# Flair-It Pro PEX



## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

Anyone every use this system? There website is cheesy but I got the tools for the system to play around with it. My local supplier is starting to carry the line of fittings. Alot like Wirsbo, but alot easier and faster to install. I hooked up a coupling and it seems pretty strong. Might come in handy for the crawl space jobs. Tools cost about 20 bucks for the 1/2 and 20 bucks for the 3/4. Requires no calibration. Works on PEX a, b, or c.


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

Will said:


> Anyone every use this system? There website is cheesy but I got the tools for the system to play around with it. My local supplier is starting to carry the line of fittings. Alot like Wirsbo, but alot easier and faster to install. I hooked up a coupling and it seems pretty strong. Might come in handy for the crawl space jobs. Tools cost about 20 bucks for the 1/2 and 20 bucks for the 3/4. Requires no calibration. Works on PEX a, b, or c.


<SNIP>

WANT AN OPINON
CHEAPER TOOLS MAKE IT EAISER FOR DIY
MECHANICS ... To futher degrade the plumbing trade as we know it. Pex is cheap enough but the tools cost money. Thereby stopping the weekend warrior from buying them for a job you should be doing. Then do it with a fitting that in itself looks like a DIY wet dream. Go ahead buy em help out the goodby Plumbing Trade ...
pretty soon the national slogan won't be "We protect the health of the nation" It'll be "Put some more plastic crap in my piping" Wait till they find out some plastics are detrimental to your health. Who will be lieable, the seller or the installer ???


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

I agree 100% with Bill. One of the things I like about pex is when I go to a customer's house that wants a repipe and they say "I thought about doing it myself but the tools are so expensive". I then play that up with something like "Oh yeah, they cost a lot but they're worth it for me since I use them so often". A $20 pex tool is a disaster.







Paul


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

Looks cheap, I'm not a big fan of pex anyway.


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

After making a few connections it seems too hold up pretty well. I wouldn't trust it in a customers home, even after close inspection I don't realy see what is keeping it from blowing apart. Seems like a insert on the ring and the memory of the pipe is all that is holding it from blowing apart.


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## RW Plumbing (Aug 16, 2010)

Will said:


> After making a few connections it seems too hold up pretty well. I wouldn't trust it in a customers home, even after close inspection I don't realy see what is keeping it from blowing apart. Seems like a insert on the ring and the memory of the pipe is all that is holding it from blowing apart.


Type B and C pex don't have the same memory that type A does. Just food for thought. And with how long that coupling is I hope you don't ever have to put a couple fittings close together.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

Looks like rehau's system. I think the name was everflow or something like that. It looked like a bulletproof connection but it didn't last.


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## sikxsevn (Jun 23, 2009)

They have that crap on display at my local supply house, and a small stock that their rep gave them. They couldn't pay me to take that crap off their hands, it's almost as scary as the CSST they sell at Blowe's


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## OakumJoe (Sep 2, 2011)

> CHEAPER TOOLS MAKE IT EAISER FOR DIY
> MECHANICS ... To futher degrade the plumbing trade as we know it. Pex is cheap enough but the tools cost money. Thereby stopping the weekend warrior from buying them for a job you should be doing. Then do it with a fitting that in itself looks like a DIY wet dream. Go ahead buy em help out the goodby Plumbing Trade ...
> pretty soon the national slogan won't be "We protect the health of the nation" It'll be "Put some more plastic crap in my piping" Wait till they find out some plastics are detrimental to your health. Who will be lieable, the seller or the installer ???


Any homeowner can go to Lowes or Home Deopt and but a $25 Pex crimper.










Not exactly what I call expensive considering what I'd charge to make a few crimps for a customer.


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

The diy will find a way but if we don't help it may slow the process


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*why not sharkbites....*

tomorrow I am installing a water softener 
in a home plumbed in wirsbo pex.... 

I am planning to use about 6 shark bite fittings
and knock this job out lighting fast..... 

 I would rather use
sharkbites over fooling with the expander and plastic fittings and risk  one of them leaking on me......
the last house I re-piped out of wirsbo , I ended up with a number of leaks and the sharkbites bailed me out of trouble at 6 in the evening...

if you cant beat them, you might as well find a 
way of making money with them....:yes:


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

W.........T.........F......

Really? An expander is to much work? And we wonder why the trade is going down.



Master Mark said:


> tomorrow I am installing a water softener
> in a home plumbed in wirsbo pex....
> 
> I am planning to use about 6 shark bite fittings
> ...


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## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

Protech said:


> W.........T.........F......
> 
> Really? An expander is to much work? And we wonder why the trade is going down.


 
Really? you think the trade is going down because a Plumber uses some sharkbites

there an Approved Fitting

Sharkbites have a 25 year Warranty


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## RW Plumbing (Aug 16, 2010)

Sharkbites are great when you have to get bailed out of a lousy situation. Using them because you don't know how to work an expansion tool properly, is just poor. I would rather figure out your problem with the expansion fittings, instead of using sharkbites to put it together. 

I have done thousands of joints with the Wirsbo system, and haven't had a single failure(knock on wood). It is a superior system to the crimp rings IMO, and is a lot harder to screw up then crimp. Are you using type A pex? If it doesn't say Wirsbo/ uponor or rehau on it, it isn't type A these are the ONLY 2 manufacturers that produce type A pex. Are you rotating the tool after every expansion? 

