Copper vs Pex vs SharkBite - Freeze Testing 

Cpvc has a 3% expansion rate when it's new but as it ages it becomes brittle. So after as little as 8 yrs you would have very differant results. It would shatter. I have witnessed over and over again as a service plumber for tha last 20 yrs.

As a plumber, I have seen the benefits of pex in Colorado's sometimes extreme winter temperatures. I had a lady whose hot and cold water lines to her kitchen faucet froze two different times in one winter season. . She had pex. Both times we were able to thaw the lines and they were fine. If she had copper lines, I am certain they would have bursted. After the two freezes i installed heat tape on the lines.

Looks like PEX has a few benefits, it's cheaper, stands up better and people don't steal it out of the house!

I LOVE using Pex and SharkBite. So easy and it rarely fails.

Very useful video, appreciate making it. Houston was hit hard this week. I got pex type A. Survived without an issue. Thsnks again for sharing.

Frozen pipes in Sa TX rn! Few days turned into a week of freezing temperatures..not normal for texas water lines!

Doing bench presses, and push ups, will improve your Pex.

Man, what a great and useful video. Very impressed with the results of pex plumbing. In Feb 2021 I had nine pvc and cpvc leaks due to the cold weather in TX. Now I know next time I have a problem that I will be using pex as a replacement for the pipes. Thanks again and really enjoyed your video.

I just had a CPVC pipe freeze & split under my house just last week...I'm about to replumb my whole house with pex...I live in Louisiana, btw, Texas wasn't the only place that froze over last week...

I use Everlock fittings with Pex A, so in cold weather it’s a positive lock with no waiting for the sleeve to contract to the fitting. Pex A is great for heating systems as it is for extreme cold conditions. You could use EverLock caps and sleeves on a length of Pex and then freeze to 20 below, you will be amazed how great this pipe is.

As a landlord with occasionally vacant units in the winter, I have had my share of frozen pipes. I've had over 4' of water in a basement from a 3/4" supply line! Since switching to PEX five years ago, I have had ZERO issues.

old school way of using a copper rod into the earth especially for outdoors around horse stalls is how we kept pipes from freezing. uses the dirt as a heat sink. in some areas we used a heating coil. always put tube insulation around pipes even if in the walls.

That's a great test Matt. I really enjoy this as it's something I have wanted to see you for a long long time, ever since PEX first came out. I just plugged in my Cottage here in Eastern Canada where we get some pretty bitter long Winters and I used PEX for everything with crimp on fasteners. I made sure that every line has a downward slope to a common drain so all I have to do is open one valve and the whole place drains down. That being said it's good to know that I don't have to worry about freezing if somehow water ends up in the system and it goes below zero.

Fun fact. . . In ocean coastal areas we’ve found that plumbers won’t use pex pipes as the steel or even SSteal connectors will rust and fail at some point in their life due to salt air corrosion. Only use pvc which many many burst during the February 2021 4 day sub freezing weather. This was in Galveston, tx. 😮

Was just running some CAT6 through my attic and was examining my PEX piping. It looks like I have PEX A and can attest that it survived the freeze last year no problem and your video definitely helped me build even more confidence in it for this season since we are expecting some really cold weather here in Houston the next few days. Last year we didn't have power for about 5 days. I'm also a process technician out at a chemical plant down here, so I know all too well the effects of freezing pipes. I've seen 18" gate valve bodies explode like they were made of graham crackers on our deluge systems.

Thanx for the video, it really helped solidify my choice for changing my pipes in my garage. House was built in 49 and has copper pipes wrapped up for the cold with a room built around my pressure tank from the well water. I live in Ohio and had to put a heater in the room during the winter with negative degrees with the polar vortex. I’m going to switch out all the copper for pex. Thanx again!

Great procrastination vid when I need to be out in cold wind wrapping pipes 🤣

I used Pex in my hunting cabin and we just went thru the worst freeze I can remember ever seeing and the cabin was empty and unheated and the plumbing came out fine. No busted pipes or leaks. I love it.

