SharkBite plumbing fittings are ridiculous

[DrPizza]

I just had to share my gatorbite story.

I was replacing a dishwasher and some jackass who owned the house before me put the shutoff valve under the dishwasher. It's about 4 cabinets away from the sink and the feed comes up from the basement. The shutoff is one of those old twist pin valves (not sure on the technical name) but with my hard water it's not moving an inch (The house had hard water for 30 years and only got a softener when I moved in 9 years ago).

FWIW, about 25 years ago, I installed a dishwasher that had the same type of shut off valve already connected to the dishwasher. I.e., it may not have been a decision of the installer to put it there, but rather a decision of the installer not to mess with it and put it in a more convenient location. Since I teed the line from under the sink, I put in a more robust shutoff under the sink as well. That decision was because I knew that old twist pin valve thing wasn't going to shut off 10 years down the road.

 

[SkipperTW]

I have read a lot of the opinions and tip here. Thank you all. I agree with most of them.

I am just a homeowner, but I love Sharkbite products. Had nothing but great luck with them and they made simple plumbing projects around the house so much easier. As with a lot of posters here, I am skeptical to the point where I also would not put them in the wall or crawl space where I can't see them (unless it's just too tight a space, or it saves me a real pain).

I have used them under sinks, in utility room for fridge and RO system hookups, dishwasher connections, etc. just made things so much easier (I can solder but it does take me longer than a plumber and if they leak it takes so long to correct). But yes, you pay the premium for these products. I do like them to be in places where I can see if there is a problem that comes up (but in 5 years, it seems if they didn't leak at install, they probably won't).

Thanks all,

 

[Linflas]

We are tiling the powder room in our house and when I went to remove the sink and turned the valves off they started pouring water out of the valves as well as not completely shutting off the water flow to the faucet. I turned them back full on and the leaking stopped so I was off to Home Depot. I bought 3 Sharkbite valves, 2 for the sink and one for the toilet and frankly I am amazed. I normally dread anything to do with plumbing but these things are amazingly easy and so far not a drop of water coming out of them while all the fixtures are removed. I just prepped the copper pipe as they instruct and slid on the valves and no leaking!

 

[calahan]

heh ... $25 for ball valves? Sharkbite are you kidding me?

Just look around and you can find great alternative like this

$2 1/2" CTS Twist & Lock Speedfit Test Cap from another brand John Guest

 

[Phoenix86]

heh ... $25 for ball valves? Sharkbite are you kidding me?

Just look around and you can find great alternative like this

Assuming they work, great. Most people doing plumbing work (homeowners) need shit now, today, within a couple hours. Likely heading directly to the nearest hardware store as soon as they realize it's needed.

Unless it's prime NOW, online won't be fast enough.

 

[DrPizza]

I have a huge box of brass pex fittings, plenty of crimp rings, a Pex cutting tool, and a crimper. Just ran a 3/4" line the other day - went to the basement where the water comes in, cut a 3/4" line in half, slipped on two rings, put the tee between the parts, crimped, and connected the new line. Took minutes to run a line from one end of the house to the other. Buh-bye sharkbite fittings; no need for you any more.

 

[Mandres]

I'm very, very wary of sharkbite fittings and don't recommend people use them as a permanent solution. Yes, they seal and they're convenient but o-rings just don't last over the long haul, especially with all the scale/minerals in home water supply. How common are leaky faucets? That's exactly the same kind of failure. I don't feel comfortable enough to bury a connection inside a closed wall unless it's soldered, cemented or crimped.

 

[NutBucket]

Faucets leak due to the rubber wearing out as you turn valves and such. Theoretically a static o-ring should have a much longer life.

 

[NetWareHead]

There is reason why, when I contracted my plumber to redo my entire heating system, I hung out with him in the basement while he did his work. We were shooting the shit but my goal was to refine my soldering technique and get answers on other plumbing questions I had. Anybody can use a sharkbite and even working with copper pipe is not rocket science. Like any other thing, there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Saw someone quoted a price here and Im not paying @25 dollars for a fitting when copper ones, plus solder, flux and propane comes out to miles cheaper.

Im sure they have their place with homeowners who dont want to mess with sweating a pipe, or when in a pinch you can stick a sharkbite in an accessible location like a crawlspace. I'll stick with tried and true copper as much as possible.

