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[AirForcePOL]

When I bought my used Hardy H2 I also bought 85 ft PEX that was two pipes for the heater and 2 pipes for the DHW.  85 ft will get me into my basement but I will need to add about 20ft of pipe to make it to my heat exchanger and my water heater.  I am having a hard time finding any fitting that will work with what I have.  From what I have found on the internet it sounds like what I have is called PEX-AL-PEX.  It is orange and has a layer of aluminum in between two layers of plastic and it says 5/8" on the pipe but the outside diameter is 3/4.  Does anyone know if I can connect this type of pipe to normal PEX? And what type of fitting do I need to use if I can?   Thank you!!

[MattyNH]

I have PEX-AL-PEX as well..I don't see why you can't connect reg pex to it..NO different that going from PEX-AL-PEX to straight copper..The part I have is called "Screw pex-al-pex fittings".. www.ardipex.com is where you can find them

[RSI]

If it is 5/8" then you will have a hard time finding fittings. What does the inside diameter measure? Is there a brand name on it? Watts pex-al-pex is a different size than others. If it is older then it is probably Kitek brand.

I can get fittings for 1/2", 3/4", 1" and 1-1/4" but not 5/8"

[AirForcePOL]

ok, thanks Matt!   RSI, I am not sure on what brand it is.  Right now it is stretched out in the yard and inside of corrugated pipe to keep it dry until I insulate it.  The inside diameter is about 5/8.  I am not sure on the brand.  All I remember is that it is made in Canada.

[RSI]

So this is just uninsulated pipe you have? If so, I wouldn't use it. 5/8" Kitek is going to be almost impossible to find fittings for. It wouldn't cost that much to just replace it with 3/4"pex.

You only mentioned the 5/8". Are all 4 pipes that size or are two of them larger?

Also, since this is Kitek pipe, (made in Canada by IPEX)  I would check it over real good if you use it. They had a problem with the inside layer de-laminating from the aluminum and bulging inwards blocking off a lot of the water flow.

[AirForcePOL]

yes it is uninsulated.  I have insulation to put over it but just havent yet.  They are all 4 the same size.  I will give it a look and check it out.  I think it would be easier to just buy new pex at this point.  The fittings are a lot easier to find for standard pex than they are for AL-PEX from what I can see. 

[AirForcePOL]

Are you thinking that the 5/8 won't give me enough water flow?

[RSI]

For the DHW it probably will. It is pretty close to the size of 3/4" pex. It is the fittings that are going to be the problem.
If the boiler lines are only 5/8" then you will probably have a flow problem.

[AirForcePOL]

okay, I am just going to go buy some 3/4 pex.  Now, I just hope that it will all fit in my 4" corrugated pipe.  Do you think it is possible to use 1/2" for DHW?  All of my lines in the house are 1/2.

[RSI]

You should really use 1" pex minimum for the boiler and 3/4" for the DHW. Any less and you will regret it later.

[AirForcePOL]

ok I will go and pick up some 1" pex tonight.  Now here is another question... How would I go about connecting 1" Pex to a heat exchanger that has 1 1/8" OD inlet and outlets?

[RSI]

I prefer soldering fittings on and using crimp or cinch rings. A lot of people just use Sharkbite fittings.
The fittings on your heat exchanger are 1" copper. The OD of 1" pex and 1" copper are 1-1/8"

[AirForcePOL]

awesome!!! Thank you for all of your help! Now, I will start the race against time and see if I can get it hooked up this weekend! The heat exchanger just showed up in the mail    Thanks again!