When I bought my 30 year old home the inspector had told me it had Brass plumbing . He said it's stronger than the copper pipe that is available and should give me years of trouble free service . Well 25 years later I can say it has never given me a drop of trouble . Here in NYC the Pex tube doesn't meet building code so it can't be used in plumbing . Yes brass or copper is more expensive than plastic but in a skyscraper or even a single family home I couldn't imagine using plastic piping for the water supply .
Excellent demonstration of how you find and repair a problem. I will guess the movement of the boat makes the hoses constantly moving a little in the connection which over time wears out the seal. I haven't heard of the connections leaking over many years in houses where the hoses don't move at all.
With those push fit joints it is really important the your pipe is cut absolutely square so it is better to use an appropriate cutting tool rather than just a knife or a saw.
We live on an older Bavaria with the same system. It last very much for… a long time, but we had some pinholes over the last decade.. just appearing in a hose from nowhere at unexpected places. We use the same idea to bypass anything we suspect to be faulty. All in all it’s a very reliable system though. Just make sure you also have some meters of pipe for emergency besides the “ koplings. “ . Strongly recommend to have a pressure bladder in the system to easy to pump.
Pex is so awesome but those quick connects always seem less durable than old school threaded fitting esp with the vibrations of a boat. But I guess ya just have a bag of spares and its so easy to fix.
Very timely video Thomas, I have a ton of boat projects going on at this time on my 2007 Jeanneau 54DS to get her ready to head to the islands and this is a nice troubleshooting tip I learned from you. Thanks again Thomas for great content and inspiration to the rest of us to follow in your foot steps and learn from each other along the way.
I'm noticing that those white shark bite type fittings you had are primarily PVC. Plastic does not last as long as brass. I purchased the tools and the brass t's and other fittings so I wouldn't have to worry about platic PVC. The modern pex pipe is made to last, in fact, I found that even the old style stiff pex pipe wasn't the problem, it was the PVC fittings t's ect that were all cracking in the rebuild I did. I like the brass fittings because you can have a bag of them for the price of one shark bite fitting. Having a few shark bite connections around might be helpful for really hard to get to places.
I had many leaks on my 25 year old Catalina 380. The pump would come on every hour or so. Some of the problems were metric and American standard mixed together. The original is 15mm. Other problems wre just age. I replaced many fittings and pipes. Now, if I have to disconnect anything, I just put in a new fitting. I don't try to reuse the old ones which have O-rings. It's worth spending a couple of extra bucks and not have to revisit.
Great video, I always use silicon grease with those fittings. The rubber seals seem to last longer. Landlord/ contractor 23 years. Hope to see you out there soon. 1.5 years till I cast off.
Excellent troubleshooting video. In my case, I found when the My Shueflo pump stopped working I had to spend I think about 140 AUD to replace this with a new pump. This pump was only about a year old never the less I purchased a replacement? I dug deeper and found the head of the Shueflo pump has a pressure switch a generic replacement that costs $3 from JCAR, as Shueflo doesn't sell this pressure switch part you need to buy the complete pump head for about $75. Now I have two pumps and several spare pressure switches., Thanks for sharing. SV Skoiern IV
Thank you so much for sharing and for your great input as well! I’m so annoyed by products not even lasting 12 months anymore. And as you point out the micro switch regulating the pressure is the main problem in 99,9% of the cases. So your hint of replacement switch is worth it’s weight in gold. Not only to me but for entire sailing and yachting community. Thank you so much for sharing🙏🏻 All the best
These Pex pipe systems are quick and relatively simple to install compared to copper piped systems . The Pex systems therefore are cheaper , simply saving on labour , on land , in buildings anyway , to install . In my own house I would still install copper for the peace of mind it gives . In my imagined yacht though i would be in two minds about copper though , as salt water would probably attack the fittings where as plastic would survive the corrosion problem . Those shark , Pex , fitting though .... is there not some kind of compression joint for plastic piping available ?
You can never have enough parts and pieces of every system on board. I can understand why super yachts have large support boats traveling along with them just to carry all their spare parts😅
I don't like the push-on fittings. They rely on a seal that hardens and shrinks with time. The quality of the rubber is critical to how long it will maintain a seal. One improvement would be to use a viton seal in the fitting. It will last a long time. I prefer the hose clamp fittings. They simply need to be tightened over time. So simple.
I hate those tubes...if you read the instructions coming with that plumbing system, the tubes are not resusable...everytime you connect and disconnect there is another tiny nick in the plastic. Also, you cannot stress the tube (like a curve) near a connection as it will leak. It is a household system marketed to boats. Always have liked good old hose, barbs, and clamps.
This is not a new thing . I had a friend who was a factory trained engineer for one of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers . She told me that parts would be replaced if a customer had all the services done to their bike . These parts were not listed to be replaced at certain mileages so the home mechanic would not know to replace them . My bike , she said , needed new brass carburetter butterflies by a certain mileage else they would snap and enter the top of the engine ! Other machines had known problems.... they were almost designed in to fail . VW made a few stainless steel , or was it in aluminium , Beetle cars back in the day . Strange how these cars never became production models ....
Thumbs up for another episode of MacThomas!! Nice to see how you MacThomasing things in remote places.
Great idea with the test tool! Thank you for sharing
Great video Thomas, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. Fair winds.
C'mon folks and give this vid a thumbs up! 👍🏽 After all his efforts making and sharing videos, from remote places, it’s worth a 👍🏽 don't ya think?
