PEX

Contest recognizes outstanding customer service; Winner receives $500 cash! 

Malco Products, one of the nation’s leading solution developers and manufacturers of a variety of high-quality tools for the building trades, today announced the launch of its brand-new Counterperson of the Year Contest. 

Malco is looking to recognize and celebrate outstanding counter staff at its U.S. wholesale distribution locations who demonstrate the same values that make Malco great: dedication to superior customer service and going above & beyond to ensure contractors have the Malco tools they need to get the job done.

There are great prizes lined up not just for the winner, but for the contractors and distributors who nominate as well:

• The winner will receive $500 cash.
• If the winner is nominated by a contractor, the contractor receives $100 in Malco tools of their choosing, plus the distributor/contractor team will receive lunch!
• All qualifying nominees and nominators will receive a Malco golf shirt, hat and product catalog.

Malco is also making it easy for contractors to nominate counter staff, with 3 options to enter:

• Grab a printed form at your local distributor location and mail it in (PO Box 400, Annandale, MN, 55302)
• Enter online at www.malcoproducts.com/counterperson-of-the-year
• Submit a brief video, which can be emailed or texted to Malco’s marketing department at 612-325-1502 or marketing@malcotools.com.

All entries must be received by Thursday, August 31, and the winner will be announced in October. Please note, this contest is only open to nominees in the United States.

For more information about Malco Products and to enter the contest, visit www.malcoproducts.com/counterperson-of-the-year

From risers to mains to in-suite piping, PEX is gaining popularity in multifamily construction as contractors are seeing the benefits to their crews’ productivity and their businesses’ bottom line.

With sizes up to 3″, PEX is the flexible, durable, cost-effective solution for both domestic water and hydronic heating and cooling systems. It does not pit, scale, or corrode, it offers more stable pricing for greater confidence when bidding a project, and it has no scrap value like copper, so there’s no concern about theft on the job site.

PEX is lighter in weight, which makes it easier for installers to move and adds to job-site safety. It also eliminates the need for heavy-lifting machinery or equipment, which can be costly and cumbersome.

The product is available in long, continuous coils, so installers can complete jobs faster and easier by just bending the pipe instead of stopping to make a connection with each change in direction. And for tight bends, there are bend supports available that simply snap onto the pipe to hold it firmly in place.

The flexible nature of PEX also makes it ideal for renovation, remodel, or re-pipe applications because it’s much easier to squeeze into tight areas and minimizes the need to alter the existing structure.

For connections, there are several options available. However, most professionals use the ASTM F1960 expansion method. This is because it provides a larger-ID fitting that does not restrict flow, and it can never be dry fit, adding peace of mind to installs.

PEX is a great alternative to traditional metallic systems for horizontal main piping. Using a steel support channel along with clamps and fixed points can help reduce linear expansion and contraction and can extend support hangers to be similar to that of metal piping.

PEX is also ideal for running below grade or in a slab. (Always follow local code as some jurisdictions require additional sleeving and protection.) For those types of applications, pre-sleeved PEX is available with color-coded red or blue HDPE sleeving for domestic-water systems.

Learn more about how PEX can benefit your multifamily installs with greater productivity and profitability potential.

Speed and accuracy are the name of the game when it comes to a successful piping installation and a thriving business. Whether you’re installing potable plumbing or hydronic piping, the faster and more precise the job, the more time and money you potentially have to work on other projects.

While there are hundreds of tips and tricks out there to make your installs faster, easier, and more effective, I’m going to concentrate on the following three methods almost any plumbing or mechanical contractor can use to bring greater productivity to projects.

Flexible PEX pipe with bend supports

If you’ve never heard of PEX, it’s an acronym for crosslinked polyethylene. It’s a flexible, durable plastic piping product that provides numerous benefits over rigid CPVC or metallic systems, including faster installs, zero corrosion, and freeze-damage resistance.

Many residential contractors are already using PEX (considering it’s the most installed piping system for new-home construction over copper and CPVC combined). However, PEX is still a relative newcomer in the commercial industry.

The biggest benefit of PEX is its flexibility, which allows you to simply bend the pipe with each change in direction. With a tight bend radius of six times the pipe’s diameter, you can practically make 90-degree bends without the need for a fitting.