Get the Milwaukee M12 or M18 pex expander. It has an auto rotating head so all you have to do is stick it in, and let it do the work. Everyone I've talked to that has used the Wirsbo system correctly has had little or no problems with it. If it was complete junk, why would it be so widely used?


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## RW Plumbing (Aug 16, 2010)

You know what the absolute best thing about Wirsbo is? They don't sell it at home depot. You can market it as a professional product, because it's only available to professionals. Also, your customer can't price shop it at the store.


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## OakumJoe (Sep 2, 2011)

I'm rather shocked how many of you think that faster cheaper easier solutions are "destroying" the industry. They are not, this is the nature of technological innovation, learn to adapt your business as you are required...don't start crying that pex is destroying your business.

It doesn't take a degree to hook on a running rope and pour a lead joint either. There will always be people who want to do it themselves and those who are willing to pay a professional to do it.

That being said I think the Wirsbo system is the best pex solution available. 

I don't use SharkBites except for a temporary cap because they are far too expensive and I get an eerie feeling about them.


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## sikxsevn (Jun 23, 2009)

OakumJoe said:


> I'm rather shocked how many of you think that faster cheaper easier solutions are "destroying" the industry. They are not, this is the nature of technological innovation, learn to adapt your business as you are required...don't start crying that pex is destroying your business.
> 
> It doesn't take a degree to hook on a running rope and pour a lead joint either. There will always be people who want to do it themselves and those who are willing to pay a professional to do it.
> 
> ...


My thoughts exactly. Sharkbites are great to bail you out of a sticky situation, but I refuse to bury them or put them behind a wall


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

I use them and still feel eerie but shake it off ....I'd rather crimp, but I'll put them underground and in walls .......

I use everything else too...still solder once and a while...cause sbts are pricey......use cpvc and I dont like it but I dont get the eerie feeling....

Just glad to have work


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

OakumJoe said:


> I'm rather shocked how many of you think that faster cheaper easier solutions are "destroying" the industry. They are not, this is the nature of technological innovation, learn to adapt your business as you are required...don't start crying that pex is destroying your business.
> 
> It doesn't take a degree to hook on a running rope and pour a lead joint either. There will always be people who want to do it themselves and those who are willing to pay a professional to do it.
> 
> ...


Not destroying...destroyed....no homeowners pouring lead, most would never solder....
Pex is necessary or some alternative to copper...but if it can be sold in a big box store..its hurting

I agree about adapting....no other choice really.


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## easttexasplumb (Oct 13, 2010)

This economy is what is hurting the industry. When folks are out of work, they have plenty of time to attempt plumbing repairs. When laid off or working reduced hours, you got more time than money. These d.I.y. parts are being created because of the added demand.


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## Greenguy (Jan 22, 2011)

It doesn't matter how expencive the tool is or how easy the piping system is a DIY'er will always find a way even if it involves using duct tape. There will always be another contracter who is willing to go for a cheaper price its the same in all industries, trying to compete with them makes us no better then that, but who cares we have quality products and services that we can use to fix their junk and show them the right way.

...if nothing else we can chain our selves to there kitchen tables.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*flew through it*

I installed a new clack water softener yesterday...
walked into the home ALL BY MYSELF at about 10.30
no helpers , just little old me....... 

had to isolate the kitchen, 2 hose bibs and icemaker box,,, that went well
with just one main line to cut and capp 

cut into the wirsbo system , cappped off one side with a shark bite capp..like real fast ....no water pouring down my shirt ..and I did not flood the place out.... 

*I factored into the price the 9 shark bite fittings to do this job*

I did not have to some how get up into between a couple of joysts with my expanding tool and somehow install a wirsbo tee... and hope that it all held ok 
....being 6 year old wirsbo pipe, this joint scared me, so the 3/4 sharkbite tee probably
saved me about 30 minutes....or maybe more 


I used 4 3/4 elbows,/ 2 3/4 tees.. / 2 caps, and one ball valve..
I know that the ball valve is about the same price in a wirsbo fitting so thats a wash ,,,


no cussing, no frustration...no arm wrestling my battery power expander and
no re-doing any joints... I was done and gone at 1.15 .. had lunch, then I
installed a warranty water heater across town...


I 100% KNOW I would have been there all day arm wrestling and fooling 
with my expansion tools...... *YES* *I am going ot have to get them checked out*


call me a pussy if you must , but I am really ok with it....:laughing::yes:

 this picture is a little fuzzy... the zipp ties still needed to be trimmed, 
but that shark bite ball valve valve looks gooooood....................................


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*expanders still not working right*



Protech said:


> W.........T.........F......
> 
> Really? An expander is to much work? And we wonder why the trade is going down.


\\


Its too much work fo r me when i have to re-do a bunch of joints that should have gone ok and looked good till the water came on

I gonna have to throw out my wirsbo expander tools and buy some new ones... cant seem to get through a job without a few joints leaking on me.... had that kind of trouble today with a small event..

got to re-pipe a small house tomorrow and looks like its gonna be another shark bite affair...... I dont have the time or patience to trust my tools again...:no:.

probably will fly through the job in a third of the time


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