Rebending old hepex ?

Dave Carpentier

25yr old Wirsbo hePex existed beside an oil boiler, circulated ~90f water.

Im at the point of my tear-out where I cut the tubes and remove the remaining iron pipe and CI boiler (got the two 1" unions at the boiler loosened, surprisingly).

Next step would be to reroute the hePex a bit nicer to see where the new Uponor manifold could possibly sit. My existing supply manifold is the higher one, but Uponor suggests (and the new one comes pre-assembled as) supply manifold as the lower rack. The thinking is, if something leaks, the zone actuators wont get dripped on.

I stand a better chance at mounting my new manifold higher if I ignore that suggestion. If I was worried, I suppose I could fab a little roof for them.

The bigger question is… what are the thoughts on rebending hePex that has been sitting for 25 years ? Does it get brittle ? When I cut the tubes and remove all the clamps, Im not even sure if they'll straighten out like a spring or stay in the same shape.

At the least, I would like to use those aluminum bend guides for the upturn below the manifold just to keep it a bit nice ? The new manifold places supply and return fairly close to each other, so I should have enough room to attach all to wall, turn left, and then turn up, instead of the cross-behind as is now. A few of them might have to go straight up, if the manifold ends up about where the in-floor circ is now.

hot_rod

I don't know about that brand, but we see Caleffi manifolds mounted vertically. That might clean up and shorten those loop ends.

You can also space one out on 2x4 blocks so pex crosses behind one, getting them at the same plane.

I've also seen manifolds flat mounted against floor joists.

UV is what turns pex brittle.