Pro press vs solder, from a homeowners perspective

[JohnCT]

Pro press fitting not press. Hold for a 4 months. 19 floor of 24 story building. Leek all the way to lobby.
— in Sunny Isles Beach, FL.

Even if properly pressed, I see 14 O-Rings holding back the pressure in a one foot square area..

I wonder if they found that with a stethoscope? What a shame.

John

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Even if properly pressed, I see 14 O-Rings holding back the pressure in a one foot square area..

I wonder if they found that with a stethoscope? What a shame.

John

I wonder how long those o rings are going to last anyway...
It probably depends on the chemicals in the water

 

[Sponsor]

 

[John Gayewski]

Pro press fitting not press. Hold for a 4 months. 19 floor of 24 story building. Leek all the way to lobby.
— in Sunny Isles Beach, FL.

That's happens with sweat fittings too. A maintenance guy at a school said they had a 3" sweat 90 hold for forty years until it leaked.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

That's happens with sweat fittings too. A maintenance guy at a school said they had a 3" sweat 90 hold for forty years until it leaked.

Of course, It happens with everything....

I just recently had a 3/4 sharkbite male adaptor blow off a hot outlet on a
new hot water heater I had just installed.... I filled up the heater and once it
got pressure on it , it blew off and gave me a good bath.. I was shocked but grateful it
did this while I was still at the home...... I never had any of these ever blow off like this
and I noticed that the copper was older and had thinned down considerably over time
which I didnot catch while doing this heater.....

It made me wonder if with the degradation of copper over time if
both sharkbites and propress fittings will fail


I went and did the whole job over and sweated
both sides up with solder fittings... Even though I have
installed thousands of sharkbite fittings without any issues over
the past 15 years, this scared me to death and I am going back to soldering
and I dont trust the propress neither

 

[John Gayewski]

Of course, It happens with everything....

I just recently had a 3/4 sharkbite male adaptor blow off a hot outlet on a
new hot water heater I had just installed.... I filled up the heater and once it
got pressure on it , it blew off and gave me a good bath.. I was shocked but grateful it
did this while I was still at the home...... I never had any of these ever blow off like this
and I noticed that the copper was older and had thinned down considerably over time
which I didnot catch while doing this heater.....

It made me wonder if with the degradation of copper over time if
both sharkbites and propress fittings will fail


I went and did the whole job over and sweated
both sides up with solder fittings... Even though I have
installed thousands of sharkbite fittings without any issues over
the past 15 years, this scared me to death and I am going back to soldering
and I dont trust the propress neither

I've seen a lot of leaking sharkbite fittings. Mainly because people who have no business doing plumbing use them commonly.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

I've seen a lot of leaking sharkbite fittings. Mainly because people who have no business doing plumbing use them commonly.

The sharkbites have found their place in plumbing work when trying to
adapt to different brands of pex pipes found in a home and they rarely fail

I feel that basically the propress is just a sharkbite that you cannot remove.
and it can only be used on copper......

 

[John Gayewski]

The sharkbites have found their place in plumbing work when trying to
adapt to different brands of pex pipes found in a home and they rarely fail

I feel that basically the propress is just a sharkbite that you cannot remove.
and it can only be used on copper......

No reason to use a sharkbite unless it's temporary work that'll be removed. Pex doesn't need adapted with a sharkbite you can use cinch clamps on any pex.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

No reason to use a sharkbite unless it's temporary work that'll be removed. Pex doesn't need adapted with a sharkbite you can use cinch clamps on any pe

 

[Lui]

Pro press fitting not press. Hold for a 4 months. 19 floor of 24 story building. Leek all the way to lobby.
— in Sunny Isles Beach, FL.

Always

 

[Lifespeed]

From a homeowner perspective, who has soldered copper plumbing and seen O-rings in other applications fail, I'll stick with the metallurgical bond. EPDM will eventually deteriorate and fail. Copper and solder can fail too, but they don't have the certain failure mechanism of rubber.

It's easy for me to have this perspective, I'm not trying to run a plumbing business and squeeze out maximum productivity. I just care what is best and reliable. My trusted local plumber is here today fixing some shoddy ABS drains in the master bath, and replacing some 1/2" copper to the vanity with 3/4" to support a dual sink. He asked me "propress or solder". He clearly prefers the speed of Pro Press, but is enough of a straight shooter to do as I request.

I don't do PEX either.