Plumber from Canada. Pex B splits and CPVC spilts. Pex A (Wirsbo) will resist splitting, the fittings however I'm not convinced are impervious to splitting. Enjoyed the video; reaffirms my religious use of Pex A

When I lived in Chicagoland, they used brass and copper. But the pipes were typically put in inner walls or heated spaces to avoid freezing. Here in Texas. I agree with your review, with 1 exception. A relative, with a 23 year old home had several broken pipes with the recent freeze. 2 copper and several PVC pipes burst. The PVC pipes were old, exposed to elements in some cases. In all cases, the bursted PVC pipes were extremely brittle. They were much more brittle than new PVC pipes. Me and my neighbors, in newer homes using pex faired very well in the single digit freeze.

Great stuff Matt. Opinions are cheap. As a builder, I'll bet most people would believe whatever you told them. Kudos for doing the homework instead.

Great video. I do irrigation in Michigan and I see copper and brass splits all the time. The metals have no give.

Matt great video! I'm still commenting on one of your other sharkbite videos. Some will never think that this newer technology can replace sweated copper fittings and copper pipe. To those that think copper has some magical microbial properties don't look inside a 20 year old copper pipe, it will be closing up with growth especially if you have a high tds. PEX is the future boys, better get used to it.

Very informative video. Thanks for this valuable information. Looks like Sharkbite fittings with PEX is pretty reliable even in freezing condition. This is good information.

Project Farm needs to see this. As great as it was, he'll find a way to run with it and do other tests.

A very good demo....I've always wondered about this kind of, freeze resistance, tubing offered and now I know....My thanks to the gent that made it.

So u work at a plumbing store for the last 4 years and here's my input for PEX vs Copper base on experiences from customers. Pest love chewing on PEX, DO NOT put in crawl spaces or areas where pest can be found, hundreds of customers are repairing PEX piping there all the time b.c of pest! Yes rats and other pest can chew through copper too, but I'm yet to find a customer coming in to repair copper pipes that been chewed on. PEX A and B is amazing, but that is the biggest drawback. I believe using both copper and PEX for a whole home. Do not limit yourself to one system completely.

Thanks for the explanation. I really like the shark teeth connectors. Quick & easy.

Good video Matt but a big factor in what to choose for your pipes is the longevity. Aside from the possibility of critters damaging plastic pipe, pex is far superior to anything else around. I've been a plumber for 40 years & this is how it is. Copper pipe has a service life of around 30 years for type M & 40+ for type L before it starts thinning from internal erosion of the flowing water flaking off tiny particles of copper where it gets so thin, it starts weeping or develops tiny pinholes & has to be replaced. Your test on CPVC might have made favor for it but if you had done that on 20 year old pipe, the story would have been way different. The chemicals that are in new pipe give it some flexibility to expand but after 20 years or less & especially on the hot water side, those chemicals leech out of the pipe & it gets real brittle. I've done tons of service calls repairing CPVC where the client just hit a pipe coming out of the wall to a toilet with a mop or just turning a stop off under a sink & it snapped off. Same on old pipe exposed to freezing, it just shatters. CPVC is the worst choice unless you plan to build something you won't be around to deal with the headaches you'll get 20 years later. I've been using pex around 15 years now & old pex pipe appears to retain the same quality as when it was put in. I haven't seen any deterioration factors in pex except in some of the fittings made of copper I've run across that actually dissolved. In my estimation, pex could last 50 years & perhaps 100..

Matt, you are a real analytical personality. I can't imagine doing any of the stuff you do but I do appreciate the fact that you are willing to be so anal so I can benefit from what you say. I guess that is why you are a rich builder unless of course you are spending all of your time doing these scientific experiments.

