Are Sharkbite fittings effective?

[opnspaces]

As some of you may recall I asked a while back about running an external garden hose from my trailer. Here's a link to that topic. Link

I received many great responses to my question of where to attach the hose to the trailer. out of all those answers I'm leaning toward tapping into an existing PEX water line. which brings up my questions.

How effective are Sharkbite fittings? Do they work well with the PEX, or are they really more of a band-aid?
Would I get a more reliable fitting if I bought the a PEX crimp tool and some PEX fittings?

People have reported the tool as being expensive. I know expensive is a subjective term. can someone tell me about how much their crimper cost?

Thanks I have a trip next weekend and would like to try to make this work before then.

[deltamaster]

RJsfishin wrote:

I hate crimp, mainly because they can't be resued very simply.

Which could be an issue if the tubing is already short enough.

Damage the tubing trying to get the crimp off and you have to cut the tubing back. Enough of that and the joints will not come together.

[deltamaster]

RJsfishin wrote:
I'll repeat,....there is NEVER a reason to use crimp. except for OEM (incl plummers that already have the tools) economy.
And I believe its the only way w/ the bigger tubes.
Flair-it is found at almost every hadware store, and the only pex fitting you'll find at every RV supply. Let that tell you something.

I do not know... could not say that... there is a major plumbing outfit in Cheyenne Wyoming that uses Shark Bite all the time.

[RJsfishin]

azpete wrote:
rj why would you go buy fittings when you already have the crimp fittings in hand. and the vroom to use them. i carry all three in stock. crimp is the most permanent of all the repairs. i use that method whenever i have room. i think all three work just fine.
i believe personally that crimp is best. just like the manufacturer.

Me ?? I never had a crimper or crimp fittings for pex.

It is impossible to cross thread a flairit fitting. The nut is aligned by the tubing, and couldn't be cross threaded if you tried.

Mfgs don't think crimp is best. Its just faster, and the fittings cost 1/4 of flairit, and 1/8 th of sharkbite. But many MFGs do use Flairit, RV, and Homes.
I hate crimp, mainly because they can't be resued very simply.

[mlts22]

I remember seeing a push-fit fitting similar to Sharkbite/Probite/Gatorbite, except it had two O-rings, and was better suited for tasks where vibration is an issue. Anyone know about those?

[time2roll]

I have used the Flair-It and I consider the SharkBite/GatorBite to be far superior and easier to use. These are a trouble free permanent coupling.

And since many post about plastic fittings being the weakest link during a freeze I prefer the brass fittings.

[JamesBr]

On my old bus I had a pex plastic fitting cross thread while updating the kitchen faucet. I went to HD and bought an equal shark bite, never had a problem with it for the 3.5 years after install.

[azpete]

rj why would you go buy fittings when you already have the crimp fittings in hand. and the vroom to use them. i carry all three in stock. crimp is the most permanent of all the repairs. i use that method whenever i have room. i think all three work just fine.
i believe personally that crimp is best. just like the manufacturer.

[Simplygib]

Never used Sharkbite, but I have used Flair-it. I am "plumbing challenged" but was able to put together a whole-house water filter system that required quite an array of couplers and elbows (due to space limitations), and not a single leak with the Flair-it connectors. Granted, it's a stationary installation and won't be bumped around like would happen in an RV going down the road, but I suspect they would work fine in that situation as well. Still amazes me how well they work.

[RJsfishin]

I'll repeat,....there is NEVER a reason to use crimp. except for OEM (incl plummers that already have the tools) economy.
And I believe its the only way w/ the bigger tubes.
Flair-it is found at almost every hadware store, and the only pex fitting you'll find at every RV supply. Let that tell you something.

[azpete]

sharkbite fittings are good. they are also pricy. a quick effective fix. that said, i prefer flair it, or crimp fittings. just a personal choice. i have one of those expensive crimpers bought at a sale a few years ago. not at the $200 original cost. they work, but you need room to operate them. flair it works in close quarters. as you can see, there are a variety of things you can use to repair a leak. to me, the situation dictates which i use for the repair. i keep the most common of all three in stock.

[mlts22]

I will be a devil's advocate against Sharkbites and offer this article as food for thought.

Sharkbites are good fittings for stationary plumbing, especially if connecting PVC to PEX, or PEX to brass. However, in an RV where vibrations are normal, that one little O-ring is the only thing keeping the water away from the interior of your RV, and it doesn't take much to nick it, flatten it out, erode it (chlorine does a good job), or otherwise cause it to fail.

Instead, I would take some of the above recommendations. Flair-It fittings are good quality and do not depend on an O-ring. There are fittings that use a clamp (I think by Watts), and the nice thing about those is that regardless of the diameter of the pipe, it only needs one tool. Of course, if one has cash, I've read very good things about Uponor's ProPex system, but the tools are expensive ($750 for the cordless one that automatically rotates the pipe when being expanded, and it requires PEX-a pipe.)

There are plenty of other good fasteners. I'd read around to see which can stand the test of time, especially in an RV.

[opnspaces]

Thanks for all the input. I'll be pulling the trailer home this week. The only thing stopping me now is going to be a reluctance to cut a hole in the trailer to allow me have exterior access. Maybe I'll be able to poke a hole through inside the outside shower or something.

[randallb]

Buy the crimper and do it up. I installed motion activated sprinklers around our raised bed(s) garden and used Pex from the main feed to the garden out to the sprinklers. Using SB push fits would have been slightly easier than using the crimped and quite a bit more expensive; $7.50 for 1 SB push 90 or $7.50 for a 5 pack of crimp 90s. You have to look at tool purchases as an investment and that you are paying for the tool out of what you are saving on labor.
Randy

[RJsfishin]

Flairit doesn't depend on an o ring. My rv is all flairit, and so is my house. They can't leak, and are reuseable, and not very expensive.
There is NEVER a reason to use crimp, except OEM economy, and its all there is for the large pex sizes.