Newby here, finishing bath valve installation, testing for leaks and yes, I've got em.

[chyckadee]

I'm novice diy-er many hours into a tub drip repair that led to opening a wall and replacing the shower/bath valve. My local plumbing supply store set me up with a two handled Gerber so I could avoid also learning how to tile at this moment. I've learned about sharkbites and crimp connections and I even learned to sweat copper pipes copper for the tub spout.

Today I finally connected everything and turned on the water, and I had some leaks. A couple I eliminated by tightening. (Evidently my idea of finger tight plus a quarter turn was not tight enough.) I have two small leaks still at the at the male threaded connections where I have a barbed connector crimped to pex supply lines. I *think* the problems are with the male threaded connections, not at the crimp. I wrapped the spots in a rope of dry toilet tissue and after a few minutes with the water turned on the toilet paper is damp. I've turned off the water at this point.

Since I've tightened a lot, I think I need to loosen the connections and put on some more teflon tape and add teflon paste (I didn't do that before- I had thought teflon tape would be enough.) My question is, if I do this will I still be able to reconnect the existing threaded connection with a wrench? I'm worried because earlier I accidentally attached one of the barbed connectors to my pex before attaching the threaded connection side to the valve, and I ended up cutting it off because it wouldn't turn and I couldn't figure out how to attach it. I know all the directions say to attach threaded connections before attaching to pex. I'm worried that I'm screwed because I have not been able to disconnect the sharkbites push connects and my pex pipes are gonna be too short if I have to cut the barbed connectors.

Thanks for advice!

 

[Reach4]

Today I finally connected everything and turned on the water, and I had some leaks. A couple I eliminated by tightening. (Evidently my idea of finger tight plus a quarter turn was not tight enough.) I have two small leaks still at the at the male threaded connections where I have a barbed connector crimped to pex supply lines.

Plastic like this

or brass?

If the PEX goes straight to a Sharkbite on the other end, I would expect the PEX to safely rotate. Do you use stainless steel clamps with your PEX, copper rings, or what?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[chyckadee]

Plastic like this

or brass?

If the PEX goes straight to a Sharkbite on the other end, I would expect the PEX to safely rotate. Do you use stainless steel clamps with your PEX, copper rings, or what?

Thanks for the response. Its brass like the one pictured, and yes, on the other end its a sharkbite push connect shut off valve connected to the copper supply line. I'm using the copper crimp rings. It seems to be letting me tighten the male threads with a wrench but at this point I'm worried about overtightening and feel like it would be safer to undo it and put - I dunno 5-6 wraps of teflon tape and dope and try again. (assuming I don't have to cut everything out and buy new shutoff valves because I can't get the pex out of the one that's in there.)

The push connect shutoff valve is working splendidly (as in no leaks), but I was unable with either of the pex removal tools or any other wrench (even with my husbands much stronger hands) to disconnect the pex tubing from it. I did use the orange tool to identify how far in the push connect should go make sure I pushed in enough.

 

[Terry]

Three wraps of tape and some pipe dope and then snug it up good. Nothing ever works hand tight and then a small turn. I put them on tight.

 

[Jadnashua]

While not impossible, it's hard to tighten tapered pipe threaded fittings too tight unless the threads on either the male or female are not up to specs. Normally, either pipe dope or PTFE tape (it's not Teflon, which is a brand - Dupont doesn't make that tape or sell its material to those that do) will make a good seal, but it doesn't hurt to use both...sort of belt and suspenders situation. If the threads were cut with dull tools or not deep enough or too deep, you might need belt and suspenders to make the seal.

Rotating a piece of pex in a Sharkbite isn't a great idea...it shouldn't damage the O-rings, but the sharp SS teeth can make a mess of the plastic tubing. It shouldn't be all that hard to release that tension with the removal tool, but you might need another pair of hands, or just remove it from the fitting, then replace it once you've tightened things back up.

 

[chyckadee]

hmm. well I already loosened and then wrapped and doped them up and re-tightened. If I'd seen your answer first I'd have just kept tightening. There are no leaks (yay!) at this point. Does this mean now that I've set myself up for a future leak by tearing up the pex in the process?

I don't know if I got faulty sharkbites or what but neither my husband nor I were able to release the pex from them, even with the disconnect tongs. We tried and tried and used wrenches to hold the tool but could not get it to release.

At this point I'd probably have to reach down in the wall and cut the copper to get them out. (I suppose its possible I could get them off the copper, but then I'd be turning off the water to the whole house again.... and I'd rather not at this point.) But I also don't want a leak in the pex in a few months that I find from a wet ceiling below....

Do I need to start over?

 

[Smythers]

I've found those sharkbites are tough to take off with those tiny little removal tools. What I've found works for me is to put the disconnect tool on, then grab a large wrench or vice grips, open it up enough to allow the pex through but cover the disconnect tool. Then push/pull the wrench against the tool (which is against the sharkbite) and voilà! It's still tough though, and I don't consider myself to be a weak guy.

When it comes to pex, my personal feeling is that if it's kinked, gouged, deeply scratched or torn up (like when vice grips shred the lining), cut out and replace that damaged section immediately, test for leaks, close it up, sleep soundly. It's a cheap and easy fix... well, easy if you can get that sharkbite disconnect tool working for ya.

 

[Reach4]

Some people, including me a couple of times, remove the sharkbite fitting with an adjustable wrench set to the pipe OD. I did not have that orange tool that you have. What you might do is to use your orange tool and put the wrench as a bigger handhold next to the tool. Then one person pulls the pipe and pushes the wrench at the same time. One pushes the fitting toward the wrench.

As an experiment, I rotated a piece of scrap PEX in a sharkbite fitting several times. I then removed the fitting. The rotating did produce a very small groove in the PEX thru the color, but not so much as to weaken the PEX enough to be concerned with.

 

[Jadnashua]

It's probably going to be okay...it's not ideal to ream a groove in the tubing. The teeth will make marks even without rotating either, though. Just don't do it again! If you feel bad, replace it. There are compression fittings that don't use O-rings or teeth that can be used with pex, but may be harder to find.

 

[chyckadee]

thanks! I won't do it again! I wouldn't have done it if we hadn't already spent several hours trying to disconnect the sharkbite from the pex with all the various tools and strategies without success. I had a lot less trouble with sweating the copper than with the sharkbites on the pex!

 

[Jadnashua]

Those teeth can get a good bite on/into the tubing. It's easier to remove from copper where it scratches rather than penetrates.