Desert_Captain
Apr 17, 2021Explorer III
Hooray for Shark Bite fittings...
All of the plumbing in our 24' Nexus Class C is Pex. After 9 years once of the fittings on the feed line to the toilet developed a small leak. I'm guessing that there was a little bit of water left in the line after winterizing and one of several long hard freezes last winter caused a crack. I noticed the leak shortly after refilling the water tank for our first trip this spring.
The feed line is 5/8" where in goes into the back of the toilet connecting with a 90 degree elbow {with a 5/8" hose barb} which was mated with a threaded male/female connection to the Pex. Rather than try and wrestle with the Pex as I lack the proper tools or any working experience with Pex I cut the Pex and tried to sleeve 5/8" reinforced PVC hose over it double clamping this connection. It seemed snug but the next morning it was dripping again {I left the water on overnight to test the connection}.
Another trip to Ace Hardware where one of their guys in introduced me to the "Shark Bite" brass coupler. I got one with a female threaded end and added a 5/8" brass male hose barb and spliced this onto the Pex line {they just push on and can only be removed with a special SB tool} connecting downstream with the 5/8" PVC hose leading to the toilet. A couple wraps of Teflon tape on the brass hose barb with double hose clamps for good measure and Hooray... no more leak.
I had heard of the Shark Bite connectors but never had any reason to try them but if you have Pex plumbing keeping a connector or two in your spare parts locker would seem to be a pretty good idea. They will enable you to make quick work of a leak, I was lucky that mine developed while at home and while not cheap {the connector and brass hose barb were $15} they work very well. Now that I know how well they work it's back to Ace for a couple off spares.
:C
The feed line is 5/8" where in goes into the back of the toilet connecting with a 90 degree elbow {with a 5/8" hose barb} which was mated with a threaded male/female connection to the Pex. Rather than try and wrestle with the Pex as I lack the proper tools or any working experience with Pex I cut the Pex and tried to sleeve 5/8" reinforced PVC hose over it double clamping this connection. It seemed snug but the next morning it was dripping again {I left the water on overnight to test the connection}.
Another trip to Ace Hardware where one of their guys in introduced me to the "Shark Bite" brass coupler. I got one with a female threaded end and added a 5/8" brass male hose barb and spliced this onto the Pex line {they just push on and can only be removed with a special SB tool} connecting downstream with the 5/8" PVC hose leading to the toilet. A couple wraps of Teflon tape on the brass hose barb with double hose clamps for good measure and Hooray... no more leak.
I had heard of the Shark Bite connectors but never had any reason to try them but if you have Pex plumbing keeping a connector or two in your spare parts locker would seem to be a pretty good idea. They will enable you to make quick work of a leak, I was lucky that mine developed while at home and while not cheap {the connector and brass hose barb were $15} they work very well. Now that I know how well they work it's back to Ace for a couple off spares.
:C