PEX tubing instead of copper???

[driz]

Just curious, why wouldn't PEX be approved in Chicago or anywhere else for that matter? I's it real or memorex as the ad used to say. Is it some local phenomenon or just ignorance / politics?????

[pushkins]

Just curious, why wouldn't PEX be approved in Chicago or anywhere else for that matter? I's it real or memorex as the ad used to say. Is it some local phenomenon or just ignorance / politics?????

My belief in this is that it's a combination of a few things, part "this is the way we have always done it", part lack of an enforceable "national" code and part "Inspectors always right" so you have him/her as the final say.

I guess you could argue for days the pros and cons of copper over PEX, copper is a naturally occurring material, not produced from petroleum, gives off trace amounts of good minerals, not trace amounts petrochemicals, PEX however handles freezing better, is cheaper to install, has much more flexibility in installation. Yes PEX is DIY easier, but I've seen some disastrous PEX installations that defies even poor logic.
I work across 4 different counties and numerous city jurisdictions as a GC and I see interpretations of national codes vary greatly, the national code says PEX is approved, Chicago code says it's not, one county around me insists that the stub outs are to be copper not elbowed PEX, no reason, just that's the way "they" want it, even know a plumber that says he likes it that way because it makes the job "look" like it's all copper.

[Redwood]

I'd say in Chicago the biggest factor is a strong union presence and the Chicago Political Machine...

But hey it is what it is and if you install plumbing not to code at some point you will probably pay to redo it and in some cases much more...