Heating Help

Seemed a good place to post this:

This is 2nd hand so I have no pictures, unfortunately.  A guy I know (Andy) was telling me about a call he got from some do-it-yourselfer.  The homeowner had installed his own hydronic heating system and couldn't seem to get it to work and asked Andy if he could come over and troubleshoot it for him - you know..."fine tune" it.  When Andy got there, he found the entire system - manifolds and all were plumbed with 3/4" PEX.  Everything (circulators and all) was basically hanging by string from the joists.

pex

I ran my entire system for my 4-plex in pex, but it was HePex, or oxygen barrier type. Works very well, but my near boiler piping was all copper 1.25".  It was difficult to secure it enough in a situation like mine to make it stop ticking when it heated up...

Tim

pex

My sister asked me to look at a lake house she wanted to buy.  It was a new cabin assembled by a reputable cabin builder, but finished by the homeowners.
There were many issues, but... the heating system consisted of 3/4 staple up tubing snaked all through the 1200 s.f. first floor-  1 loop, and 1/2 of the basement was finished.  The second floor also was 1 loop of pex, but only covered 700 s.f.
The visible connections were a mix of crimp, nut & ferrule, and hose clamp,  the tubing also was a mix of different brands some of it oxygen barrier, most not, boiler was not separated by a heat exchanger.

My Brother in Law agreed to buy the house but wanted to remove the 3 LP stoves that were in the living room, loft & dining area.  When I explained to him that they were what was keeping the house warm, they found a different house- same lake.
One of the 2 owners was an employee at big orange box store, who apparently got some good advice in the plumbing aisle.  Sorry no pictures