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Plumbing typically goes from point to point, with shut off valves near the ends of each line. If you have to repair the plumbing you typically shut off water to the whole house. Manifold plumbing routes plumbing like electricity – hot and cold water go to a manifold with a lot of shut of valves, and a seperate set of lines going to each fixture. This way you don't need a shut off vavle at each fixture, and you rarely need to shut water off to the whole house. Labor is easier since the PEX pipe bends and very few cuts, splices, or elbows need to be used. Fewer joints also means less chance of leaking.
Check into manifold plumbing systems with flex line – the parts are more expensive, but I've heard that the difference in install time almost covers the parts cost differential.
Randy Glenn
The manifolds themselves are very expensive, and really don't offer much of an advantage in labor because you end up running more tubing from them to each faucet. I ran one 1" trunk line for both hot and cold water down the center of my house, and tee'd into that to go to the bathrooms and kitchen.
Bob
Very expensive?I did some remodeling last year and nearly have the entire house converted from galvanized to plastic pex. I installed a Manabloc. At $125, I thought it was cheap. Yes, we used more pipe, but most everything is 3/8" and we get hot water pretty fast even in the far corners of the house. There is much less cold water to empty out of that 3/8" line than in a 1" trunk line. :) I also like having the ability to individually shut off each fixture. One can even use the red and blue pipe for hot/cold respectively, but the roll lengths didn't work out well for me as there would have been too much left over. I ended up using all white.
www.bright.net/agarb/manabloc.jpg
Only disadvantage I've noticed is that if I turn a faucet on/off very quickly the water hammer will cause some pipes to bang against the floor joists. I need to get down in the crawl space and secure them better.
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Quoted for Quote Date Expr Date Ship Via Frght Warehouse
xxxxx xxxxx 06/03/05 06/30/05 No Shp
7421Prc 742
___Writer Salesperson Release # Terms
xxxxx xxxx House Sales Person CASH
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Quote Qty Part # Product Description Unit
Price Net
1ea 733184 VANG PX2C5 WHITE VANEX PEX, 3/8IN 91.330
- WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING VANGUARD
PIPING
91.33
3ea 821160 VANG PX3C1 WHITE VANEX PEX, 1/2IN 20.515CTS, SDR-9, 500' COIL
61.55
1ea 692870 VANG PXR2C5 3/8X500 RED TUBING 91.330CTS, SDR-9, 100' COIL
91.33
3ea 211554 VANG PXR3C1 1/2X100FT COIL RED 20.51561.55
1ea 692846 VANG PXB2C5 BLUE VANEX PEX, 3/8IN 91.330TUBING
91.33
3ea 210407 VANG PXB3C1 1/2X100FT COIL BLUE 20.515CTS, SDR-9, 500' COIL
61.55
1ea 687832 VANG MXBD6–30 30 COMBINATION PORT 125.605TUBING
125.61
TAXES NOT INCLUDED
T H I S I S A Q U O T A T I O N
Prices are firm for 30 days, subject to
change without notice after 30 days.
A P P L I C A B L E T A X E S E X T R A !
I was quoted somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 for the Kitec manifold. Do you have valves at the faucets? If not then the manifold system at that price would have a great advantage, the quarter-turn valves from Kitec were about $15 apiece IIRC.
Bob
No valves at faucets. Pex comes straight out of the wall and is crimped onto an inexpensive fitting which screws directly onto the faucet tails.Why did you use Kitec? I thought it was normally for use in systems that need an oxygen barrier, like a pressurized boiler heating system.
The items I bought came through my father's HVAC company with no markup. Perhaps your source has significant markup?
Aaron
No markup, got it direct from the distributor. Its a bit more expensive than the non-aluminum cored tubing (pex). It was recommended to me by my friend who helped me with the plumbing, and I do like it. The tubing is rigid and stays bent when you bend it. I've run pex plumbing into another crawlspace and it was a pain in comparison. Either way its a compromise.
Bob