Sharkbites and compression, logic??

Jimbo

Jimbo

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It is often discussed here that sharkbites are approved for concealed locations, and compression fittings are not.

Compression fittings use a metal to metal water seal, and mechanical "squeeze" for strong mechanical strength. Most would agree that they have very high percentage of leak-free performance, for a very long time. Although we would not be able to say " forever".

Sharkbites rely on a rubber seal , and depend on excellent prep of the pipe end to ensure the rubber is not damaged at installation. I don't know if we have any feel yet for how many years that rubber is expected to last.

Is there any logic here??
 
logic

One bit of logic, although not the one you are looking for, is that a compression metal to metal seal can be disturbed by movement, but the "rubber" O ring seal in a Sharkbite will absorb any deflection.
 
No hubs rely on rubber, too, but they last for very long times. Admittedly, not normally under pressure, though.
 

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hj said:
One bit of logic, although not the one you are looking for, is that a compression metal to metal seal can be disturbed by movement, but the "rubber" O ring seal in a Sharkbite will absorb any deflection.
Click to expand...

Plus the support offered in the first and second stage is really quite tight and rigid so there isn't a whole lot of deflection anyway.
 
hj said:
One bit of logic, although not the one you are looking for, is that a compression metal to metal seal can be disturbed by movement, but the "rubber" O ring seal in a Sharkbite will absorb any deflection.
Click to expand...

Good point. Hadn't thought about it that way. Now, another thought: is there any issue with a sharkbite located right at a water heater outlet ( or inlet ). A little warm there, especially if it is a gas WH. Is the rubber seal OK with that temp??
 
Sb

The Sharkbite gasket is always in contact with water so the ambient temperature is not a factor. It would be just like a solder joint with water in it never exceeding 212 degrees regardless of how hot the torch flame was.
 
Brass compression fittings = leaks in my book. Have seen too many in my budding career already. Sharkbites come from an industrial setting or atleast the technology, I believe, that have more caustic environments than the home plumbing system.
 
kingsotall said:
Brass compression fittings = leaks in my book. Have seen too many in my budding career already. Sharkbites come from an industrial setting or at least the technology, I believe, that have more caustic environments than the home plumbing system.
Click to expand...

That's right! My first exposure to the "push in" fitting was on CNC Machining Centers & Lathes. Many of the pneumatic lines and coolant lines were run using nylon tubing and thousands of these push in fittings. Even in the moving, flexing, oil soaked, metal chips everywhere environment it proved to be very reliable. Failures were limited to machine crashes where the operator failed to remove a slug and it got in the way of machine movement or the machine over traveled breaking things...

Perhaps that is why I have a higher degree of confidence in them than most.
I don't use a lot of them but when the application fits I use them!

pushinfittings-BSP.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hey Redwood, I work for a large player in the pneumatic fittings market. Being familiar with that push-to-connect technology led to much comfort in finding similar products for home plumbing. I saw a great number of negative comments here for the Sharkbite / Gatorbite style, and praise for the decades of usage and art of pipe sweating. PEX and push to connect fittings give so much more design flexibility -- unaligned holes through studs, turning a corner without another fitting, working in tight spots where wood could catch fire, etc. Not to mention the work goes soooo much faster. Price is higher, but it's hard to find negatives. Well, there is one -- if you want to place a fitting in the middle of a run, like a tee, you may not find the flex/give to spread apart the copper ends in order to introduce the fitting. A 1/2" Gatorbite requires 15/16" insertion on each end. Copper's fairly rigid!
 
Other than for testing or a very temporary repair, I have never used a compression or shark bite fitting in 37 years of plumbing. And I don't plan on starting now.

CRAP CRAP CRAPPITY CRAP. :D
 
Call me old fashioned but when I pack up my tools and go home at night I sleep a little better knowing that copper joint I sweated earlier isnt going to blow apart. When they first came out with pvc and cpvc water lines we gave it a try, used cleaner and glue and waited like the instructions said, and had a lot of lines come apart, some were 2 days later after the water was turned on. So far to date Ive replaced 6 sharkbites that failed and I sweated the line back together, 2 of them were in concealed locations. Im not saying it wasnt installer fault or a bad product but time will tell
 
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