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Wirsbo Freezing

New Hampshire Heating
New Hampshire Heating Member Posts: 12
in THE MAIN WALL
Nothing is imposible so I will ask the Question. Has anybody else experience 1/2 wirsbo he-pex splitting in freezing conditions?

Comments

  • Tim Doran
    Tim Doran Member Posts: 208
    Sure

    Our pex and for that matter anyone elses pex, pap, copper, etc. will split at some point. No pipe is freeze proof. Pex is more freeze resistant than copper or pap in that it can stretch a great deal more before it splits and it can also regain it's original shape when thawed out witnout any loss of material properties.

    Tim D.
  • Unknown
    Unknown


    It can and has to others, but we've never seen it. Even during the ice storm a couple years back when some people were out of power for 2 weeks or more.

    PEX is good stuff. it's not sufficient freeze protection by itself, but it sure helps!

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  • John Starcher_4
    John Starcher_4 Member Posts: 794
    I tried....

    ....to make a chunk of HePex burst, and couldn't! We took a section, capped one end, filled it with water, capped the other end, coiled it up, and stuck it in the freezer.

    Let it freeze solid, then took it out and let it thaw in the back room. Repeated the cycle a half dozen times, and it never did split.

    I'm not saying that it would never split, but like Tim said, it is much less likely than copper to break.

    Starch
  • Dave H_2
    Dave H_2 Member Posts: 586
    Freezing PEX

    Typically the burst occurs where there isn't ice. Two ice slugs form at different ends, compresses the water (which isn't compressible) and exerts a large amount of pressure on the pex. So the burst shows where the water is and not where the ice is.

    Dave Holdorf

    Technical Training Manager - East

    Taco Comfort Solutions

  • Weezbo
    Weezbo Member Posts: 6,232
    it swells up like a ballon and pops with longitudinal splits.

    luckily never on any of my work, however this i have seen.Larry the plumbing and mechanical inspector (retired) showed me a white powder that came from a job where some how the pex turned sour in a slab freezing to some unheard of level one year ...i think most likely it had something to do with leaving in the sunlight for an extended period of time AND freezing.at least thats what i told him was my best guess.
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