# Is Pex a Dielectric?



## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

Is PEX a suitable Dielectric?


----------



## CTs2p2 (Dec 6, 2011)

It is nonconductive..

But I'm not sure what you are asking?

How do you mean suitable? 
I hate suits, I'm not very suitable..


----------



## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

I used it the other day under a house. I replaced a bad tee with pex, I used pex to relieve pressure on the line(thanks HVAC guys). It just got me wondering if it was a good dielectric, it can be used in walls unlike unions. We have lots of slabs where they the wire mesh touches the copper somewhere and the tees at the loop are crap. Would it be better to just go with pex instead of copper in this case.


----------



## CTs2p2 (Dec 6, 2011)

It won't react to dissimilar materials, but Pex does expand and contract quite a bit with temp changes.. Obviously the hot more than the cold pipe, but the cold pipe does too. So when using pex (in a wall or basement) I won't let it touch or rub on anything except a hanger.

In the sense of making a repair where copper ties to galvy pipe, pex would be a dielectric connector between two dissimilar metals, yes..

We do tons of slab heat and the pex is zip tied right to the wire mesh, (I have questioned it in the past) but all the expansion is transferred to where the lines come up from the slab. They need to be sleeved where they come up.. It's never been a problem, from what I'm told and have seen.


----------



## billy_awesome (Dec 19, 2011)

Not to sound like a jerk, but why are you asking?


----------



## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

billy_awesome said:


> Not to sound like a jerk, but why are you asking?



Slow time on PZ and I just got to wondering what others thought. I think it's cool to use for a dielectric maybe better that brass for small voltage getting into the piping from bad grounding ect. 

Some people seem to think copper is all, just wondering what they thought.


----------



## justin (May 14, 2010)

Does a sasquatch shiit in the woods?


----------



## PrecisePlumbing (Jan 31, 2011)

I reckon it is. On a different note I've used a loop of pex on hammering copper water lines to take the shock out of flip mixers retro fits and no access to loose lines. Worked a charm


----------

