Copper threading tool

[GrumpyPlumber]

OK...For a plumber, the topic gets your attention.
I just wanted to start a thread with a positive topic (well...positive in the eyes of a grumpy plumber )

Ever buy a tool or fixture made by a company that you know makes other items that are reliable....only to find what you bought isn't?

Example...popular company that makes angle stops ...it's 9 at night...left my tools on a job I was going back to the next day ( a no-no, but I did it anyway)
I buy a tubing cutter at the depot made by them, plumbers are only s'posed to buy ONE name (you know, starts with "R")., but I don't wanna splash over $70 for something I already own twice over...I'm in the basement...found the bursts in the pipe...start thawing and prepping for the insert with slip couplings cleaned and fluxed...the first 8" section I'm trying to cut with my new prize is spiralling.

I have a brand new copper threading tool.

Other things...like one of the most popular name for kitchen faucets...makes a horrendous shower valve.
I dunno if it's against the sites policy...so I omitted the names...moderator - do tell.
Just wanted to see what anyone elses experiences were regarding companies that make good....and bad products.

 

[Cass]

Grumpy, just FYI, I don't know what you think of them but shark bite has a new coupling for freeze brakes.

Basically it is a 7" long coupling. You cut out the break, slide the shark bite on 1 side and then line up the pipe and slide it back over the other. Done.

It may not be for every break ie. in a wall, but if your ina crawl, your busy, or the water is taking its sweet time draining or what ever, it is a sweet deal.

Just think you wouldn't have needed that copper threading thingie.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cass]

When refering to the big box stores you can say HD or Low*s. Delta, Moen is OK.

 

[GrumpyPlumber]

Just think you wouldn't have needed that copper threading thingey.

Cass...I'm chucklin' like a schoolgirl.
As for the sharkbite...welp...gotta come clean...I'm gun-shy...have yet to use them, but planning a baseboard tie in next month...they seem to good to be true...I'll let the other guys be gunea pigs first...also...they're a bit pricey compared to even copper...but then...so is my time waiting for a wet line to purge.
Guess I'm gonna have to brave it and try one of those shark thingies.

 

[Cass]

I don't use them a whole lot, just when the situation warrents.

 

[Markts30]

I have tried the brasscraft (?brass-cr*p?)cutters as well.... (a few years ago - in a similar situation) and have always had the same experiences with them as you - now I stick to ridgid and reed cutters....

 

[GrumpyPlumber]

Mark...don't it suck?!?
I still have the stupid thing...I keep it as if I'll find some use for it.
Mrs calls me a packrat, I just think copper threading might be all the rage soon...yeah thats it.

As for the valve, I like Delta faucets, they are easy to replace the stems, and single handle repairs are a snap with the repair kits.
The shower valves, NOPE...the handles are flimsey, they tend to move past the stop after a short period of use then drip endlessly until you can decipher what model/make/year it is after being on hold with customer service for five hours, then in frustration you tell the customer it has to be replaced. (why replace it with another flimsy stem?)

Then there's moen....awful faucet if you want something solid, but easy to replace the cartridges on the shower valves (reversable when installed upside down too), also easy on hard water with the plastic guts.

Ridgid, ok best tube cutters bar none, best wrenches bar none, and threading machines, soil pipe cutters...but, now they sell vacuums? sewage ejectors? sumps?
Soon they'll have Ridgid cookware! (I am kidding, I hope)

Kohler, if yer listening - good stuff....stay away from vacuums....mmmkay?
You too Grohe, Rohl, great faucets...no vacuums please.

 

[Kordts]

Sharkbites rule. The caps are great. Use them for stubouts and when trim time comes along, you pull the caps off, and have a nice clean end of pipe to install the compression stops on.