Had my first experience with Pex this weekend.

[MikeRP]

This is the first weekend we've had the Coach out this year because of my son's wedding.

So I dewinterized the Coach yesterday and found a leaky valve on the cold water going to the hot water tank. So I went to an RV store which had nothing and ended up at Home Depot in a panic.

Well Home Depot had everything except advice on how to remove those nasty little metal clamps. Finally I gave up and looked at Home Depots website and walla they had a video. After farting around for nearly 5 hours, I had the material and wherewithal to repair it. It wasn't pretty but I got it right for this weekend and I will redo the repair this week so it looks good.

I was just off about a half inch in length.

So I recommend everyone get familiar with how to do that repair!! And carry some Pex.!

[doc73]

Good job. I will need to watch thid video myself. Never know when it will be needed.

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[youroo]

Originally Posted by MikeRP

This is the first weekend we've had the Coach out this year because of my son's wedding.

So I dewinterized the Coach yesterday and found a leaky valve on the cold water going to the hot water tank. So I went to an RV store which had nothing and ended up at Home Depot in a panic.

Well Home Depot had everything except advice on how to remove those nasty little metal clamps. Finally I gave up and looked at Home Depots website and walla they had a video. After farting around for nearly 5 hours, I had the material and wherewithal to repair it. It wasn't pretty but I got it right for this weekend and I will redo the repair this week so it looks good.

I was just off about a half inch in length.

So I recommend everyone get familiar with how to do that repair!! And carry some Pex.!

Did you rent or buy the Pex crimp tool? or did you use (Shark Bite)? Youroo!!

[Lynkage]

This is a kit that just stays in the camper.
The crimper was $40 at Lowes/Home Depot and works on all sizes of PEX cinch clamps.

I highly recommend everyone has one of these setups so that you can repair leaks on the go without having others come to fix it for you.

PEX is also very forgiving and fittings can be re-used if brass and sometimes you can salvage the plastic ones as well. I prefer to use the Brass fittings as I know they can take some abuse especially it the cold weather.

[Still Kickin]

Originally Posted by Lynkage

This is a kit that just stays in the camper.
The crimper was $40 at Lowes/Home Depot and works on all sizes of PEX cinch clamps.

I highly recommend everyone has one of these setups so that you can repair leaks on the go without having others come to fix it for you.

PEX is also very forgiving and fittings can be re-used if brass and sometimes you can salvage the plastic ones as well. I prefer to use the Brass fittings as I know they can take some abuse especially it the cold weather.

Where did you get that kit, or was it just made up by you.

[MikeRP]

Yes I bought the sharkbite crimp tool and some blue Pex and some metal crimpers.

I think maybe I should buy an assortment of valves and fittings also to carry along.

[MikeRP]

Id love to have that kit!!!!

[MikeRP]

Is sharkbite bad?

[TexasBob]

Originally Posted by MikeRP

Is sharkbite bad?

Sharkbite fittings are great. I've used it for repairs at home. Some have said that sharkbite connectors might not do well in in an RV environment with the down the road vibration. I kind of agree. Except in emergencies I would use a crimp fitting on my RV.

[youroo]

Originally Posted by MikeRP

Yes I bought the sharkbite crimp tool and some blue Pex and some metal crimpers.

I think maybe I should buy an assortment of valves and fittings also to carry along.

This is ,(Sharkbite fitting) require (NO) crimp tool,or metal crimpers! There are PEX sleeves that require crimping with a tool,but (Sharkbite ) push into the (Sharkbite) fitting! At the most the only tool needed for (Sharkbite) is a PEX hose cutoff tool! Youroo!!

[WFD]

Just had to fix a leak in our trailer...same sorta thing...at the tee coming off the cold water going to the hot water tank...crimp tool was near impossible to get in there to get proper placement of the cinch clamp on the pex....rv repair guy told me when he fixes plumbing he uses the Sea Tech fittings....same as Shark Bite except they are all plastic, he said success rate with them is close to 100%...used them on mine, and worked like a charm...nice thing is they can be removed and reused and if you made an error in measurement or whatever its easy to correct. I have since put a couple of those fittings in my plumbing toolbox...a connector, a couple 90 degree elbows, a length of the pex and good to go....most RV places carry the Sea Tech fittings and have also seen them at Home Depot.

[Lynkage]

Originally Posted by Still Kickin

Where did you get that kit, or was it just made up by you.

I made it. It is a Dewalt organizer that attaches to more organizers and keeps everything in tact.

Originally Posted by MikeRP

Id love to have that kit!!!!

It cost me about $120 including the crimper and organizer!

Originally Posted by MikeRP

Is sharkbite bad?

Push to fit fittings are wonderful especially for quick repairs. The fittings are pretty expensive (brass ones) but work really well and I would not worry about them in an RV. They fit copper, PEX and flex CPVC tubing (all have the same O.D.). They will stay put and not leak and as was pointed out above, you can remove them at will.

The plastic P2F fittings are good I just have a hard time using anything less than SCH40 PVC fittings or brass because of breakage during cold weather but they work just fine and are less expensive.

I just finished re-plumbing my new Atwood on-demand 50K BTU hot water heater and just having the parts to connect it all how I want is awesome!!

BTW the new tankless is SWEET!! Really hot water!!