My home pex plumbing survived the freeze of 21 , and I didn't even drip my outside facets. Stuff is great

All my supply line is sch40 PVC, and all my house plumbing, from the supply valve into the house, is CPVC .. none of it burst or cracked with the latest snowstorm and freeze we had (raised house and all plumbing is under the house with a simple skirt material that has no insulating value, I replaced the wood skirt that was originally used, so, it get's quite cold under the house)....in Texas 2021...and all my exposed PVC, yard faucets and pipe to raise those faucets about 3 feet off the ground, all sch40 PVC, I covered with 2 inch wall foam (foil sided foam) by making a box to fit over each and then covered that with pond liner material I had left over so I wouldn't have to worry about snow, ice, & water ruining the foam board...I haven't used pex in years, but this makes me feel better about it's reliability....I may have had slight freeze in the PVC supply at my valve location, short term, but after day 2 of freezing weather the water company had a massive line burst that ended up causibng a suction on my lines and sucked all the water back out toward their supply point....for some strange reason, I DID lose both elements and 1 thermostat in my water heater, not sure why, I doubt it was empt since the supply line feeds water from the top...strange though, but easy and inexpensive fix (both elements and both thermostats) since the tank was still in good shape....Still, overall, I'll never use copper and even though I do like the CPVC, the sch40 has thicker walls, and now that pex is getting a good reputation, I like that it is more flexible, may end up changing from CPVC to pex in due time, but still keep sch40 for all my underground and supply pipe.....Thanks for the test Matt....

Just went through coldest winter ever in Texas our home has the pex pipes it did great thank u for your test and knowledge

I live in the deep South and PEX plumbing is used everywhere in new construction. Last summer, just after Hurricane Sally, I had a pinhole leak from water heater feed. I was able to install a connector in the line in just a few minutes. I already had pinch clamps and a Ryobi electric clamping tool which I intend to use some day to install cutoff valves for water feed lines to a shower and two bath tubs. I never understood how the pi hole leak happened except that the water was the hottest right out of the water heater and maybe the thermostat was monetarily acting strange.

What happens with copper pipe when it freezes it does more than split it also weakens other joints that go unnoticed for a long time till they finally let go.

I live in the Chicago metro and we have the shut-off on the outside for the hose here just like with texas houses lol. I've seen it like that on every house over ever looked at and I've never heard of pipes bursting. Nor have I ever heard of anyone emptying their hose lines for the winter.

Nice test Matt. When I plumbed my primary home I went with copper but when I bought a cottage in Maine and had to replace the copper (well water created pin holes in some of the 35 year old lines) I went with Upnor pex to better resist freezing and the water itself. Bought a Milwaukee expander specifically for the job. Plumbed the whole place in a day. I know that copper has withstood the test of time but I'm really impressed with Pex. If it proves to be as durable as copper then I can see it becoming the new standard.

this is the video I have wanted to see since PEX became common. Thanks.

comment from Houston after our 16 degree freeze in February 2021. I have spent a lot of time trying to help friends with CPVC breaks, Lots of them

Thanks for good baseline info. Also, the age factor comments and experience below are very helpful. PEX A, being most flexible, I would think would maintain its flexibility/freeze resistance better over time. Its a lot like blood vessels - flexibility to allow dilation to accommodate occasional pressure increases is super important - where age also factors in :-)

Would have liked to see the lines pressured up to typical line pressure instead of static pressure.

Been in the industry in Texas for 26 years..journeyman for 21...I'm old school, still hard pipe using copper...however, pex stands up to the extremes.

