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kid sinister posted:Copper is also preferred because sometimes electrical appliances and fixtures were once grounded to the cold water line in the old days. This isn't to electrical code nowadays, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't done in the past... Replacing any copper pipe with anything nonconductive means that you could possibly be breaking the grounding path for an electrical appliance somewhere. Besides, sweating copper isn't your only option, you know: You just blew my freaking mind, sharkbites are genius. Maybe I can get some advice... let me explain with the aid of my amazing drawings. I'm currently in the process of doing a full remodel on my kitchen. I'm going to have someone help me with moving my 220 line for my stove, but unfortunately, that means I'm also moving my refrigerator (the stove is going in its place, and it's moving across the room). Ex. 1- The refrigerator is red, the existing waterline is orange (it's going through the base of the cabinets), and the sink is the blue box (and basically the only place I have water to use).  Ex. 2- This is what I was thinking of doing. Now, I'm not a plumber (calling me an amateur would be generous, but I'm pretty handy... with other stuff), and I don't know how good of an idea it is.  Essentially, since I have doors on all the walls, I was thinking I would go down into the floor, through the crawlspace under my house, and back up the other side where the fridge will be (the green box). Until I saw those sharkbite connections I figured I'd have to hire someone to cut out the existing copper, run new copper or PEX under the house, probably for a hefty fee (and everything feels hefty during a remodel!). Now, if I can unscrew the waterline at the sink (if there's a fitting... which I can't remember off the top of my head), I can probably just convert straight to PEX and it's as easy as dropping it / bring it up the other side, right? Is there anything to worry about with going under the floor (conditions under the house, water pressure, etc)? If there's no detachable fitting for the waterline (if they soldered it, or whatever you do to hard-fit something in plumbing!), could I cut the pipe and add a sharkbite, convert it to PEX, and then move the line to the other side? Is this a job best left to a professional? Thanks for the advice, I'm happy to see a plumbing thread! benitocereno fucked around with this message at 18:21 on May 26, 2009 |
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May 26, 2009 17:55
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Rd Rash 1000cc posted:No this job isnt done best by a pro. You can easily do it yourself. You can use a shark bite too to adapt from copper to pex. A simple shark bite tee will do fine. Remember like i said in the last post. Put the white plastic stiffener in the pex pipe or it will most likely leak. I'm pretty sure home depot sells vanguard pex fittings and rings. If you're fine with just using shark bite double check all your fittings and make sure you dont have any leaks. Excellent, that's going to make moving the fridge so much easier. I live in central/north NC, so our winters aren't too fierce. Average coldest it gets is around 38, but overnight / in the morning we can hit the 20s, rarely under that. The crawlspace is a closed space, but it's not really insulated. My forced air (ground vents) run through it and they are all insulated, one of which empties into the kitchen. However, the kitchen is essentially in the middle of the house, so only one crawlspace wall is directly actually exposed the outside air for that section. I don't know anything about the freezing point with PEX, do they make insulated tubing if that's an issue? benitocereno fucked around with this message at 18:40 on May 26, 2009 |
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May 26, 2009 18:35
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Awesome, thanks for the help guys, looks like I have something to do this weekend. One last point of clarification- RdRash, you say to use a tee, but if I'm cutting the existing copper fridge line could I just attach the PEX with a straight coupling to the old line, right? Is there any reason to use a T over just adapting the old line? I'm also guessing I have some sort of floor insulation down there... but you always find the craziest things when you remodel. If I don't have insulation I'll be adding it though, probably a good idea for my bills anyway. Do you guys recommend any specific brand for the actual tubing, or should I just go down to Home Depot/Lowes and grab whatever is cheapest? Thanks again, love this thread! benitocereno fucked around with this message at 19:01 on May 26, 2009 |
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May 26, 2009 18:59
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Just wanted to post an update- I crawled into my crawlspace for the first time this weekend and found there's more than adequate insulation for running the pipe under my house (in fact, there are several under there already that appear to be working fine). However, I noticed when I was under there that it was awfully cold... and then I discovered blowing cobwebs. This led me to find that a main duct off of my AC unit was only half attached... I was blowing cold air into my crawlspace by the truck load. Having only been in this house for only a month, we figured that the AC unit was just old. It's still old and inefficient, but it sure does blow a lot more cold air now. So, thanks to the advice this thread, I got to fix that and save myself a ton of money there as well  . Just wanted to thank you again!
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Jun 1, 2009 15:07
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