Hello Scott. I'll try to answer some of your questions. The new water meters come with compression fittings. Like in your parents house, they have a manifold to distribute the water. Copper can be connected right to it using the double seal compression fitting. I got my line in from my main to the water softener with a ball valve, but not connected today. I got the line from the softener (with ball valve)back to the main and connected to the manifold using a pliers and wrench, one each. I got the bypass valve in so water is available with the softener still not connected. I ran my cold line from the manifold to my hot water heater and installed an expansion tank between the two. That is now operating. Tomorrow I'll run the hot back to the manifold and start running the pex. A bag of fittings came with the manifold to make the connections. I ran one pex today from a tee before the line to the softener. My handy sink in the basement and outdoor spigots will all use untreated water. Around here pex meets all standards that copper does. The only tools needed to run pex are the crimp tool. I would suggest a plastic pipe cutter, the cuts are always nice unlike when using a knife. I have no worries about cutting myself using the pipe cutter. The pipe here comes in three colors, red for hot, blue for cold and white for whatever. The pipe is all the same except for the color. I am using them so anyone will be able to tell the hot from the cold. Maybe I'll use white for my unconditioned water points. All the fittings I used so far are quite easy to understand. The copper lines do need to be cleaned and I remove the inside burr from the indentation from the cutting wheel. Fittings will last twice as long or longer if the edge is removed inside the copper pipe where the cutting wheel presses in on the pipe during the cutting process. I use a pocket knife to remove them, the smaller blades will just slide around the pipe and remove the edge very easily with a little practice. One tends to try and force it and that isn't needed. I had checked on the pressure ratings for these fittings, 120 psi is what they take. My water pressure here is 80 almost so I am running at less than 66 per cent of the limit. Time to call it a day.........................bob
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