PEX must be protected from UV A Florida bypass will require 20 feet of pipe be outdoors: it is in a rectangular tunnel, where it is mounted to concrete overhead, but sunlight illuminates the interior of the tunnel:
The PEX bridges water from the left side of the 'tunnel' to the right side. The PEX pipe will be strapped to the ceiling of the open area above the vehicle in the photo
An older piece of PVC encases a CAT5 telephone cable and is showing signs of failure, presumably because of sunlight. What is the best practice to protect PEX from sunlight in this scenario?
Best Answer
You could use black polyethlene (non-pex) well-water pipe, which is inherently sunlight resistant. Also helps to keep your water from growing algae. Either as a sleeve or as the actual pipe for this section.
You could enclose it in metallic ducting, or PVC that was painted to protect it from UV, or PVC electrical conduit (sunlight-resistant as made, they claim.) I don't think painting the PEX is likely to work.