"mysterious pex"

[80sguy]

hey gang its my first post here in your forum and I have to say I love this forum! Very helpful.
So here's my question. I bought a couple coils on Craigslist of this black Pal alPex made by from aquitherm. It's rated at 200 degrees and I think 200 psi. it's definitely a PEX alpex product. But when i did some searching online to make sure I'm using the right type of fittings I could not find it. when I asked about it at the plumbing supply company in my city, the one that supposedly knows everything, and nobody there had ever heard of it or seen it before in black. Does anybody know anything about this product and which type of fittings I should use ....compression etc? Thanks
80sguy

 

[Matt30]

Is it a ridgid tubing? Ive never dealt with al pex but from what i remember its like ki-tec, where it has a middle layer of aluminum tubing, mainly designed for heating systems.

There are specific compression fittings, and i do believe the alpex had a crimp system similar to Rehau, but i could be wrong. We dont use it here, hopefully somebody else can shed more light on it. Id like to know myself.

 

[80sguy]

no its not ridged. It looks like the regular stuff just black on the outside

 

[Matt30]

Can you post a picture? Maybe one of the ID markings as well

 

[phishfood]

I have never seen black PEX. I have, on more than one occasion, run into black polybutylene. But never PB/AL/PB. So I don't know what you have.

 

[Matt30]

I have also saw black PB. But that doesn't explain the al pex reference. I opened my books and sure enough al pex is supposed to be a ridged pex with an aluminum tube.

I'm stumped too.

 

[frodo]

bet its kitec

 

[80sguy]

hey gang thanks for the replies, Sorry it took awhile to get pictures. I haven't been able to get up to the house to work but here's what I've got. It definitely behaves like pex al Pex ...look at the one picture: I've bent it near 90 degrees and it's been that way for 2 weeks

 

[80sguy]

hey Frodo. I looked up that stuff you were talking about and it looks just like it but that stuff is branded Kitec right on it.
perhaps Aqua thermr made it for Kitec or vice versa?

 

[Matt30]

That's the product I was referring to. It's ridgid, you bend, it holds its shape. The fittings used for that pipe are similar to KiTec, but specific to Aqua therm.

I would discard it and buy new regular pex and fittings. Any amount of fittings for that stuff will put a dent in your wallet.

 

[80sguy]

Too funny. .. I didn't catch on the small screen of my phone that you had spelled rigid with a D it looked like it said ridged.
Thanks but I am going to keep it to do three loops of radiant in my family room so I'm only talking 6-8 Fittings. So what kind of fittings are they?compression?

 

[Matt30]

To my knowledge, you can get compression or crimp.

 

[80sguy]

okMatt thanks Happy Thanksgiving. I don't know if thats hey NovaScotia holiday or not