the Uniform Plumbing code and the International Plumbing Code. And while it’s true that nothing in the world is perfect, PEX-AL-PEX is close enough to earn a reputation as an up-and-coming plumbing system in an industry that didn’t know it needed improvement.

While it’s true that the strange PEX-AL-PEX name is a mouthful to say, what it refers to is simple:

• The layered make-up of the pipe, sandwiching aluminum (AL) between an inner and outer husk of cross-linked polyethylene (PEX), is what it’s all about.

Just look closely at the cut end of a piece of pipe and the telltale shiny ring of aluminum will tell you immediately what you’ve got. It’s a combination that offers the best characteristics of both metal and plastic water line.

Composite Benefits

• The semi-rigid PEX-AL-PEX pipe is strong, bendable (though you need to be careful of kinks), and holds almost any shape you can twist it into by hand.
• The system is food-safe, too, eliminating the possibility that drinking water could pick up soluble toxic metals, an especially serious concern in regions with acidic water supplies.
• The semi-flexible nature of PEX-AL-PEX means that it’s quieter and much less prone to water hammer than conventional rigid pipes while also resisting internal scale build-up and mineral deposits better than metal.
• You can even carry a hundred-foot coil home from the Depot on your moped.
• PEX-AL-PEX systems began life as radiant in-floor heating pipe, but the big selling feature right now is solder-free installation for water supply purposes. The work is entirely mechanical, requiring no heat, risk or intimidation.

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