As a landlord for 25 years or so, I can tell you the absolute worst system in a freeze is the CVPVC....it did well in this test because it was new. That stuff gets super brittle after a decade or so. I once had a house with that stuff that literally every single line in the house had to be replaced...what a nightmare. Copper actually fares pretty well as it expands some to relieve pressure. Usually on a copper house freeze up there are many damaged places, but perhaps 1/2 the lines can still be used. Type B/C pex is absolutely outlawed for use. Its too easy to mess up a crimp and not realize it, or, in one instance behind a wall the crimp just leaked a bit and it sadly never self healed and ruined a good bit of infrastructure. I've seen professional plumbers mess up crimp pex. So, after all this time what ALWAYS is used by my crew? PEX A, the expansion stuff. As we repair/upgrade/change any plumbing system in our properties I actively remove other piping systems and replace with type A. I recently built a new office and the entire thing is 80psi service with type A Pex. I personally installed every single joint on the project which has a full kitchen, two baths and, since its residential zoning, a full NFPA 13 fire suppression system. So, well over a hundred joints in 3/4 and 1/2. Not one leak. I've got several hundred dollars worth of type b/c pex inventory, shark bites, valves, various fittings....all gathering dust now.

Our home was built in 1940's Soider and copper never had a problem. Not a fan of the new crimp style doesn't look like it can last very long.

When I first started with PEX I think I called it freeze proof. Then I got a few frozen PEX repair calls and now I call it freeze resistant. I live around a lot of well systems with slightly acidic water (including my own) and PEX is an awesome alternative to installing and maintaining a neutralizer and possibly a softener to reduce corrosion of Cu pipe. The one thing I always point out to my clients before they make the Cu vs. PEX decision is that I have NEVER seen rats chew through a Cu pipe and I've seen rat chewed PEX plumbing a number of times now. I also tell them that they shouldn't have rats where there is PEX because I've also seen rat chewed ABS pipe and Romex wire. I pretty much just assume there are going to be rats and I try to route plumbing and wiring where it's not as easy to chew on. Whenever you see rat chewing damage it seems to always be where they can sit comfortably and chew for a while, so I try to avoid setting that up for them. Also, condensation on the pipes is a fresh water source that could help to attract all kinds of critters to licking/chewing the plumbing. Insulation on the pipes can eliminate condensation, so it's not just for freeze resistance and saving energy.

Best video of yours I've seen. I'd like to see what happens with OLD PEX because as you know plastic gets brittle with age

I work on old stuff so would have loved to see an iron pipe comparison too, or please leave your experiences down below; thx! Also repeated tests would be even better since temperatures warm up and freeze many times thru the winter (releasing the hold and pressurizing again).

Great info and visual demonstration Matt.

And lets not forget the all important; Copper vs Pex - Mice & rat gnawing 'leak test', please. . Pex is a dream come true for rats to gnaw holes in. Copper, , , not so much.

What's funny is today we had our first official Frost with 32 Degree most of the day temperatures and the chicken water froze last night, RU-vid just now decided to recommend a 3-year old video on water freezing. Yes Frost Proof hose spigots do not work if left on nor do water timers. What did work was anywhere that the quarter inch PEX was in contact with the ground it did not freeze so I'm making progress. I'm in the panhandle of West Virginia, and I've been trying to get water out of the chickens without having to carry buckets ( of course digging up the lawn and going below the frost line would definitely work, I originally lived in the Syracuse area cold temperatures and snow so I know how the stuff works ). the quarter inch PEX works great and I'm still working out the Kinks in the winter. The plan was to part the ground and stick half inch tube in the ground and then feed the quarter inch tube in that as a double insulating and avoiding the rocky terrain not very far underneath, however that didn't happen this year yet. I also did some measuring and it just happens to fit although probably not recommended 14-2WG AWG wire with the quarter inch tube so I'm thinking not only will I be able to get both lines under the ground a little bit and not need to worry about tripping or mowing the lawn the resistance out for the water bucket warmers might generate just enough warm to keep the system from freezing. I definitely have the distance out covered, its the hose spigot and the individual drops lines for the chickens that I have not fully figured out how to protect yet. I've even done a bit of research on water Distribution Systems in Alaska which is quite interesting.

I live in Houston, TX. I replaced my galvanized pipes with PEX in 2018. After the storm last week, I’m very happy I chose PEX over copper.