 

[DrPizza]

There is reason why, when I contracted my plumber to redo my entire heating system, I hung out with him in the basement while he did his work. We were shooting the shit but my goal was to refine my soldering technique and get answers on other plumbing questions I had. Anybody can use a sharkbite and even working with copper pipe is not rocket science. Like any other thing, there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Saw someone quoted a price here and Im not paying @25 dollars for a fitting when copper ones, plus solder, flux and propane comes out to miles cheaper.

Im sure they have their place with homeowners who dont want to mess with sweating a pipe, or when in a pinch you can stick a sharkbite in an accessible location like a crawlspace. I'll stick with tried and true copper as much as possible.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, sharkbite fittings aren't the way to go, unless you need to do just one fitting in a pinch. A cheaper crimp ring tool is roughly in the ballpark of the cost of a propane setup. If some bizarre accident in the basement sent saw blades flying across the room, damaging a 4 foot section of pex, I could cut out the bad section, and splice in a new piece for that section in less than 3 minutes; maybe less than 2 minutes. It's fool proof, there's no soldering technique to master, no worries about the connection not quite sealing, etc.

It's been a few years (10) since I moved into my house and said, "I'll hook up the ice maker later." Maybe I'll shoot a quick video of connecting the ice maker line, requiring splicing in a tee.

 

[herm0016]

I will be doing some plumbing in the new house, Dr. P. what pex tools do you recommend? We will be moving an ice maker line around in the kitchen, finishing a bath and laundry that is roughed in and installing a wet bar.

 

[paperfist]

There is reason why, when I contracted my plumber to redo my entire heating system, I hung out with him in the basement while he did his work. We were shooting the shit but my goal was to refine my soldering technique and get answers on other plumbing questions I had. Anybody can use a sharkbite and even working with copper pipe is not rocket science. Like any other thing, there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Saw someone quoted a price here and Im not paying @25 dollars for a fitting when copper ones, plus solder, flux and propane comes out to miles cheaper.

Im sure they have their place with homeowners who dont want to mess with sweating a pipe, or when in a pinch you can stick a sharkbite in an accessible location like a crawlspace. I'll stick with tried and true copper as much as possible.

I dunno, have you seen the price of copper ball valves?

 

[pcgeek11]

There is reason why, when I contracted my plumber to redo my entire heating system, I hung out with him in the basement while he did his work. We were shooting the shit but my goal was to refine my soldering technique and get answers on other plumbing questions I had. Anybody can use a sharkbite and even working with copper pipe is not rocket science. Like any other thing, there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Saw someone quoted a price here and Im not paying @25 dollars for a fitting when copper ones, plus solder, flux and propane comes out to miles cheaper.

Im sure they have their place with homeowners who dont want to mess with sweating a pipe, or when in a pinch you can stick a sharkbite in an accessible location like a crawlspace. I'll stick with tried and true copper as much as possible.

Copper is good in some locations of the country. However in some areas copper is worthless, ask anyone that had had copper and the pinhole leaks. I bought a house with copper thinking I was good to go. About a year later I had a small pinhole leak in a pipe and sweated in a couple of joints and a new pipe. 6 Months later same thing on and on. I finally gave up after my 7th leak and had the house re-piped completely with CPVC. I will never use copper again.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Copper+pinhole+leak+problem&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[Aikouka]

I've been looking at some of the different plumbing types, and I stumbled across PEX. Is PEX pretty much the same thing that you use for computer water cooling? I'm curious since I saw one person complaining about a "plastic taste", and I know that water cooling systems sometime have an issue with plasicizer leaking into the water (it's the white crap that gets on the inside). Is that what the person was suffering from?

Anyway, thoughts on PEX or CPVC? At least from what I can tell, the opinion is that PEX is easier to work with given it isn't rigid. As part of my kitchen remodel, I'll probably be moving my fridge. So, I'll be needing to move an ice maker line too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't think cpvc is even rated for high pressure application, I've heard of people using it, but I don't know if I'd trust it. I've only ever seen it used for furnace or AC condensate here.

Pex has various systems, such as crimp, compression etc. I use the crimp ring system, as those fittings are the most commonly found. I do have some shark bites in a few areas from when I was newer to plumbing. They held up so far. They are incredibly easy to use but I don't know if I'd want to do a whole house with them. They're good for a quick or temp fix though. If you get the tool you can remove the pex and reuse them.

