How to repair a pex pipe

Cross-linked polyethylene, popularly known as PEX, has been widely used for water piping, insulation, and heating systems. They are flexible and are freeze-resistant which makes them also ideal in cold climates. Plus, they are more affordable and easier to install. They can last for up to 200 years given that they are not exposed under direct sunlight.However, like any other type of pipe, you will need to repair your PEX pipe once in a while. PEX pipes are not actually prone to leaking. Accidental holes may occur, but most plumbing leaks happen at connection spots or joints which are caused by incorrect installation.

If the kink in your PEX pipe is not that bad, you can just carefully round the tubing using smooth pliers. However, if the kink occurred on a bent part of the PEX pipe, the kink might re-develop if the said method was used. To prevent the kink from re-developing, you can put a firm bend support to the pipe.If using smooth pliers to repair the kink is not effective, you can make the kink disappear by using a thermostat-controlled hot air gun. This is done by heating the PEX pipe at a temperature higher than the pipes melting point which is around 270°F. However, you need to make sure that the temperature of the air that reaches the surface will not go over 330°F. You can use a thermometer to check the temperature.

Heat the PEX pipe carefully while turning the air gun continuously to make sure that all of the kinks sides receive equal amounts of heat. The heated tube will become transparent within 2 to 4 minutes. During this process, the kink starts to disappear.Once the kink disappears completely, stop heating. Let the pipe cool down until it turns opaque again. Do not touch it. You can also apply cool water if you want the pipe to cool faster.The conventional repair method involves replacing the damaged section of the PEX pipe with a new one by crimping. 

For this, you can follow the same steps listed in the next section.As we have mentioned earlier, PEX connectors can break if you haven’t installed them correctly. These connectors are made without using chemicals or solders. This means that even if you installed them tightly, they might still come apart or leak.This occurs when the water’s chemistry causes selective zinc leaching from brass alloys which weakens the fitting and results in leakages. However, this can be prevented by using dezincification-resistant brass fittings for your PEX pipes.