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!
Plumbing Apprentice here. Garden hoses wear out in 5-10 years, and ideally the water and drainage pipes will be there for decades.
dope@lemm.ee 11 months ago
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.
Lev_Astov@lemmy.world 11 months ago
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.
LeadSoldier@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Ah! I was wondering how sick a seemingly simple hose had a corner on the market. Apparently it’s not a simple hose at all!
someguy3@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
It sounds like you may know. Does PEX have all those same concerns about plastic water bottles, the BPA and people say there are many more chemicals that didn’t get the same attention.
dope@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I never heard any such concerns.