used potable water pex in a heating loop

mikeygboy

I just took a closer look at a roll of pex i used to run a heating loop last year and was horrified to realize that it said "for potable water only." There have been no problems that I know of, but I was wondering what the possible ramifications might be.

Gordan

Any ferrous components inside your system could corrode

The non-barrier pex is an entry point for fresh oxygen. As the oxygenated water circulates through your system, over time it could corrode circulators, pipes and fittings, the boiler, the expansion tank... Debris from oxydation could plug up the boiler heat exchanger passages, valves and other fittings.

kcopp

it really depends ....

on how much tubing is exposed, how hot the water is and how much steel/iron components there are. The more of each the higher your chances for issues. You can add oxyen scavengers on a regular basis... Rohmar comes to mind.

kpc

mikeygboys

wrong pex

It is a cast iron boiler with about 2 feet of black iron, a circulator, and an expansion tank. That is all of the iron components. The rest are either copper or pex. I ran about 50' of the wrong pex across a crawl space. There is an automatic can vent over the expansion tank will this help matters? The biggest problem is it isnt my house it is the house of a friend of mine. I guess my question is do I have to change out all that pex, can I put somthing on or over the pex, or should I not even worry about it.

Big Ed_4

Pex

Ah.. Admit your mistake and change it out , caulk it up as a lesson . well worth the piece of mind ... We have all been there . This time send your friend into the crawl space . Sure he did not pay you enough the last time