Been plumbing for close to 20 years. Per will burst however it bubbles almost before it bursts. Had a system both pex and copper that had froze up because homeowner left furnace door off. Both copper and pex had failed and burst.

What! I thought the little light went out when you closed the freezer door! I've tried getting in there to check, but I couldn't fit. Camera - who'd a thunk it? Bravo.

Thanks for the video! This is exactly (actually MORE THAN) what I was looking for....and didn't actually expect to find a literal "experiment". I'm getting ready to have a "mother in law" suite added...and want to do everything I can to avoid freezing pipe issues when it's not in use. Sounds like Pex may be the way to go. I was leaning toward Pex anyway just for the simplicity and fewer fittings. Now all we need is another experiment comparing the performance of all possible pex fitting (sharkbite..crimp..etc..) My "hunch" is that the crimped fittings would be the strongest.

When I started asking for PEX at big box stores 20 years ago, I was repeatedly told that it was worthless in freezing temps, and that's why they didn't stock it.

Wow. Amazing video; esp the GoPro footage.

I put a 1/2 pex with shark bike stops on both ends full of water and did my own test for a year. Put it in a freezer for a month and took it out for a month and it never poped

Love my Sioux Chief Pex-A connectors and hose, unfortunately it seems I can pretty much only find them at Menards though HD did list some pex-a on their website.

You need to start with the lines pressurized.

"Chasing down 100k" subscribers.... the build show has certainly come a long way since then ! Now right around the corner from that gold play button :)

I live in an old house that is completely plumbed with polybutylene pipe otherwise known as Quest pipe. It was built about 1980 so the plumbing is about 40 years old. The pipes under the house have frozen numerous times. I’ve never had a leak. I can get under the house and inspect all the plumbing. It has never leaked a drop. I’ve replaced faucets and the toilet but none of the pipe. I know, I know, quest pipe is supposed to be horrible and everybody recommends replacing it but so far so good

I just watched your freeze test video with great interest as we have a summer lake home in Maine where we get our water from the lake and therefore drain the entire system when we close the house up for the winter (including P traps, clothes washer inlet valves, dishwasher inlet valves, hot water tanks and toilets). Yes, over the years when we charge the system in the spring, we have experienced burst pipes where we didn't do as thorough a job as we should have when we drained the system in the fall. I have since changed out all the copper to pex and have had no issues. My question for you is, if you were building a house either in the north or the south, would you use copper, cpvc or pex (from a cost, ease of installation, durability, off taste etc perspective). Thanks

Great test, I would have loved to see you pressure test these afterward to see if they were actually water tight.

Uponor is also sold as Wirsbo, and is the same type of pex as Rehau's Raupex pipe.

Something that many people don't know is that there are two methods of failure resulting from freezing pipes. The one everyone is familiar with is the pipe splitting at the frozen spot due to expansion. The other is a pipe bursting somewhere down the line due to over-pressurization. As the ice expands in the frozen section of pipe it presses against the water in the un-frozen section, greatly increasing the pressure. I've seen pvc/cpvc pipe turned to splinters due to this effect.

If you use copper outside you need to wrap around it a heating strip that comes on only when the temperature drops around freezing and of course insulate it.

I am glad I did my old house 4 yrs ago with pex it held great during last week's deep freeze at 9 degrees in Weimar.

Great Video as usual. There is always a potential issue. Nothing absolute. Great food for thought. Many take-a-ways to consider. House hydrants with Pex, well more $. Always something bigger and better. Builders have budgets as well as clients. Rats an issue? Build a tighter house.

Should;d do the same test with 10 or 15 year old pex. see if it holds its strength with age.

Just FYI, the PEX-A (expansion / memory) fitting will also work on PEX-B.

Having the ability to shut off the water and THEN be able to drain the lines is the key.

