Angle stops - sweat or compression?

Hi,

I don't know if this just comes down to personal preference or if there are some fundamental reasons why angle stops should be either compression fittings or sweated to the supply lines. I'm renovating a small bathroom, and I'm pretty sure all the angle stops in my house are compression, but having had to sweat some fittings back together after the demolition when overboard, I'm ok with making connections with something other than a wrench. Can anyone comment on what common practices might be? I have had one compression fitting angle stop blow off ( the dishwasher ) but that's the only one, and after replacing it four years ago I have had no problems with the replacement.

On a related note, has anyone used these stops from Nibco?

http://www.nibco.com/newproducts/Pro-Stop.shtml

They look pretty nice to me, I really like the 1/4 turn ball valves I put in to isolate the bathroom, so I am thinking about using these if I can find a vendor.

Jason MacLeod

Clayton

Compression fittings are not allowed in some places, but in my area you would be hard pressed to find a chrome sweat stop in the supply houses here. We always use 1/4 turn compression style stops on copper. I stock wolverine brass valves, but if you're buying from a hardware / home improvement center i'd recommend you get the Brass Craft 1/4 turn ball valve style. They're available in compression or sweat.
The water quality here is terrible and the hard water destroys chrome stops so we change them quite often and I prefer the compression style for that. Never had one blow off, must not of been tightened properly.
Overheating a sweat ballvalve style valve just the slightest amount can ruin them.

http://www.brasscraft.com/PDF/Brass Craft - The New Twist in Quarter-Turn Brochure.pdf

stops

If you use sweat stops be sure to leave enough copper tubing sticking out of the wall afterwards so you can cut them off and still install a new one when they have to be replaced. As far as brands, you go with whatever the particular supply house carries. We are using the Nibco now, but they have had Watts and Brasscraft at various times.

There are places that don't allow compression, and there are some plumbers who would never put one in. A matter of preference.

2 cents:

Personally, I have never put on a sweat angle stop. I have put on a gazillion compression ones, and never had a leak at the inlet fitting. I have seen many valves which were improperly installed: too loose or too tight. That can cause problems at replacement time, but never actually saw one of these leak either; they were being replaced for other problems. I do not lose any sleep worring about the reliability of compression angle valves.