I walked into the garage on Friday and saw red and blue hose lines running up the wall and through the joist. I assumed these are the hot (red) and cold (blue) water lines. What was confusing is that there are a pile of copper pipes on the floor. I thought, why aren't they using those? The answer is because this type of tubing is resistant to splitting when the temperature drops below freezing. In fact, this piping expands a bit under the increased pressure of frozen water. Ideal for a garage in Rochester. The piping also eliminates the pipe rattling you sometimes hear with copper pipes. It is made out of cross-linked polyethylene, and needs fewer fittings which mean less potential for leaks, and less labor intensive.
There is no electrolysis, corrosion or mineral buildup means the inside of the tubing remains free from deposits, which can degrade pressure and flow rates. It is resistant, although not immune, to freeze-related breakage. The hoses operate quietly without a hammering noise and its damaging effects. Our system was installed with a reduction in diameter as the pipes moved further away from the water source to keep the pressure up.
