Installing Pex For Baseboard Heat
Just used nylon zip ties to strap it to the fin tube to keep it in place.
Installing pex for baseboard heat. Coming out of the wall to the fixtures you can use a pex to copper stub out or another type of pex support such as drop ear bend support. If i have copper stubs for baseboard i drill a 1 3 8 hole which is large enough to fit the copper tubing plus a plastic mouse ear clip where the tubing penetrates the floor. Pex is not meant to be pulled tight so leave slack for expansion and contraction. Slide the copper crimp ring up so that it is 1.
These pliers are specially designed for pex and should always be used. And don t forget to use oxy barrier pex or you have to keep everything in the system non ferrous. To play with some numbers say your heat loss is 16 mbh 20 btuh per sf as a place to start. Use of pex for basboard heat plumbing reply 3 on.
The straps should be plastic or metal that is designed to work for plastic pipe. Ok i am conservative but you own the pex already and i do have my reasons. If running vertically it should be supported every 4 to 6 feet. Measure out the length of pex you need for installation and cut it with the pex tubing cutter.
Step 2 set into a fitting and crimp. Just watch the temp rating of whichever tube you re using. From under the sink you. Yes you can use it to connect baseboard.
When you have the pex cut to length slip a copper crimp ring onto the pipe. Pex needs to be supported a minimum of every 32 inches when running horizontally. But we have used regular pex. Pex tends to get all snakey and wants to come out of the baseboard enclosure when it gets hot.
July 19 2011 05 10 53 pm i did our whole house with aquapex including the radiant floors with it too. Make sure your water temps won t exceed this rating. Insert the tubing into the piper fitting. You could get 1 6 gpm through 1 2 pex but that is about twice what i would design for and would have about 3 4 times the pressure drop.
When cutting pex it is imperative that it is a straight burr free cut. We use pex al pex if we want to enclose the return in the baseboard cover less expansion. I m concerned about noise when it expands. I ve been using the same diameter drill bit for the pex but because the pex wants to bend at crazy angles it rubs against the hole in the floor.