Fresh water pipe through the engine room

[Greenhand]

On our Pearson 39-2, the engine is underneath one of the galley sinks, with the faucet connection above the engine itself, in the engine room. Last night, the cold water hose developed a leak. The previous plumber use contractor water hose, but we are wondering what our options are.

We have been slowly replacing all of the plumbing with PEX, which is generally rated to about 180 degrees, or what I understand should be the operating temperature of the engine, but without any margin of error. Can we protect the PEX by running it through another kind of tubing? Is there another product we should use that would be both drinking safe and engine room safe?

[senormechanico]

Pex. Hottest Temp | Hearth.com Forums Home

has some comments.

[Cheechako]

There would be nothing wrong with using the clear reinforced vinyl tubing in there. I suppose you could use winterizing pipe insulation to guard either type of tubing. I doubt it's flameproof if you are worried about an engine fire, but with diesels that would be unusual, and there are other products in you engine compartment that would also burn I imagine....

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Pex. Hottest Temp | Hearth.com Forums Home

has some comments.

Those comments pretty well mirror my own pros and cons...

I guess one of the pro's to the clear reinforced is that we shouldn't have to redo any fittings at this time. We were just trying to standarize so that a tub if SeaTech fittings would get us through most any plumbing issue that might pop up in the future.

Edit: The temp rating on the clear reinforced vinyl is even lower than the PEX (~150)