Anything new that I add I tend to do it in pex now. Oddly when I added a drain for my humidifier I went copper, which is WAY overkill, but I wanted anice big 3/4" ball valve so I can drain it and wanted it to feel solid and not wobbly so wanted solid line. cpvc would have worked but the selection of valves was next to none. I actually kinda find it fun to solder copper. The first time I had to solder on an actual supply line I was nervous about it but it's much easier than it looks. Just remember not to touch the pipe after you're done.... learn from my fail. lol

 

[paperfist]

Copper is good in some locations of the country. However in some areas copper is worthless, ask anyone that had had copper and the pinhole leaks. I bought a house with copper thinking I was good to go. About a year later I had a small pinhole leak in a pipe and sweated in a couple of joints and a new pipe. 6 Months later same thing on and on. I finally gave up after my 7th leak and had the house re-piped completely with CPVC. I will never use copper again.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Copper+pinhole+leak+problem&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

I'd be worried if the water in my house was causing copper pipe to leak that using plastic pipe is going to leach into my drinking water.

 

[Greenman]

heh ... $25 for ball valves? Sharkbite are you kidding me?

Just look around and you can find great alternative like this

$2 1/2" CTS Twist & Lock Speedfit Test Cap from another brand John Guest

The local plumbing supply has an entire line of push on fittings like that for pex, copper or pvc. I can't bring myself to trust them.

 

[waffleironhead]

Copper is good in some locations of the country. However in some areas copper is worthless, ask anyone that had had copper and the pinhole leaks. I bought a house with copper thinking I was good to go. About a year later I had a small pinhole leak in a pipe and sweated in a couple of joints and a new pipe. 6 Months later same thing on and on. I finally gave up after my 7th leak and had the house re-piped completely with CPVC. I will never use copper again.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Copper+pinhole+leak+problem&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Just wait till your cpvc turns brittle and cracks.
I know there are some companies out there that claim their cpvc is special, but im not buying it. Had too many cpvc failures to deal with over the years to trust it again.
Point being cpvc may be a better option in some cases, but still has downsides.

 

[calahan]

I've been looking at some of the different plumbing types, and I stumbled across PEX. Is PEX pretty much the same thing that you use for computer water cooling? I'm curious since I saw one person complaining about a "plastic taste", and I know that water cooling systems sometime have an issue with plasicizer leaking into the water (it's the white crap that gets on the inside). Is that what the person was suffering from?

Anyway, thoughts on PEX or CPVC? At least from what I can tell, the opinion is that PEX is easier to work with given it isn't rigid. As part of my kitchen remodel, I'll probably be moving my fridge. So, I'll be needing to move an ice maker line too.

As I know PEX is the food-grade plastic and approved for all states for drinking water supply. discussion around who the best PEX vs CPVC you can easily find on google one good example discussion http://www.canarsee.com/pex-vs-cpvc-pipe

 

[calahan]

The local plumbing supply has an entire line of push on fittings like that for pex, copper or pvc. I can't bring myself to trust them.

me too .... pushfit connections is too easy to be true. i prefer more trustworthy crimp connection

 

[Aikouka]

As I know PEX is the food-grade plastic and approved for all states for drinking water supply. discussion around who the best PEX vs CPVC you can easily find on google one good example discussion http://www.canarsee.com/pex-vs-cpvc-pipe

Yeah, I saw a few discussions around the web, but I wanted to get any input from this forum too.

 

[calahan]

The local plumbing supply has an entire line of push on fittings like that for pex, copper or pvc. I can't bring myself to trust them.

I don't understand are you not trusting to local plumbing supply or push-fit fittings?

 

[Greenman]

I don't understand are you not trusting to local plumbing supply or push-fit fittings?

Push on fittings. I'm concerned that long term vibrations and warm cool cycles will cause them to pop off.

 

[calahan]

Push on fittings. I'm concerned that long term vibrations and warm cool cycles will cause them to pop off.

Exactly! That is why I am personally like more constant and secure connection with copper crimp rings or ss clamps.

 

[bryanl]

discussion around who the best PEX vs CPVC you can easily find on google one good example discussion http://www.canarsee.com/pex-vs-cpvc-pipe

It's a bit unnecessarily slanted and reads somewhat like sales copy.

Both PEX and CPVC are very good, and CPVC may be better for novices because crimp joints are easier to get wrong than glue joints, but a common mistake with CPVC is using the wrong glue on CPVC - it needs its own glue and must not be put together with PVC glue.