concealed pex press fittings

Boon

Can someone tell me to stop being concerned about concealing pex press fittings (and not lie)?

Specifically, I plan to crimp 1/2" Fostapex to a 90° press x copper lug ell supported in the wall, then hard pipe to the panels. I'm not thrilled about concealing a pex press fitting, but I'd rather solder my eyes shut than get that Fostapex pushed around the foundation edge, through the ceiling, into the wall, and then bend it out of the wall to meet the panel rad connections.

I've seen other threads where people have talked about concealing them and no one seems to cry foul.

hot_rod

I find the best information for questions like this comes from the PPI. The Plastic Pipe Institute seem best suited to decipher all the different standards and installation positions, and issue non-biased info.

I think they recently issued a position on burying pex fittings.

Lance MacNevin formerly with Rehau, recently took over as Director of Engineering at PPI, and he is updating a lot of this info.

An "official" answer may be in this guide.

FostaPex is one tube where I would use the factory fitting and crimp collar for piece of mind.


http://plasticpipe.org/pdf/pex_designguide_residential_water_supply.pdf

Bob Bona_4

I've been using Fostapex for about 13 yrs and not one prob with fitting leaks-EP or brass, any size, until this spring. Always use Viega fittings and sleeves, and their hand crimp tools. No qualms about concealed joints.

Caveat: 4 months ago, I had a rash of 1" weeping fittings from the get go on 2 jobs. Thought maybe the pipe or EP fittings were an out of tolerance batch. Tried new pipe/brass fittings. Still ng.

Turns out the crimp tool was worn. Allegedly they are good for about 15,000 crimps. Who's counting, right? Mine was approximately 8 yrs old, on my second one. I've yet to send back the old tool to factory for inspection. I'd like to know the definitive sign it's time to replace, other than waiting for leaky fittings.

I'm pressure testing concealed stuff now

Boon

Well that's a lot of reading! I skimmed some sections and searched for words like concealed, fail, failure, leak, ... and didn't find anything specific to the topic so I shall proceed as planned without worrying, I shall perform less than 15,000 crimps, and in 12.8 years I will inspect a few non-concealed crimps. Thanks.

hot_rod

Call tech support if you want to get it from the horses mouth 800 976 9819, maybe.

Or find the local rep for your area, from the Viega website and contact them.

Pex tube and fitting system are used in domestic water, hydronic and fire sprinkler installations, fittings get conceled all the time.

keyote

boon if you were patching a loop sandwiched in a t n g floor i might worry if it leaked you would be ****, towards then end of a real job you can walk around and count hundreds of drywall patches for changes or unfinished work a few days later you cant tell where they were anymore in other words worst case it a five minute job to cut out a square a and patch it back up.
any fitting sold should be good enough to conceal admittedly some instill more confidence than others but that likely perception. I assume you pressure test or if not then at least put water in before closing in.Im more wondering if this is an exterior wall which if it can be avoided serious insulation precautions

JUGHNE

Our small village has a non-profit corp that builds and resells 3 bed/2 bath spec homes. I have been on that board for many years and was given the job of writing specs for electrical, plumbing and HVAC for these projects. We are on about number 12 now.
For water supply it was simple at first. 1" pex UG service into basement. From there only type L copper. After house #8 with the price of copper and somewhat proven reliability of crimp PEX, the spec was changed to allow PEX piping. However the compromise was that there would be no PEX in the walls.
I am still old school and like copper, I have also seen the pex popped right out of the wall or floor, shower heads floating behind the wall....etc. Gives that enhanced trailer court look to a new house.
So all fixture supplies are type L copper inside the wall and the transitions to pex are in the basement.
These basements are not finished immediately, maybe years later. The crimps get time tested for that period.
Don't know if this scheme would work for your application.
Any leak is better to have below the finished floor and maybe only ruin a basement ceiling at worst.

SWEI

I have no qualms about burying an Uponor EP splice pretty much anywhere.

Paul48

Not trying to be argumentative, but , you shouldn't have any qualms. You now own the integrity of that buried splice "forever". You have to weigh, whether it's worth doing that. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it's just another perspective.