1/2" Blue ViegaPEX Tubing (300 ft. coil)

The Viegapex is required for the guarantee on the Manabloc, which I also purchased through Supply House. Delivery and processing by Supply House was great on every order. The big thing about this tubing is that the big box stores in my area are not up to speed on 3/8 tubing, and in some cases fittings, but I followed recommendations using 3/8 on everything except outside hose bibs and tubs. I have one shower, which is a good 45' from the manifold--over 50 by the time you factor in bends- and water pressure and volume are just fine. Hot water times have gone from 2-3 minutes with the old insulated galvanized to literally 30-40 seconds with the 3/8 pex. It is also slightly easier to work with and fish through walls than the 1/2". I chose the stainless clamps over the copper ones for ease of installation- one tool and ease of removal in case of a screw up. They make a removal tool for the copper ones down to 1/2 inch- but none for 3/8, which you could grind off. Don't get me wrong, the stainless take patience but you can get them off. Screwdriver in the crimp to work it apart or a strong hand and tin snips snapping off the crimp will do it. I bought a ratcheting tool for the clamps and did 3/4 supply, 1/2 and 3/8 clamps with ease. If you have an old Harley, I'm thinking this tool will work on the oil line fittings too- they look identical. One mistake I made was thinking the 3/8 would not be enough volume- I also ordered 30 1/2 fittings for the Manabloc to replace the 3/8 I ordered with the Manabloc if needed. A bag of six would have done what I needed- two tubs, two hose bibs and washer and laundry sink. The last two would probably have been fine with 3/8 but I ran out and wanted to complete the job so went to Home Depot and bought one each 100 foot rolls of red and blue. By the way- if you're like me you will forget to order some items- I would recommend HD for extra pex as they carry Sharkbite, which are made by Cash Acme- a US and Australian company. Lowes has all Chinese fittings--except for the hose bibs- which are reversed- Lowes has US and HD Chinese. I started my plumbing project with pex from galvanized about 10 months ago- but due to time restraints due to other projects,initially installed the Manablock, then ran two 1/2 lines from it back into my old trunk and branch system to keep the water on as I worked on one section at a time, only shutting the water down long enough to separate and plug the section I was going to hit. When the weather turned bad- really bad, I really hit the plumbing and finished it up in a few weeks due to continues interruptions with other emergencies. Another tip I have is not to be afraid to use connectors. The idea is no break from manifold to fixture, but if you have none behind walls, that is the main concern. I did supplemental shutoffs on every line--sinks and toilets were shutoffs and connectors to the fixture, but showers and hose bibs I did in line half turn shutoffs, and this made me realize that either you trust the connections or you don't, and if you don't maybe you should take another route. My last long runs to a sink were 10' short, so I did connectors in the basement, and the hot water goes blue at the end to lessen waste ( No 100' roll just for 10') OK, a little long for a critique on tubing, but thought I'd combine my critique of pex in general since my project is finished woith not a leak- knock on wood! The worst part of this was getting the old galvanized out- the pex was actually fun- if you let yourself have fun when doing home repair. Have fun and you can do this. No plumber will go hungry, do-it-yourselfers are a thinning breed in this country- unfortunately!

The tubing is great, but there are not nearly enough 3/8 fittings. I used 3/8 tubing for all my sink fixtures in order to save hot water and I'm extremely happy with the result. However, if I had known how many headaches would be caused by the lack of fitting options, including finding appropriate crimper tools, I would have chosen to use 1/2 tubing on all my fixtures. It's a sad state of affairs, which the suppliers can fix if they choose to do so.