I'm doing a two manifold setup, one for supply and one for return, with a pressure bypass valve in the middle of the two. I'm going to use dual runs of 1" PEX joining together at the manifolds with tees. What I'm trying to do is make a manifold that is either 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" with 1" lines coming off of it. One 1" line for the water/air exchanger in the plenum with a zone valve, one 1" line for the DHW always on, one 1" line to the garage (which will normally flow to the garage and back without flowing through the heat exchanger out there unless I'm working in the garage), and one spare 1" tap in case I want to add something on.
Should I make this out of black iron? Copper seems like it would be far more expensive for the tees and much harder to sweat together than threading black pipe together. For all of the parts to make this, I've priced out about $250 worth of fittings and nipples including a BUNCH of 1" threaded ball valves because having a valve anywhere you could possibly want one is a good idea. Does $250 sound excessive to make the kind of manifolds I'm thinking about or is there a better way to make them? I did my 1 1/4" black iron pricing from pexsupply.com because the local chain stores only carry up to 1" and they are far more expensive.
Should I make this out of black iron? Copper seems like it would be far more expensive for the tees and much harder to sweat together than threading black pipe together. For all of the parts to make this, I've priced out about $250 worth of fittings and nipples including a BUNCH of 1" threaded ball valves because having a valve anywhere you could possibly want one is a good idea. Does $250 sound excessive to make the kind of manifolds I'm thinking about or is there a better way to make them? I did my 1 1/4" black iron pricing from pexsupply.com because the local chain stores only carry up to 1" and they are far more expensive.
