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Plumbing News
Why the Best Repair for Kinked
PEX is a Fitting.
However, with flexibility there
can be a “twist” to PEX. Specifically, when PEX is forced to flex
more than it should – whether deliberately or accidentally – it can
kink. Some installers will try various tricks to exceed the
manufacturers recommended bend radius in order to achieve desired
installation outcomes. Most manufacturers do not allow the practice
of “hot bending” tubing to make a tighter bend radius. PEX can be
easily bent by hand, or with the use of approved bend supports to a
radius as small as five times the tubing’s outer diameter. But you
want to avoid kinking the tubing.
A kink impedes the flow of water and creates a weak spot in the
tubing, so it must be fixed. One way to do this is by applying heat
so the tubing softens and regains its original shape. But this
repair can be tricky.
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The
PEX must be heated above its crystalline melting point but
not too hot so the tubing isn’t further damaged. A torch is
too imprecise and can overheat the material, so a
temperature-controlled digital heat gun is the recommended
tool. However, it can take several minutes to perform this
process correctly, gradually heating all sides of the tubing
and then letting the tubing cool down to room temperature,
untouched to avoid the risk of the kink redeveloping or
additional damage occurring. And once the tubing has been
compromised by the initial kink and the heat repair, it’s
more likely to kink again in the same spot. Overheating can
shorten the life expectancy of the tubing by thermal
degradation.
The only sure way to eliminate future problems with kinked
PEX is to cut out the damaged section and repair it with a
fitting. Not only does that remove the weak spot, but it
avoids destroying the physical characteristics of the tubing
which make it a great choice to start. Plus, and it can be
done in under a minute with Viega’s PureFlow fittings.
Cutting out the kink and installing a coupling also retains
Viega’s 25-year warranty on PureFlow PEX and the 30-year
warranty on Viega Barrier PEX and FostaPex tubing.
Additional considerations to protect the physical
characteristics of the tubing would be using sleeves at all
penetration points, use only plastic or plastic-coated
tubing supports, leave a small amount of slack between
fasteners to account for tubing contraction, use suspension
clips or an approved plastic insulator where tubing passes
through studs or joists where abrasion and noise is a
concern, and lastly, use nailing plates to protect the
tubing from nails and screws where it passes through studs.
For more information contact our Technical Specialists at
techsupport@viega.us.
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