Plumberwanabe
New Member
Is it permitted to use 3/4" drop ear shark bite for hot water tank supply behind the wall?
Shark bite
- Thread starter Plumberwanabe
- Start date
Tom Sawyer
In the Trades
Sure, why not? I'm pretty sure that the stainless steel ring with the teeth in it that holds the pipe in place probably won't dig into the pipe as it expands and contracts and loosen up over time. How do you feel about that?
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Shark bites are allowed behind the wall for plumbing.
The only place you wouldn't use a sharkbite drop ear is if someone is running PEX to a tub spout. There you would use something like copper pipe to the drop ear for a tub spout, and the that sizing would work for a tub spout.
But nothing else in the home has that restriction. A sharkbite drop ear in the wall for a water heater would be fine.
Most plumbers prefer them to be exposed though. It does have moving parts that can fail.
I have a few sharkbites in the vans, but they are rarely used. I mainly use copper sweat fittings and PEX fittings with compression rings.
The only place you wouldn't use a sharkbite drop ear is if someone is running PEX to a tub spout. There you would use something like copper pipe to the drop ear for a tub spout, and the that sizing would work for a tub spout.
But nothing else in the home has that restriction. A sharkbite drop ear in the wall for a water heater would be fine.
Most plumbers prefer them to be exposed though. It does have moving parts that can fail.
I have a few sharkbites in the vans, but they are rarely used. I mainly use copper sweat fittings and PEX fittings with compression rings.
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