 

[Fitter30]

With millions of pro press joints by major manufacturers of the fittings if there was a concernable problem it would of been addressed. Biggest problem is not marking the pipe for depth, the square cut addressing the end for burrs and reaming.

 

[Lifespeed]

With millions of pro press joints by major manufacturers of the fittings if there was a concernable problem it would of been addressed. Biggest problem is not marking the pipe for depth, the square cut addressing the end for burrs and reaming.

And they haven't been proven for 70 years. O-rings fail, everyone knows this.

 

[Sylvan]

I was against Mega and Propress, now I swear by it

Easier to use even when a valve does not hold.
The mega press paid for itself on a one-hour job. A 3" steam condensate line was leaking in a crawl space, and the pipe could not be threaded in place. Mega saved us big time, and the commercial account was thrilled

No acetylene or other fuels are required, and lower skill levels are required.

The fittings cost a lot but in time it saves a lot so it is cost effective

 

[Sylvan]

And they haven't been proven for 70 years. O-rings fail, everyone knows this.

We went behind a handman and he had a leak on an 11/2 copper mega press fitting.

In this case, I just cleaned the fitting and copper tubing and brazed the tubing to the copper MGP fitting, no big deal

 

[Fitter30]

And they haven't been proven for 70 years. O-rings fail, everyone knows this.

Company i worked for did one of the first jobs for a heatpump loop for a hotel with glycol. Haven't head of a problem for 6 stories.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

I was against Mega and Propress, now I swear by it

Easier to use even when a valve does not hold.
The mega press paid for itself on a one-hour job. A 3" steam condensate line was leaking in a crawl space, and the pipe could not be threaded in place. Mega saved us big time, and the commercial account was thrilled

No acetylene or other fuels are required, and lower skill levels are required.

The fittings cost a lot but in time it saves a lot so it is cost effective

I have never used the pro press fittings as of yet.... They work fine but I never have had a need for them so far
and the propress tool alone is costing somewhere around 1500 --2k??
I would have to bring the tool in from my truck every night just for safe keeping....

I suppose if you have an emergency and cannot get the water completely turned off in a commercial setting
it will pay for itself on one service call....
The local water company presently will not allow any propress fittings on their side of the incomming meter
and only will accept approved adaptors

The downside to the tool is it lowers the skill level for the next generation of people doing plumbing..

I am getting by just fine at this time but I fear the day I might need one

 

[Slomoola]

Anytime you add convenience to a product, you decrease longevity slash durability. So any new item that is faster most likely is not better per say. It's all in the prep work. Just like painting a car. Half azz prep results in a poor paint job. Yes copper, PEX or any other pipe connection types all require prep. PEX likes nice clean perpendicular cuts. Copper likes cleaned on the outside with the inside deburred and cleaned. Pro Press requires cleaned externally and deburred internally as well. You don't just shove a pro press fitting on and slam it home. Most people do not deburr internally. That creates turbulence in the flow leading to leaks slash failures.

Anything with an O-ring will fail. Sharkbite, Pro Press........ Chlorinated city water will insure that.

Any plumbing system that is new and faster, buyer beware.

 

[Reach4]

Plastic drain pipes are more long-lived than cast iron or copper, but not as quiet.

Polypropylene slip joint p-traps are longer-lived than brass, and easier to cut to size.

PVC pressure pipes and well drop pipes are more long-lived than galvanized, although not as strong.

But caution makes sense. Remember polybutylene and orangeburg.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Plastic drain pipes are more long-lived than cast iron or copper, but not as quiet.

Polypropylene slip joint p-traps are longer-lived than brass, and easier to cut to size.

PVC pressure pipes and well drop pipes are more long-lived than galvanized, although not as strong.

But caution makes sense. Remember polybutylene and orangeburg.

Everything eventually fails for one reason or another..... Sch40 pvc pipe is supposed to be good when
installed out of UV light for about 900+ years .

Look at flint Michigan when some DEI hire decided to get water from another source and
it was corrosive to the system leaching tons of lead into the city water and then all hell broke loose
and somehow the governor got blamed for the whole mess...

Disgruntled People leave positions in local government and many dont look back and leave their jobs with the
hope that other new hires will screw everything up
others have to pick up the slack as best they know how to... for better or worse...

Someone somewhere will add too much chlorine or chlormines into the water system for a whole community
and then all the pex pipe will probably start falling apart over a period of a few years....

we have this issue right now in our town with water softeners that explode due to too much chlorine in the
water system...... and the beads expand and rush out the top into the plumbing system .....