4 ms·

From what I understand, while it is up to code, pro's don't put sharkbites in walls. I've gone with ss crimps instead of copper rings too. Mostly cause I live

From what I understand, while it is up to code, pro's don't put sharkbites in walls. I've gone with ss crimps instead of copper rings too. Mostly cause I live near the ocean and the ss crimps just seem easier to use. 200' of blue/red sharkbite brand pex b tubing is only about $70 on amazon right now, amazing.

conductr 4y ago
If the walls are open, they shouldn’t. They should be using the minimum number of connections/joins because that’s always going to be a higher point of failure. However, When you/they need to patch something and don’t want to open up the whole room/house, then that’s the correct use case for these devices.
matwood 4y ago
I should have been more clear. I wouldn't use a sharkbite for a permanent fix, but being able to patch something until you can either do a permanent fix or get a plumber out is a big win. I even keep PVC glue and some collars/caps for the same reason.
yamtaddle 4y ago
Shark bite is awesome for capping a broken pipe until you can get around to a proper fix. Love those shark-bite caps. IMO every home owner should have pipe cutters for the pipes in their house (whatever materials those may be), and a set of those caps ready to apply for every size of pipe they've got. Ought to be as common as having a screwdriver and hammer. They're absolute life-savers when a leak or pipe burst happens at odd hours and you just want to get the leak stopped and the water back on and go back to bed or get back to work or whatever. Cut the pipe, steel wool the end clean, slap the shark bite cap on, get on with life until you have the time to properly fix it. Turns something very inconvenient into something merely a little inconvenient. Beats the hell out of having to break out the solder or pipe glue at 2AM.
- mindslight 4y ago
  If you've got a significant leak in a supply pipe, there should be a valve on the branch that will allow you to shut off just that branch rather than the whole house. You might need to shut off the whole house first while you figure out where that valve is, but you probably won't have to do ad-hoc plumbing to get most of the house back on. But yes, in general I'm always for people becoming familiar with tools and DIY.
  - matwood 4y ago
    > there should be a valve on the branch that will allow you to shut off just that branch rather than the whole house Haha...should is doing a lot of work here. Shut off valves like you mention are great, but even newer houses often don't have them.
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    Owned a half-dozen US houses built between 1907 and 2015 and have never actually seen such a thing. If you're lucky someone's done some work on a branch at some point and was courteous enough to install a shut-off, though usually off somewhere weird where there was already damage or whatever, not where you'd normally look for it. [EDIT] Actually, my parents' very-new house has that... but because it's all-PEX, so it's super-easy to install it that way, with a central panel full of shut-offs for various parts.
    - mindslight 4y ago
      Hah. I hadn't realized I was taking that for granted (over multiple houses myself), and just figured they were required by code (even though it makes the chrome sink shutoffs kind of redundant). Score 1 for DIYers doing more maintainable work than professionals. FWIW a SharkBite valve or NPT adapter into a valve would seem to be a handier thing to have around than a pure cap. For example, you can attach a valve without shutting the water off.
      - yamtaddle 4y ago
        Hell, maybe it is required by code in some places. I've only really looked at the plumbing of houses in a three-state cluster in the Midwest, maybe elsewhere more-conveniently-designed plumbing is normal.

conductr 4y ago

If the walls are open, they shouldn’t. They should be using the minimum number of connections/joins because that’s always going to be a higher point of failure. However, When you/they need to patch something and don’t want to open up the whole room/house, then that’s the correct use case for these devices.

matwood 4y ago

I should have been more clear. I wouldn't use a sharkbite for a permanent fix, but being able to patch something until you can either do a permanent fix or get a plumber out is a big win. I even keep PVC glue and some collars/caps for the same reason.

yamtaddle 4y ago

Shark bite is awesome for capping a broken pipe until you can get around to a proper fix. Love those shark-bite caps. IMO every home owner should have pipe cutters for the pipes in their house (whatever materials those may be), and a set of those caps ready to apply for every size of pipe they've got. Ought to be as common as having a screwdriver and hammer. They're absolute life-savers when a leak or pipe burst happens at odd hours and you just want to get the leak stopped and the water back on and go back to bed or get back to work or whatever. Cut the pipe, steel wool the end clean, slap the shark bite cap on, get on with life until you have the time to properly fix it. Turns something very inconvenient into something merely a little inconvenient. Beats the hell out of having to break out the solder or pipe glue at 2AM.

mindslight 4y ago
If you've got a significant leak in a supply pipe, there should be a valve on the branch that will allow you to shut off just that branch rather than the whole house. You might need to shut off the whole house first while you figure out where that valve is, but you probably won't have to do ad-hoc plumbing to get most of the house back on. But yes, in general I'm always for people becoming familiar with tools and DIY.
- matwood 4y ago
  > there should be a valve on the branch that will allow you to shut off just that branch rather than the whole house Haha...should is doing a lot of work here. Shut off valves like you mention are great, but even newer houses often don't have them.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Owned a half-dozen US houses built between 1907 and 2015 and have never actually seen such a thing. If you're lucky someone's done some work on a branch at some point and was courteous enough to install a shut-off, though usually off somewhere weird where there was already damage or whatever, not where you'd normally look for it. [EDIT] Actually, my parents' very-new house has that... but because it's all-PEX, so it's super-easy to install it that way, with a central panel full of shut-offs for various parts.
  - mindslight 4y ago
    Hah. I hadn't realized I was taking that for granted (over multiple houses myself), and just figured they were required by code (even though it makes the chrome sink shutoffs kind of redundant). Score 1 for DIYers doing more maintainable work than professionals. FWIW a SharkBite valve or NPT adapter into a valve would seem to be a handier thing to have around than a pure cap. For example, you can attach a valve without shutting the water off.
    - yamtaddle 4y ago
      Hell, maybe it is required by code in some places. I've only really looked at the plumbing of houses in a three-state cluster in the Midwest, maybe elsewhere more-conveniently-designed plumbing is normal.