When I bought my 30 year old home the inspector had told me it had Brass plumbing . He said it's stronger than the copper pipe that is available and should give me years of trouble free service . Well 25 years later I can say it has never given me a drop of trouble . Here in NYC the Pex tube doesn't meet building code so it can't be used in plumbing . Yes brass or copper is more expensive than plastic but in a skyscraper or even a single family home I couldn't imagine using plastic piping for the water supply .
Excellent demonstration of how you find and repair a problem.
I will guess the movement of the boat makes the hoses constantly moving a little in the connection which over time wears out the seal. I haven't heard of the connections leaking over many years in houses where the hoses don't move at all.
With those push fit joints it is really important the your pipe is cut absolutely square so it is better to use an appropriate cutting tool rather than just a knife or a saw.
Thanks we have an issue with ours so this is helpful. Cheers
We live on an older Bavaria with the same system. It last very much for… a long time, but we had some pinholes over the last decade.. just appearing in a hose from nowhere at unexpected places. We use the same idea to bypass anything we suspect to be faulty. All in all it’s a very reliable system though. Just make sure you also have some meters of pipe for emergency besides the “ koplings. “ . Strongly recommend to have a pressure bladder in the system to easy to pump.
The sailors life..One effin thing after another
Jag brukar kapa av ca:1 cm på pexslangen då brukar den hålla tätt. Var noga med att snittet är rakt. Med vänlig hälsning, Tomas. 🥰🥰⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️👍👍👍
Pex is so awesome but those quick connects always seem less durable than old school threaded fitting esp with the vibrations of a boat. But I guess ya just have a bag of spares and its so easy to fix.
Very timely video Thomas, I have a ton of boat projects going on at this time on my 2007 Jeanneau 54DS to get her ready to head to the islands and this is a nice troubleshooting tip I learned from you. Thanks again Thomas for great content and inspiration to the rest of us to follow in your foot steps and learn from each other along the way.
I'm noticing that those white shark bite type fittings you had are primarily PVC. Plastic does not last as long as brass. I purchased the tools and the brass t's and other fittings so I wouldn't have to worry about platic PVC. The modern pex pipe is made to last, in fact, I found that even the old style stiff pex pipe wasn't the problem, it was the PVC fittings t's ect that were all cracking in the rebuild I did. I like the brass fittings because you can have a bag of them for the price of one shark bite fitting. Having a few shark bite connections around might be helpful for really hard to get to places.
Many plumbers plumbing new construction homes are sold on pex. I'm very skeptical still. 🤔 Interested episode. Thanks for sharing.
I had many leaks on my 25 year old Catalina 380. The pump would come on every hour or so. Some of the problems were metric and American standard mixed together. The original is 15mm. Other problems wre just age. I replaced many fittings and pipes. Now, if I have to disconnect anything, I just put in a new fitting. I don't try to reuse the old ones which have O-rings. It's worth spending a couple of extra bucks and not have to revisit.
Great video, I always use silicon grease with those fittings. The rubber seals seem to last longer. Landlord/ contractor 23 years. Hope to see you out there soon. 1.5 years till I cast off.
Excellent troubleshooting video. In my case, I found when the My Shueflo pump stopped working I had to spend I think about 140 AUD to replace this with a new pump. This pump was only about a year old never the less I purchased a replacement? I dug deeper and found the head of the Shueflo pump has a pressure switch a generic replacement that costs $3 from JCAR, as Shueflo doesn't sell this pressure switch part you need to buy the complete pump head for about $75. Now I have two pumps and several spare pressure switches., Thanks for sharing. SV Skoiern IV
Thank you so much for sharing and for your great input as well! I’m so annoyed by products not even lasting 12 months anymore. And as you point out the micro switch regulating the pressure is the main problem in 99,9% of the cases. So your hint of replacement switch is worth it’s weight in gold. Not only to me but for entire sailing and yachting community. Thank you so much for sharing🙏🏻 All the best
These Pex pipe systems are quick and relatively simple to install compared to copper piped systems . The Pex systems therefore are cheaper , simply saving on labour , on land , in buildings anyway , to install . In my own house I would still install copper for the peace of mind it gives . In my imagined yacht though i would be in two minds about copper though , as salt water would probably attack the fittings where as plastic would survive the corrosion problem . Those shark , Pex , fitting though .... is there not some kind of compression joint for plastic piping available ?
Do you ever go home to Sweden for a visit?
You can never have enough parts and pieces of every system on board. I can understand why super yachts have large support boats traveling along with them just to carry all their spare parts😅
I don't like the push-on fittings. They rely on a seal that hardens and shrinks with time. The quality of the rubber is critical to how long it will maintain a seal. One improvement would be to use a viton seal in the fitting. It will last a long time. I prefer the hose clamp fittings. They simply need to be tightened over time. So simple.
I hate those tubes...if you read the instructions coming with that plumbing system, the tubes are not resusable...everytime you connect and disconnect there is another tiny nick in the plastic. Also, you cannot stress the tube (like a curve) near a connection as it will leak. It is a household system marketed to boats. Always have liked good old hose, barbs, and clamps.
I saw a post were they have evidence of building into new cars a 10 year life ,
This is not a new thing . I had a friend who was a factory trained engineer for one of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers . She told me that parts would be replaced if a customer had all the services done to their bike . These parts were not listed to be replaced at certain mileages so the home mechanic would not know to replace them . My bike , she said , needed new brass carburetter butterflies by a certain mileage else they would snap and enter the top of the engine ! Other machines had known problems.... they were almost designed in to fail .
VW made a few stainless steel , or was it in aluminium , Beetle cars back in the day . Strange how these cars never became production models ....
"Check the fuse before disassembling the air conditioning compressor..."
Plastic stuff creeps that's why it leaks