Fittings and tubes

[Thick8]

Hi Guys,
I've draw up my hose routing and am thinking of going with rigid tubing and compression fittings. I have a tubing bender and hot gun so I'm good there. This is going to be a closed loop chilled (10c ish) water system. I know I'm going to have to insulate everything so I want reliable, no leak parts because I won't actually be able to see the fittings and tubes once they are insulated. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
John

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Dry fit before you run the water though of course.
And take your time ensuring the bends and lengths are correct. planning is key.

Rigid tubing is hard to work with. PEX is harder to work with, and I made it work. Not as pretty, but it works.
Just take your time and you'll be fine

 

[Thick8]

I pick up a piece of PEX at Lowes yesterday. I was considering using it because it's cheaper and is not as susceptible to lower temps as acrylic. Plus it doesn't have to be pretty. I couldn't find any info on whether or not it could be heat bent. Now I know, thanks.
John

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

I pick up a piece of PEX at Lowes yesterday. I was considering using it because it's cheaper and is not as susceptible to lower temps as acrylic. Plus it doesn't have to be pretty. I couldn't find any info on whether or not it could be heat bent. Now I know, thanks.
John

It can be heat bent to a certain degree.
Remember that PEX has memory, so it returns to it original shape after heating and cooling...

EDIT: You will also have to use barbs if you use PEX. And no sharp bends! PEX can't handle that. You'll have to use 90 elbows for that.... Be sure to clamp every connection as well.

 

[Thick8]

So expecting to get the same types of bends as acrylic is unrealistic? Darn.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

So expecting to get the same types of bends as acrylic is unrealistic? Darn.

You can bend it like that, but the walls will be squished and it'll look like crap.

If you are going to try PEX, you must have the actual PEX fittings and proper PEX clamps, which means a PEX crimper tool...
It can be done, but you'd need a lot of fittings.

I'm running 7 90* elbows in my loop. Pump has no issue with pumping water nicely, though I'll bet I'm loosing a fair amount of pressure to the elbows. Next time 'round I'll be using 45* fittings instead.

My recommendation: stick with the acrylic unless you want a challenge.
PEX is paintable btw