I have some decent ideas as to why, I’m asking mainly as a hopefully fun contribution here, and to maybe learn some interesting plumbing info!
I have some decent ideas as to why, I’m asking mainly as a hopefully fun contribution here, and to maybe learn some interesting plumbing info!
Because until recently flexible pipes were hard to do, technology-wise.
But now we have pex. And pex is actually pretty scifi stuff. They zap it with rays to make the molecules link up better. It’s like superpowered rubber.
I thought PEX was just an industry term for HDPE pipes, but no, you’re right. The X stands for crosslinked and irradiation is one of (the more expensive) ways of achieving it. It sounds like most common PEX is made by adding peroxides to the HDPE or LDPE before extrusion and the chemical causes the thermoplastic to become a thermoset after the heat and pressure of the extruder. Neat stuff.
Ah! I was wondering how such a seemingly simple hose had a corner on the market. Apparently it’s not a simple hose at all!