Don't worry about freeze when it is in a foundation but I can tell you from experience that the Pex on the hot side will deteriorate and rupture . My replumbing and abandoned pex cost me $ 5000. and the grand total payed by the class action was a whole $ 450. .

U can make a video with 90 degree fitting on freezen rate I would like to see if broke

Matt, I work as a commercial general contractor and have seen PEX starting to be used in more facilities including a new hospital. The one downfall I have heard is that PEX can more easily contain contaminants, whereas copper is naturally resistant to bacteria. This seems like a pretty big deal and makes me question the longevity of these materials, not necessarily from a durability standpoint but from a health aspect. Thoughts on this?

I guess we are going to be putting our piping to a real world test here in Austin, TX!

Before I see the video, I'm going to throw this out there and say sharkbite wins. I've seen those metal clamp style things fail many times as well as copper lines expanding. Pex with the use of sharkbite, if done correctly, never fail. I'll never use those metal clamp things and avoid copper as much as possible. Clamp things may not fail with the cold, but corrosion does eventually get to them.

Water can expand as much as 10% when frozen vs liquid. The pressure can exceded10,000 PSI! After the big freeze here in Texas, we had bunches off all types of pipes broken.

Wow, great test. Helped me make a decision about whether take take my travel trailer into cold country. Thanks, Matt.

I’ve never seen pex installed in manner such as I had done myself in order to prevent frozen pipes, pitched properly and can’t imagine someone accustomed to pex installing copper properly in accustomed fashion. I saw a local mansion that had threaded bronze a style and vintage system meant to last nearly forever until financial calamity left it unheated and it failed catastrophically. You’re testing isn’t going to help informed people but it’s certainly going to alarm laymen. Those shark bites I have always avoided because of the installation cost I thought they were a gimmick. The glue joint pvc was worse than sweat type L copper. I think a battery powered solenoid operated by a temperature regulator that simultaneously cuts off the water supply and drains the potable water lines would be a bigger better solution for the water freezing problem than replacing a built in water system but effectively ruining a house in fear of a freeze up that hasn’t occurred yet. It’s a requirement that you have installed the water system permitting it to functionally drain back to a low point but that’s already supposed to have been done and kept up.

Would like to see same test using water supplied by water heater. CPVC will definitely split when water from hot side freezes.

Matt! interesting vid! I think the results were valid. However most frozen pipes don't freeze the full length, allowing for longitudinal expansion. Might have been interesting to put a micrometer 'before and after' on the pipe diameter. The ice had to grow somewhere. Overall, nice job! Was kind of surprised the cpvc didn't split....

Interesting experiment, I was wondering how pex and sharkbite hold up in general to freezing. I think the sharkbite flaw was the fact the materials were to dissimilar. The copper probably shrunk initially due to the cold temperatures which allowed the fitting to slip, as the water froze it expanded the pipe but it was to late. Where as the pex and sharbite expanded and contacted at the same rate.

don't know if it's been said before my comment, but the the real freeze risk is from repeated freezing. Each time the copper freezes, it will stretch out and weak spots will be thinner. Each subsequent freezing brings that thin spot that much closer to tearing where plastics will flex back and forth more. I've seen 1/8" thick steel frame tubing split wide open because there was water inside that repeated froze and melted.

Well as an owner of a Plumbing and HVAC company that does a lot of insurance work, let me tell you what I know. Pex will win this war every time. The only instances that I see pex pipe fail in a freezing condition is when you have a short piece in between fittings that change direction. Other than that it pretty much only fails at the fittings. CPVC is utter garbage and I would never willingly install it for water supply. Copper will most certainly burst if it cannot push the solder joint apart. I have seen hundreds of shark bite fittings that have failed from expansion when water freezes. One thing that is for certain in a water distribution system there will be little to no air in the system, this could cause a test like this to give false information if the user wasn't very careful to get every section completely full.

