Copper or plastic manifolds?

Shelby

I was wondering with all the hipe out there for plastic manifolds, What do the pro's prefer? Copper, Plastic or steel? Does the price versus quality play a large part in the final decision? Which manufacturer would you say builds the best manifold? Thanks for the imput.

Ted_5

I prefer HeatLink

plastic manifolds over brass anyday. I have put hundreds of these in, in the past 6 yrs and have yet gone back on a job to fix one. Good flow control! check them out!
www.heatlink.com

Ted

Shelby

Thanks Ted for the post.

But what about everyone else? Ted can't be the only one out there using manifolds?

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

We started

with Infloor plastic manifold 15 years ago when there wasn't much to choose from; switched to Rehau 5 years ago and they have been flawless.

They have a couple of different kinds; the Pro-Balance manifolds are brass and are easy to tweak using the handy integral flow meters.

We use them for both radiant and radiator installations.

Other manufacturers make modular manifolds that you can put together for how ever many loops you need, but I don't like the funky way they join together with gaskets and o-rings that can leak. I prefer a solid, 1-piece construction even though it might not be convenient to stock all the different # of loops.

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Shelby

Nice pic

Thanks Alan. Hey, Have you ever used their copper manifolds? If so , What are they like?

Mark Eatherton1

Plastic versus Metal.

I have yet to meet a plastic manifold (mostly old InFloor) that I didn't have to replace. Plastic and O rings have a tendency to become brittle when exposed to long term heat. You touch them and they leak. They leak and you replace them. Not to say that metal ones don't leak too, because they will, but with the plastic ones, if you LOOK at them cross eyed, they start leaking. With mold being gold to the law dogs, I avoid leaks whenever possible.

Just my $0.02 worth.

ME

Shelby

Thanks for the info Mark

> I was wondering with all the hipe out there for

> plastic manifolds, What do the pro's prefer?

> Copper, Plastic or steel? Does the price versus

> quality play a large part in the final decision?

> Which manufacturer would you say builds the best

> manifold? Thanks for the imput.

Shelby

Thanks for the info Mark

What kind of metal manifolds do you use? Brass, copper or steel? What Manufacturer do you use, or do you build your own?

Mark Eatherton1

Mostly...

brass and copper. Brass has a closer center to center on the branches. Copper has bigger branches, but further apart.

We use the copper in the near boiler piping, and the brass in the remote locations. We use Wirsbo, and IPEX.

We are looking at Heatways Stainless steel manifold too.

ME

jalcoplumb_2

My first plastic ....

manifold. Just installed 3weeks ago. RTI makes it. It is Thermalok modular manifold. I like it has a lot of bells and whistles. Flow meters and thermometers. Cost is reasonable. Temp limit of 170 max. I will see how it holds up in the long run. This install should never see above 165.

Hope it helps,
Joe

Shelby

Anyone have a copper pic?

Well it is nice to see the pics. Just wondering if anyone has a pic of a copper manifold install?

hr

My current stash

of manifolds. The copper and brass are all Watts Radiabnt. Some are special built to my specs. I usually buy the valved or socket lengths (16 ports) then add the fitting of my choice. Very flexible!

Stainless is becoming more popular. A bit more rigid than softer copper and brass trunks, especially after they have been silver soldered!

These are Oventrop brand stainless. Nicely formed, sweat adapters, zone valve ready, and about the largest flow indicator windows I have found.

I'm not a plastics manifold fan either. Heat and fluid issues from the inside, UV from the outside, clowns to the right, jokers to the left, here I am...

hot rod

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Shelby

Thanks hot rod

for the stainless pics. They look great.