When installing a plumbing system in a facility, the costs for the plumbing contractor often break down primarily into two categories: one, the materials—the initial cost of the piping and fittings, and two, the labor—the installation time, and the time to repair any leaks and finish the job.
When Aaron Trask, vice president of family-owned Parkway Construction Services of Nashville and St. Louis, won the bid to plumb a new multi-purpose building on the campus of Meharry Medical College, he knew that replacing the original spec for copper piping with PEXa piping would provide high-quality performance while saving money in the initial materials cost. But even he was pleasantly surprised by the extent of the savings he accrued in labor costs — both in installation and final inspection — with the PEXa brand he selected.
Chris Richey of Kenny Pipe & Supply was pleased when his contractor partner — Parkway Construction Services — won the bid for the new six-story facility on the campus of Meharry Medical College in downtown Nashville, which features 126 apartment-style units, flexible teaching spaces, a parking garage, retail spaces, offices and more. Also, when Trask came back to Richey for a quote on PEXa piping, he knew which system to suggest: REHAU RAUPEX UV shield crosslinked polyethylene pipe with the EVERLOC+ compression-sleeve fitting system.
The EVERLOC+ fittings are installed with a fast, consistent, nearly foolproof process requiring only two expansions and one compression, utilizing a proprietary tool. Basically, the installer expands the pipe, puts the fitting in, and the sleeve compresses the pipe over the fitting to create the seal. Further, the fittings have a textured PEXa compression sleeve with four sealing edges that protect against leaks.
While Trask is very familiar with PEXa products, he had never used RAUPEX pipe or EVERLOC+ fittings, but was confident in the recommendation of his supplier. Once he and his team got rolling, they immediately noticed differences compared to their many prior PEXa installs, quickly gaining confidence in the speed and surety of the REHAU system that they were soon plumbing four rooms per day.
Trask additionally noted, the RAUPEX pipe with EVERLOC+ fitting system allows you to do a pressure test immediately without waiting for the pipe to naturally reform after expansion, which must be done with other expansion systems he has used.
The real difference, Trask noted, came with the pressure test.
Trask mentioned that other tradespeople on the site, such as drywallers and the general contractor, often watch the pressure test and prepare to help mitigate any typical ancillary damage that might occur from initial system leaks.
Although Trask explained that the failure points in plumbing are almost always at the fittings, and not at the pipe, he and his team have also been impressed with the robustness and quality of the RAUPEX pipe, joining his supplier Richey in that assessment.
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 one-year UV warranty to protect from exposure during installation.
Although not as often seen by the contractors, Richey noted that REHAU reps “are a real class act” as far as providing any needed service in the field.
Trask said he believes that, thanks to Kenny and REHAU, Parkway has a valuable new product at their disposal that will in turn help them please their customers.