I can say from personal experience that CPVC becomes very brittle as it ages (20 year old range). During a freeze here in the Pacific Northwest, I had a two foot section of pipe going to a frost proof hose bib shatter apart and looked like alligator teeth. Plumber replaced with Pex. On another occasion I was having to perform a repair on a section of pipe and as I would try to cut it with a ratcheting PVC pipe cutter, the pipe was just snapping apart instead of the cutter chopping through it like normal.

It would have been good to put air pressure to the fittings after freezing. This would allow you to see if they did in fact hold and where the fittings failed. Some of the Shark Bite fittings can weep after freezing. I’m a big fan of the Upunor Pex.

My question about the methodology is whether the "overnight" in the freezer was long enough for the water inside the PEX (and maybe CPVC) to freeze to its maximum expansion? Since the plastic is a thermal insulator (and copper is a thermal conductor), it would take longer for the water to freeze in PEX pipes (thought I don't know how different the times would be).

Great test. Probably could have used a little more refinement but you made your point perfectly clear. Copper does not tolerate freezing temps. I do not know so much about all the other variations of plastic hoses but they are tough customers for sure. I'm guess if I looked in your other videos you would have much more information about the other plastic hoses. My question is. Does pex or the others plastics have the capability of lasting 20, 50 or 100 years like copper can?

1 is missing galvanized water pipe ? Next time make sure used copper type L or blue

I have about 35 faucets around the place. They are on a 3/4" schedule 40 riser about 25-30 " high, topped by a brass hose bib like the ones in your test. When the weather here in central Texas gets in the teens or single digits I have a failure or two if I forget to drain the system. Strangely the brass hose bibs fail at about the same rate as the pvc.

Glad I found your channel

Interesting test I was considering using pex and then a copper elbow through the wall for the turn valve. But after seeing this seems running the pex straight might be best, the copper and valve will always be the weakest link if pipes freeze.

Great video. Thank you, we all have wondered about these products over the years. Only input is on cpvc. If you did this test with aged cpvc, those things would have nuked. We had dozens of failures with cpvc in a cabin before ripping it out

hey Matt thanks for taking the time to do this test for all us builders. I was curious as to which systems would fail in freezing conditions and how; came across this perfect explanation of exactly what i wanted to know. I love using copper because its charming and beautiful when installed by a plumber with an eye for aesthetics, but also for its incredible anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties. Your old copper pipes deliver water that is way cleaner than you might think --- if you have old copper pipes you almost definitely have lead solder --but no bacteria (warning: im not a scientist:). True running copper to a hose bib outside works fine if there is an indoor shutoff and the water is drained from the run between that indoor shutoff and the hose bib before freezing conditions. I have installed many. But at some inevitable point, sooner than later, you WILL forget to check the weather before the first frost, and you WILL forget to close the valve, and you WILL bust a pipe. Mine just busted. the one my dumb ass installed on my own damn house. Also important to check is whether the hose bib outside is higher in elevation than the indoor valve. This will cause a condition where in you shut off the indoor valve, open the outdoor valve thinking that you've drained it, but the pipe is still full of water due to gravity- then your pipe may still burst especially of you close the outdoor valve. There may be common valves that im not aware of that bleeds water/air automatically to mediate this problem but I am just a builder not a plumber so use of salt grains encouraged when listening to me. I would avoid using copper in this application all together. Just listen to whatever Matt says.

Thanks for doing this test - makes me feel better about the Pex & Sharkbites used on a recent project of mine that I hired out. I've used SB on copper before, but no experience with Pex. This test puts me more at ease.

Wrap insulation around pipes in cold drafty areas and let it drip at faucet, solved

This video is more important now than was then. All my Texans are in need of new plumbing. I think folks will start going to use PEX.

How interesting. I am exactly going through the trouble of frozen pipes but in may case I got lucky. The city portion got frozen.

Also wish they were pressurized, it would have been a real test for the pex

I like to see braided stainless steel lines rubber and vinyl gardening hose be included in the test.