Fast Installation and Zero Plumbing Leaks for Six-Story Facility

According to Trask, “With other PEXa brands, you can’t tell if the crimp is made properly and have to wait for the pressure test to know if it worked. With the EVERLOC+ fitting, it just takes a few steps to create a true mechanical joint that doesn’t solely rely on the memory of the pipe, so you can immediately see that the connection is made successfully and is leak-tight.”

According to Richey, another unique and valuable feature of RAUPEX pipe is the REHAU UV shield coating, and related UV-conscious handling. While RAUPEX UV shield pipe is not intended for permanent exposure to sunlight, it is the only PEX pipe with a 1-year UV warranty to protect from exposure during installation (see Figure 3). “UV ray exposure are one of the most damaging things that can happen to PEXa pipe. For example, if it’s sitting in the bed of a truck or outside at a job site for months before being installed, UV rays can cause hidden degradation and pin hole leaks down the road,” Richey explained. Not only does REHAU incorporate a UV shield coating on their pipe, the company also provides additional protection by packaging the pipe sticks and rolls in cardboard to keep UV rays out. Other companies use plastic wrap.

Leak Testing

The Meharry Medical College Living-Learning Center project incorporated more than 4,000 connections using the REHAU RAUPEX pipe/EVERLOC+ fitting PEXa system. Trask explained, “I would say with this number of fittings — 126 units with bathroom, kitchen, and water heaters, and all the other spaces — represents a big job with a lot of plumbing. Typically, in this type of situation, our team would see 50 or so initial leaks, and that would be pretty normal. No problem, we’d go back and fix them.” Although the failure points in plumbing are almost always at the fittings, and not at the pipe, it was impressive to Trask and his team how robust the RAUPEX pipe turned out to be, as well.