Pex vs rubber vs other?

ChrisJ

Curious if anyone still does rubber tubing for in concrete radiant or any snow melt systems if not why? Has pex replaced everything else?

What's considered the longest lasting?

hot_rod

At SupplyHouse.com

Watts Onix EPDM rubber tube. 1/2" X 300' $1647.00

Bluefin 1/2 X 300' heat pex $88.00

Pex, when treated properly, kept out of the teeth of rodents should outlast you. Maybe everyone else on this list.

mattmia2

i want to know who thought using synthetic rubber hose for a permanent installation was a good idea in the first place,

ChrisJ

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1890104#Comment_1890104

How does it handle expansion when encased in concrete vs EPDM?

They're still selling the rubber apparently, why?

I'm asking because a friend asked and I didn't know there even was rubber so I'm trying to get him a good answer.

mattmia2

synthetic rubber is easier to install. which is good because you'll be doing it again.

if you restrain tubing so it cant get longer as it expands it will have to get thicker. i wonder if it ends up with a smaller od after it cools or if the memory of pex a helps with that.

ChrisJ

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1890111#Comment_1890111

How exactly is it easier to replace when embedded in concrete?

skyking1

having encountered PE pipe in the ditch and often not breaking it, I cannot imagine using another material.

It can survive freezes, and you could tow a car with it.

I've hooked it with the excavator and stretched it a bit without failure.

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1890120#Comment_1890120

it is easier to get to lay in position than pex. so once you've torn the slab up or decided to go with a new layer on top, it is easier than pex :)

i didn't say that re-doing it would be easy, just that it is easer:)

obviously the right choice is to use pex so you don't have to re-do it.

hot_rod

The first time I remember rubber for hydronics wad ther BioEnergy Solar or RadiantRoll. It was a straight EPDM, no other layers.

Mike and Dan Chiles took ther idea and started Heatway in the late 80's.

The worked with Dayco Rubber first to develop a hose with multiple layers, braids etc. More like a hydraulic hose. Demand out ran what Dayco could produce so they went to Goodyear. Rumors suggest GY tweaked the formula and that is when hose started failing. It would get brittle, snap like glass. Lawsuits went on for years.

It was very easy to work, you could drive concrete trucks over it when pouring snowmelts. Millions of feet of rubber were installed. Some early RadiantRoll systems are still working 30 plus years, as are many Heatway, Watts Radiant systems.

I don't know it is worth the cost difference, compared to the various plastics.

PERT, polyethylene raised temperature, is another option, if low cost is the determining factors.