PEX tubing

Anyone here ever install PEX? I am looking toi add a 2cnd zone in my basement. I changed from oil to gas and when I did, I had the boiler plumbed for a second zone. All set to go, all I need to do is attach the piping. I think I am going w/ PEX as I am not a plumber and sweating all those joints will be time consuming for me to get it right. This way I just need to sweat a solder-pex connector on the feed and the return.

I am looking for some research on how to connect everything. I cannot find a good research book to help me do this. I only need about 12-16ft of baseboard (which will be seperated, not 1 long stretch of baseboard) as this is about a 500 sq ft room that is not used as living space. Thus no need to worry about outside wall placement of the baseboard. I just need some heat when people are down here. I had an old 1950's oil furnace that would heat up the street so I always grabbed some leftover heat. Now, this thing is so darn efficient that I get nada lol. Good for my wallet, bad for my rear end.

Anybody work with this stuff who could point in the right direction? I am fairly handy and will try to do anything myself with proper knowledge.

 

Nowadays you don't even have to do that. A company makes a connector called Sharkbite that you push on. Very easy to use you just have to make sure the ends are cut at a 90 and are cleaned up-no burrs. I have 1/2" copper tying into a 1/2" PEX line without issues.

 

ditto. i've used the shark things before on a couple jobs with no problems.... apparently the trick is once you put them on, leave em... once they're taken on and off they don't seal as well... they're just a plastic tube with an o ring on each end that fits tight, and little razor "teeth" that grab the pipe. Super easy.

 

the other thing to consider would be sweating copper but using MAP(P?) gas. burns way hotter than propane and you can sweat joints insanely fast. heats up to temp to melt solder in a few seconds...

 

Those sharkbite connectors work great, i installed hundreds of yards of pex that i ran between the floor joist for a radiant heat system. Many of the nails that went through the floor nicked the pex and so far no leaks . I have no experience with using it with existing plumbing, all i can say is the stuff is very strong and very easy to install.

 

Thanks for the tips. These sharkbite things, they have one end connected to the PEX and the other kinda grabs onto the existing copper? Do they get crimped? The shutoff is ina vertical position so I have some solder rundown. Whould this need to be cleaned up before the sharkbite will take?

As for MAP, I do use that. I am just very skilled with sweating pipes. Some of the connections will be made in tight areas. Messing around with test pipes on my workbench is different than sweating my heating systems connections in body bending postions lol.

Those sharkbites, would they work connecting to the radiator's copper piping as well?