using shark bites on pluming

Some plumbers will use them where they will not be sealed inside of a wall. I prefer the shark bites because of the material used. Lowes calls them Gator bites.

Use them and they work wonderfully!

I use shark bites on a rest room that has to be drained over the winter. Prior to using these the lines could not be disconnected as needed and some water always remained and then freezing and of course rupturing the lines. The shark bites allow quick disassembly and drainage and then quick reassembly in the spring. Broken and split copper and pex lines all vanished. The release tools are about a dollar or less. Keep a couple on top of the water heater.

randallb wrote:
Shark-bites, et al are not normally used by plumbers/contractors because of price. You buy the crimping tool and dies once and then crimp all of your joints for substantially less. For example; $5.85 for a brass SB 1/2"- 90 or $.75 for a PEX brass 1/2"-90 and $.14 for the clamp. $5.85 or $.89? I know what my choice is since I already own the (approx $100.00) crimping tool and dies.
Randy

Having plumbed a number of new homes with PEX, I have the crimper for the stainless steel crimp clamps. The tool was $38, does every size of clamp from 1/4" to 1" and is available at Lowes. The crimps are about $0.30 each and it's been foolproof and trouble free for thousands of connections. I can understand using Shark-bites for a repair, but once you are using more than a small handful, I would definitely look into doing it with the band clamps.

Shark-bites, et al are not normally used by plumbers/contractors because of price. You buy the crimping tool and dies once and then crimp all of your joints for substantially less. For example; $5.85 for a brass SB 1/2"- 90 or $.75 for a PEX brass 1/2"-90 and $.14 for the clamp. $5.85 or $.89? I know what my choice is since I already own the (approx $100.00) crimping tool and dies.
Randy

I've seen plumbers use quick connectors several times in situations where soldering copper mods or repairs would be dangerous and with PEX mods or repairs were it wasn't practical to reach with crimpers.

I have yet to meet a plumber that uses any sort of quick connections, but I have used these and some by Watts for nearly a decade. Never had a single drip or complication.

I have used them many times in my Class A with no problems. Used them to redo the shower, replace bathroom faucet, re plumbed the water heater, and replaced the toilet. Easy to use and no issues after over 5 years. I too carry spares for emergencies. Easy to remove with the "removal" tool.

zman-az wrote:
Why not use the less expensive plastic ones. Check out the video at around 1 minute.

Yep, Watts and the identical Sea Tech fittings are about half the price of Sharkbite fittings.

Those are pretty much the same as what I used.