CLICK or TAP HERE to discover more about exactly why I chose to use AquaPEX made by Uponor.
If you had tried to install traditional copper lines using solder, perhaps you could have installed pipe to one or more fixtures in that four hours by cleaning, fluxing and soldering the pipe and fittings. Yes, you can use the modern press fittings for copper, but most people can't afford the $1,500 press tool required to crimp the fittings to the copper tubing.
By the way, I'll be demonstrating how to use one of these magical press tools that squeeze a copper fitting that has a rubber o-ring in it to create a leak-proof joint. I'm using this technology to install the copper around the modulating Noritz combi boiler going into my daughter and son-in-law's new home. You'll see that video in two months or less.
Wait until you see how amazing this press tool is and how soldering copper will eventually be kicked to the curb in most instances.
The primary advantage to using AquaPEX, or other PEX, is that you don't have fittings hidden behind walls and ceilings. You just have a connection point at the water distribution manifold and then you have a connection at the shutoff valve at the fixture.
The PEX installs like electric wiring. You just pull it through the open bays of the floor trusses or holes you might drill in solid floor joists or engineered-wood I joists.
I'm sure once again you can see why I specified to use open-web floor trusses on this job by looking at the above photo!
Can you imagine drilling HUNDREDS of holes in floor joists to run PEX, heating PEX or the electric cables???
12-Gauge Wire
A few day ago we started to install the electrical wiring in the new house. I discovered long ago the advantages of 20-amp circuits as opposed to 15-amp circuits which most houses have. A 20-amp circuit can handle 2400 watts vs the 1800 you get with a 15-amp circuit.
Do you remember your high school physics class? Watts = Amps X Volts
One hundred and twenty volts is the standard here in the USA.
Yes, 12-gauge wire is slightly tougher to bend when you install an outlet or a switch, but it's worth it to have all that extra power for just $25 more for each 250 feet of cable you buy!
Yes, at the time I purchased the spools of cable, it was just ten cents more per foot for 12 gauge wire vs 14-gauge you use for 15-amp circuits.
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