Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: WoodMOJoe on November 21, 2013, 08:20:51 AM

Title: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: WoodMOJoe on November 21, 2013, 08:20:51 AM

I am trying to help eliminate some 90s on my hx hookups in the basement and was wondering if it is ok to use a hair dryer or heat gun to help bend the pex into shape?

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: Scott7m on November 21, 2013, 09:27:53 AM

The 90's aren't a huge deal if your pump is sized right, each 90 is the Same as 10ft of pex

But u can heat it, I just don't like to make things look bad to save a few 90's

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: WoodMOJoe on November 21, 2013, 10:10:01 AM

Cool, thanks Scott.

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: Divernut on November 21, 2013, 11:06:31 AM

I used a heat gun on some of my pex pipe when trying to fit the tubing around my furnace and making some tight radius's for various connections.  It works great, no issues.  I also used it on a leaking connection.  You could tell it was under some stress and slightly crooked on the barbed connection.  I heated it up and massaged it so it was straight, then crimped it in place.  It has been that way for 2 years no with no issues.  I am not sure about a 90 degree connection.  It's worth a try and won't cost you anything but a little bit of time to find out.

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: WoodMOJoe on November 21, 2013, 12:12:36 PM

Thanks Divernut...I wasn't needing to make a full 90, just wanting to makes some tighter bends than what the pipe want to give me.  I added 1 brass 90 to that line and it worked great.

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: RSI on November 21, 2013, 09:55:14 PM

If you use a pex bend support you will get almost as tight bends as using 90's.

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: WoodMOJoe on November 22, 2013, 06:31:12 AM

Quote from: RSI on November 21, 2013, 09:55:14 PM

If you use a pex bend support you will get almost as tight bends as using 90's.

thanks RSI.  I didn't even know what a pex bend support was until yesterday, saw them at a supply house.

I really only had one run where the bend was an issue and I did put a 90 there, I can make all the other bends with my pex and think they will look pretty good when done.

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: smitty33 on November 22, 2013, 02:13:25 PM

I was able to make tighter bends in my pex when I started circulating my 180 degree water then just fastened the lines down, becomes pretty flexible with hot water flowing. 

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: LittleJohn on December 03, 2013, 07:08:28 AM

Right on SMITTY, pex definately loses some rigidity when you pump 180f water thru it.  It gets easier to work with but you have to work faster 180f hurt hands

Title: Re: Heat gun on pex?
Post by: smitty33 on December 03, 2013, 04:01:33 PM

yeah I wore gloves too hot for bare hands!!!