Pex won t ruin if frozen.
Insulate pex in attic.
How to insulate pex.
Keep the tubing shielded from both hazards to increase its life.
Because the advantage of pex is that the pipes are easily curved around obstacles etc i bet insulation coverage wouldn t be more than 90 in even careful installations.
While pex does not ordinarily burst in the cold the water in the pipes can still freeze.
The foyer is 16 long and is off the kitchen it isn t heated directly but is part of the house.
The builder insulated about 6 feet of the lines from the water heaters located in the attic but did not insulated the entire lengths.
I plan on running pex pipes both hot and cold across 16 feet of unheated attic space above a foyer.
It is usually colder than the rest of the house mostly due to the cat door and slider the dogs go in and out of.
I find no problem with it being in the attic as long as it is properly insulated.
Once my attic warms up after a few hours the next day the pipe thaw.
In any case insulation would serve no purpose whenever the wait.
Insulating the pex helps prevent conduction sweating.
It is important to choose the right insulation material.
If all plumbing lines are within the envelope and a recirculating pump is installed what might the payback period be for insulating pex hot water lines.
Because pex piping is flexible it is often used in angles loops or other non linear shapes which makes it imperative to have equally flexible insulation material.
In a world of infinite possibilities anything is possible.
I would rather have a line break in the attic than under a concrete slab.
Pex tubing is susceptible to cracking when it s exposed to freezing temperatures or ultraviolet light.
Should pex water supply lines in attic be insulated through its entire length in the attic.
Table 1 also shows that all of the plastic pipes tested to date exhibit moderately to significantly higher heat loss rates than comparably sized copper pipes when tested uninsulated in air.
Ideally in the attic you would want to run the pipe as close to the ceiling as possible below the insulation.
Basically the r value of pex insulation does not meet energy code requirements for piping insulation.
It s smart to insulate water supply piping exposed to.
So far no leaks.
Tips for insulating pex pipes.
Also according to ashrae research 2015 hvac applications page 50 4.
It is important to insulate pex pipe in an attic particularly in cold weather areas.
There are no manufacturer guarantees it won t fail.
I have a run of pex in my attic that freezes when the outdoor temps falls to about 15 degrees.
I suppose you don t have freezing issues in fl but if you run it above the insulation the water in the pex will heat up more than if it is run close to the ceiling.
