Replacing Gray Pipes

[Tim Wood]

I will have to keep tabs on your pex piping installation, as I'm thinking about replacing my gray pipes in my Horizon. I've been told but haven't seen anything yet that they stopped making the gray or quest pipe because they found arsenic in the plastic ? Anyway couldn't you use hose clamps for the pex pipe ? Tim

[Frederick L. Simson]

I will have to keep tabs on your pex piping installation, as I'm thinking about replacing my gray pipes in my Horizon. I've been told but haven't seen anything yet that [b]they stopped making the gray or quest pipe because they found arsenic in the plastic ? Anyway couldn't you use hose clamps for the pex pipe ? Tim

They stopped making the Qest^® Polybutelene (Gray Plastic) plumbing because the fittings were prone to leaking under Hot water and Chlorinated water conditions. This was especially bad news when this piping was sealed up inside a sheetrocked wall.

Link to Qest Failure Story

My Fiber Stream is plumbed with Qest^®. I found a (dwindling) local supply of fittings to procrastinate on a total re-plumb of my trailer.

PEX is the replacement for Qest. They are both semi-rigid types of pipe, using a compression fitting. Hose clamps work best on flexible hose.

[Tim Wood]

I found a (dwindling) local supply of fittings to procrastinate on a total re-plumb of my trailer.

PEX is the replacement for Qest. They are both semi-rigid types of pipe, using a compression fitting. Hose clamps work best on flexible hose.

Frederick, Thanks for that bit of info I really appreciate it. I'm thinking about doing a re-plumb also, did you use pex for your job ? And if so did you use the pex tool to crimp the connections ? I see they sell a tool like it on Ebay for that application. Tim

[Frederick L. Simson]

I'm thinking about doing a re-plumb also, [b]did you use pex for your job ?

I found some "new" Qest ^® nuts and compression fittings to install the new faucets to the existing plumbing. I just used a regular adjustable wrench and was really really careful not to over tighten and crack the new nuts like the old ones were.

[peterh]

I like PEX. It's bendable so easy to run, resists bursting if the pipes freeze, and as long as the the clamp-on connectors are installed correctly they're very leak resistant. (The PEX push connector types aren't bad, either.) PEX's only problem is price: the connectors and tools are very, very spendy.

There is an economical alternative to PEX: CPVC pipe. CPVC is the cream-colored pipes and fittings the hardware store stocks in the plumbing section next to the plain white PVC you've probably seen installed for irrigation systems. CPVC pipe and fittings are glued together by pre-treating both pipe and fitting with a special "purple primer" then glued together with an orange-colored cement. It's sturdy, inexpensive, can carry both hot and cold water, requires no special tools and is easy to work with. It's down-side is that CPVC isn't very flexible and isn't as freeze-resistant.

Press-fit PEX fittings can be used to interconnect PEC and CPVC piping.

[Tim Wood]

Thanks Frederick and Peter, I appreciate your feedbacks. Think I'm going to go with the pex, I know that Homedepot has much of the supplies. I've also been looking at some knock-off tools for pex pipe on Ebay. I do like the idea of the pex being flexible, and looks to be pretty easy to install. Tim

[Per Walthinsen]

Our 2000 Burro was plumbed with PEX, but the fittings are FlairIt brand. The only tools necessary are a utility knife, and a source of heat to soften the pipe (flame from a cooktop lighter is usable, but a heat gun is better and safer. They also make a little tool which grips the serrated screw-on fitting caps. It is cheap and very useful.

In the years I have modified the plumbing I have never had a leak, and the fittings work right the first time. A wide range of fittings are available, and my local hardware store has it. When I read about the other types of fittings I am grateful that the Burro came with this type

[Tim Wood]

Thanks Per for your comments also, its always nice to hear good ending stories. What got me going on re-plumbing my trailer , was a broken pipe I found when winterizing. I like the way the pex lays around corners etc. so I'll be doing that job in the spring for sure.