Pipe for a warm floor of cross-linked polyethylene: description, characteristics, reviews

Warm floors today can be called the most optimal and acceptable option for heating. Among the characteristics of such a system can be identified reliability, economy, safety and hygiene. Most often for the installation of a warm floor today used pipes made of cross-linked polyethylene. This allows you to mount a heating system that will differ in durability and efficiency.

Specifications

If you use a pipe for a warm floor made of cross-linked polyethylene, you should first familiarize yourself with its main characteristics and properties. Crosslinked polyethylene can be attributed to polymerization ethylene, which has a maximum molecular density. In a raw or uncrosslinked form, the thermoplastic has molecules that are not related to each other, they are located inside the polymer matrix.

Features

In the process of cross-linking, a forced reaction by the chemical coupling of molecules takes place, which makes it possible to obtain polyethylene with mechanical parameters, which are expressed by rigidity, resistance and tensile strength. The elongation to break becomes much less. The presence of these mechanical characteristics allows this polyethylene not to be melted under the influence of high temperatures, ensuring the quality of thermoplasticity. If you use a pipe for a warm floor made of cross-linked polyethylene, then you should know that the cross-linking process involves the operation of uniting individual links of molecules into a single bundle by the method of forming transverse free bonds during the course of the chemical reaction.

Key Qualitative Advantages

A pipe for a warm floor made of cross-linked polyethylene has a lot of advantages. They allow the material to be used in the manufacture of products that will form the basis of the warm floor. Among the main advantages are the most optimal ratio of strength and flexibility. Products have the property of shape memory, which is due to the presence in the molecules of a significant number of carbon bonds. One can not help but note the low sound conductivity, which excludes the absence of creaking in the installed heating system. Even at high flow rates, consumers will not hear any extraneous sounds. The pipe for the warm floor of cross-linked polyethylene has corrosion resistance, and also perfectly tolerates the effect of chemical reagents. Inside there are no deposits, and even in a stressed state, the products are not covered by cracks.

Frost resistance

You can count on high frost resistance, so the products will be able to withstand many cycles of freezing and thawing. Each master will be able to carry out installation work without storing special materials and tools for cross-linked polyethylene. Products have high impact resistance and toughness, these characteristics are preserved even when exposed to extremely low temperature (minus 50 degrees).

Selection of the manufacturer by cost

If you are looking for a pipe, cross-linked polyethylene, the price of which will be mentioned below, is perfect for equipping the underfloor heating system. However, it is initially important to determine the manufacturer by selecting one of those that have proven themselves in the market of the relevant materials. The most popular brands today are Wirsbo, as well as Rehau, the first of which is in Sweden, while the second one is in Germany. These manufacturers use peroxide technology. The Kan trademark is a joint production of Germany and Poland, the method of radiation cross-linking is used in the manufacturing process.

The most popular products today are made of cross-linked polymer, which has a high density (PE-X). They can be used both in hot and cold water supply, therefore they are universal. As the basis for the standardization of products made from cross-linked molecular polyethylene, the outer diameter, wall thickness and inner diameter are adopted. The pipes are normalized in accordance with standard sizes, each of which has an appropriate ratio of the outer diameter of the pipe wall parameter. REX-pipes are produced by bays, the length of which can vary from 100 to 600 meters.

If desired, you can purchase and lengths of different lengths. If you choose pipes for a warm water floor, cross-linked polyethylene will be an excellent solution. However, initially it is necessary to determine the technical characteristics and the firm, from which the cost will depend. For example, the company Rehau, which produces products of the most significant degree of cross-linking, offers to purchase the product at a cost of 95 rubles, as for the size 16 x 2.2. The highest price for a product from this manufacturer is equal to 270 rubles, which will have to be paid for a pipe size 32 x 4.4. The company Tece offers the same size, but the cost for them will be much higher, prices range from 113 to 297 rubles. In the plant conditions, engineering professional equipment is produced, which assumes an average degree of cross-linking and the presence of an oxygen barrier.

Positive reviews

If you choose a pipe, cross-linked polyethylene, the price of which is higher, will be the most optimal solution. However, it is important to familiarize yourself with customer reviews before purchasing. They argue that during operation, there is a slight noise level, as the pipes have the flexibility and ability to absorb splashes of pressure well. The material has a negligible weight, which makes it easy to install. These features are to the liking of a private buyer. Every home master wants to save money when repairing his own home. Cross-linked polyethylene for heating allows to achieve such an effect - the pipes can be used for 50 years and more. Experts emphasize that such systems have the least probability of explosions that can occur after the system is defrosted.

Convenience of work is also confirmed by the fact that during the installation it is possible to use compression and compression fittings for cross-linked polyethylene.

Negative characteristics

Among the minuses can be identified the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation on the material. If we talk about REX pipes, which are sometimes compared with metal-plastic pipes, then the first ones are devoid of an aluminum layer, so it can be somewhat more difficult to work with them, since more manipulation is required to strengthen the pipe and hold the mold. The information (technology) about warm water floors before the beginning of the work must necessarily be studied, since if you do not know some of the nuances, you can later face troubles. For example, on the outside of the product there is an anti-diffuse protection, which must be handled very carefully. If you do not follow the installation rules, then the protection can be damaged, which is fraught with various problems in the future. Therefore, sometimes there is a need to involve in the manipulations of certified specialists, which can be quite expensive.

Conclusion

The technology of warm water floors implies the need to observe a variety of nuances. However, before starting work, it is necessary to think about what is more important for you - rapid heating or insignificant cost. Metal-plastic products are characterized by rapid heating and excellent thermal conductivity, and are characterized by ease of installation. But shiny polyethylene costs less, and also allows to save on intervals at stacking, that is especially actual for the significant areas.