Qfyilyi

Aside from the difficulty of finding the right fitting, is there a specific reason I need to connect my clothes washer to the taps via a hose instead of directly via PEX?

I ask because hoses are regarded as a poinit of with a high likely hood of failure. Given PEX and PEX fittings tolerance to bending, freezing, and their ease of rotation around a joint, it seems like PEXing directly into my washer would be preferred vs spending $100+ on fittings, valves and hoses to do it the traditional way.

My thought was to T off a supply line and use two elbows to ensure flexibility in all directions. After the 'T', I'd have 2.5 feet of PEX that I won't strap down to allow flex in the 'y' and 'z' directions, and then an elbow and another 2.5 feet before the shutoff valve to allow flex in the 'x' and 'z':

Fittings

If it is okay to connect directly, is it okay to use a plastic elbow? (the male connection on my clothes washer is plastic) such as the sea tech one pictured below, or should I use brass only?

Aside from the fact that I don’t think it would be allowed by code it would be inconvenient and if there was ever a problem with the mechanics inside your machine and water started spewing out all over your floor you wouldn’t have a way to shut it off or disconnected easily.

Trying to save money now may cost you more money in the long run.

Buy stainless steel braided hoses and if you’re still worried get an auto shut off water detection system.

Do it right once or do it wrong once and then do it right the second time.

I think it's a good idea, though I've never seen a washer hose fail ("high likelihood" is probably still point-zero-zero-something percent per year). Some caveats:

• Pex, while fairly flexible, probably isn't going to take repeated long-term movement like rubber or vinyl. Leave enough of a loop between the wall and the machine so that no part of the tube is regularly stressed by the natural vibration of the machine (and you moving it to clean out dust bunnies).


• You might find that you wish you had shutoff valves close at hand. In fact, it may be required by code.


• Pex, being stiff, may want to jump around a bit when the machine opens and closes its internal valves. This could cause some slapping behind the machine. You might need to secure the lines to prevent them doing so.

All though I am not sure if this is a code enforcement issue, the one issue I see is the flexibility of the hoses to allow the machine to "wobble" or "jump" when out of balance. Therefore not breaking the pipe or elbow, or slipping off the pipe at the connection point.