For times when you do have a tight bend that needs to stay in a particular place, PEX manufacturers offer bend supports. For those of you that prefer to watch rather than read, here’s a video that explains bend supports in detail.

These helpful products are available for ⅜”, ½”, ⅝”, ¾”, or 1″ PEX pipe. They hold the bend in place at the proper angle and take a fraction of the time compared to making a 90-degree elbow.

Most contractors agree that using flexible PEX with bend supports can eliminate most fittings in smaller-diameter pipe sizes 1″ and down, saving up to half the install time of a rigid piping system.

Expansion tools

When it comes time to make a connection with PEX pipe, the professionals’ choice is PEX expansion. Note that expansion connections are only designed for PEX-a pipe. If you’re using PEX-b or PEX-c pipe, you’ll need to use a different fitting type as PEX-b and PEX-c pipes aren’t made to expand like PEX-a pipe, and they will experience microcracking during expansion.

Expansion connections require one simple tool that expands the pipe and an expansion ring before inserting a fitting. As the pipe and ring shrink back down around the fitting, it creates a solid, strong seal that can withstand up to 1,000 pounds of radial force. It’s quick and easy to do and simple to learn, so it’s highly beneficial with the skilled-labor shortage that’s challenging the trades. Here’s a quick, 20-second video on how to make a connection.

Now, to make installs even faster, expansion tools have advanced to make connections even quicker. For up to 1″ connections, the Milwaukee^® M12 FUEL™ ProPEX^® Expander with RAPID SEAL™ Heads is the fastest tool yet — with up to 65% faster sealing times compared to previous models.

For larger-diameter pipe connections, the new Milwaukee M18 FUEL™ ProPEX Expander with ONE-KEY™ is taking commercial installs to a new level by offering 3X faster 2″ connections. To watch how much faster, check out this video from Milwaukee Tool.

Prefab

Finally, let’s talk about prefabrication. This is becoming a big trend for national residential builders or large commercial projects that have a lot of repeatability on the project. By prefabbing certain sections of a project, it can shave days, weeks, or even months off a timeline, depending on how big the project.

Prefabricating piping assemblies in a controlled factory environment not only adds more efficiencies, it also provides an additional benefit of greater accuracy. By doing a job repeatedly, it hones the skill and gives installers greater confidence in their work.

Plus, having rows and rows of prefabbed piping assemblies in a shop environment makes it a lot easier to perform quality checks. Instead of walking for miles on a job site, a supervisor can save significant time simply walking a shop floor.

And here’s another area where flexible, durable PEX provides additional benefits. Transporting prefabbed PEX piping assemblies is much easier than transporting rigid assemblies that can crack or break. Because PEX is super flexible, it can withstand the rigors of being transported to a job site without worry.

So, there you have it…just a few ideas to keep in mind the next time you have a project with a tight deadline, and you’re squeezed on time and skilled labor. Every little bit helps when it comes to adding productivity to projects. If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to email me at kim.bliss@uponor.com.

Kim Bliss is the technical and marketing content manager at Uponor. She can be reached at kim.bliss@uponor.com.

Rehau, Germany—REHAU says it has seen the development of the crisis and the suffering of the people in Ukraine with shock and great concern. Here is a statement from the company:

As a company that operates in Ukraine, as well as in Russia and Belarus, we emphasize our position:

• We strongly condemn the attack on Ukraine and its people.
• It is a war against humanity, the freedom of all of us and peace in Europe.
• And thus against the values for which we as a REHAU Group stand with all our subgroups.

We have decided to suspend our operations in Russia and Belarus until further notice.

Russia in particular, where we have been present for many years, is an important market for us. We hope that the situation will soon change in such a way that we can resume our activities in both countries.

Our priority now is the safety of our colleagues and their families in Ukraine and those that are leaving the country. We began preparing possible contingency plans some time ago. Concrete help is underway at various levels:

• Via the emergency aid fund “Family for Families,” which has been endowed by the company with a significant sum to provide immediate assistance, but also to support reconstruction later on.
• Via the crisis taskforce, which coordinates support for our team in Ukraine, but also for the people fleeing. We are in constant contact with the local management for this.
• And via an account we have set up for donations from our 20,000 employees worldwide.

We hope for a peaceful outcome and our thoughts remain with everyone affected by the conflict.