Spa flex PVC cool or what?

[malawinovice]

What a neat product. Great for the return on the sump pump.
Also the take off from the bottom bulkhead in to the sump.


How come not mentioned more frequently?

[malawinovice]

PS white in 1" and 1 1/2" ID available at Lowes. Just dont ask for it over the phone, they are clueless.

[kdblove_99]

I use both the spaflex and Hard PVC.

Price is probably a big reason its not mentioned more

[malawinovice]

The less I have to work with glue, solvents, the better.

[KMP]

i just ordered black spaflex yesterday...$22.24 to plumb entire system to include auto-top off, phosban reactor and chiller. (2 ft - 1 1/4"; 10 ft - 3/4"; 6 ft - 1/2"). obviously, this isn't needed for the auto-top off or phosban reactor...just asthetics (keeping it all the same).

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...12473/cid/3157

[Mr James]

by malawinovice
How come not mentioned more frequently?

Mentioned and used frequently. Some people avoid it cuz of the price tag.

[Rickyrooz1]

I use 3/4" ID for my return.

[FranktheTankTx]

Yep, I don't hard pvc any of my tanks. I use spa flex and/or clear hose on the return. So much better than glueing everything and having no flexibility.

[walmart]

I used 5 FT of 1-1/4 inch Spaflex for 15 bucks at The Home Depot. Its not that expensive when dealing with sumps close but when dealing with the sumps in the basement it will end up being 50 bucks or so. I like the stuff too because it cuts down on vibrations.

[greenhut]

Spaflex certainly has its place - I used it for a long return run to save plumbing time, head loss, and reduce chances of leaks. Costs signficantly more, but was well worth it to me.

When you get into the larger sizes (I used 2" for making some bends through the floor) it gets pretty difficult to work with.

Using the cleaner solvent and Rain N Shine cement with spaflex is recommended as well..

[kdblove_99]

Curious how it reduces chances of leaking?

[hemi18]

it reduces chances of leaking b/c there are less points of failure, less elbows, 45's and couplers equals less glue ups, therefore less points of failure.....

[rpeeples]

Here is a "below deck" view. > 90% of my plumbing is spa flex.

Easy to work with and allows you some latitude regarding preciseness of measure.

[Mr James]

rpeeples, I thought the idea behind Spa Flex is to eliminate elbows and 45's?? I see a bunch under your system?!?

[reefergeorge]

It just makes his straight shots not have to be so Perfect. I don't think it is able to make a nice 90.

[gixxer600]

For me, spa flex was a pain to work with. I just used a piece of spa flex to connect the sump to my return pump. The rest is hard pvc.

[reefergeorge]

gixxer600, Shouldn't you be gsxr600?

[rpeeples]

Originally posted by Mr James
rpeeples, I thought the idea behind Spa Flex is to eliminate elbows and 45's?? I see a bunch under your system?!?

Mr James, I don't think I could avoid using the 45's and 90's especially given the limited space under the tank. As someone stated, the straight pieces where a little easier on the preciseness however I really don't believe I could have avoided 45's/90's. Perhaps I could have used less but this was my first tank in the 200+ G. Just wanted to give a few shots of the spa flex to show it's use in my setup. The spa flex also allowed me to move plumbing under/over other plumbing. It also helped with angles going into and out of various areas such as the closed loop/returns/drains/chiller.

Also, the 1 1/2" spa flex is not very pliable making it extremely difficult to make a 45 degree angle let alone a 90.

[greenhut]

I had to do two 90s with 2" spaflex. In the end, it came out nice, but hard PVC would have been easier.

My tank is in my family room, wet room is in the basement in the opposite end of the house. I went down through the wall into a tray in the basement. That's where the bend were. From there it was about a 40' straight horizontal wun to the wet room. I did dual 2" drains with hard PVC. I had planned on doing siumilar with 1.25 on the returns, but pulled a full 50' of spaflex instead. Saved me hours, and I don't have to worry about leaky joints - particularly on the higher pressure side.

[RokleM]

What's spaflex? I love it and use it just about anywhere I can. It's easier to run in tight spots, less adapters needed, cuts down on head loss, less chatter/banging of pipes, etc.

When it comes to making very sharp 90's, I typically use 2 45's (look where the pipes enter the sump).

[Kentanner11]

Nice/\!

Yea spaflex here can run quite expensive! lol!

[Mr James]

now THAT'S a 90 degree bend in the corner of that first shot!!!!