Pex, Pex, Pex

Tony Massi

I'm old school and used about a million feet of copper in my life. Now Pex is just about everywhere. Its not really Pex its anything that uses a plastic tube they call it Pex. I guess back in the day when copper was first being used the old timers said that stuff will never last and had a dozen reasons not to use it. Anyway I have to replace some baseboard heat and want to just use Pex from the element down into the floor and not copper to Pex under the floor.
I know this customer will complain if they see orange or red tubing for that short spot going into the floor. I was thinking of painting it with spray paint. Has anyone has this experience painting the Pex?

SWEI

Realistically, there is nothing you can paint on polyethylene that will reliably and durably adhere to it. The slipperiness of the material is a big part of what makes it work so well across a broad range of fluid conditions. Sleeves might be a good option.

White hePEX with F1960 fittings & rings trims out fairly clean as long as it's not too long (at which point keeping it straight can become an issue, hence PEX-Al-PEX.)

ratio

I'd be leery of using any kind of paint on plastic without mfgrs approval. Perhaps a short sleeve of copper could be slid down before the termination is applied?

hot_rod

There are some vinyl snap around covers for covering the pex.

Heat shrink tube comes in a lot of colors, slip a piece over the pex and warm it with a hair dryer.

Or transition to copper below the floor.

Ironman

Make sure that you use O2 barrier pex.

Guelph_Plumbers1

Hmm, we install pex pipe aswell, this has worked for us before but you should try this on a test peice... take a bit of girtty sand paper, quickly go over the pex just to rough it up ( an x patern is the best, this will allow the paint to stick) and use a spray paint with a primer in it. This shouldn't be too much of a hassle if its a smaller piece.

kcopp

I would stick to the snap on cover pieces of plastic. I would be concerned that sanding the pex would damage the oxygen barrier.

Look here down on the page 7.

http://www.hydronicalternatives.com/getattachment/49d1bdaf-bb98-42af-8dbc-46d3d6826eed/Radiator-Accessories-Price-List

ChrisJ

Wouldn't it be easier to use copper from the element to down below the floor and then continue with Pex rather than trying to sand, prep and paint Pex?

Big Ed_4

Use end caps on baseboard see very little ... I would use the better hePEX which has an white see through tone ... Expandable is more full port and easyer to use with the battery power expander tool