so I was convinced to use Sharkbites- sick of seeing past homeowner solders pinholing, and I know I am also not great at soldering, especially up high, near wood, and with poorly drying cut lines.
I also know I should hire a plumber, but I simply cannot afford it for small stuff like this (not at $130 an hour)..
so I used PEX and Sharkbites to cut out old copper and install a new DW tee and used a "NEW" push-in Brasscraft 1/4 turn 1/2" push-in to 3/8" compression shutoff valve (seems like a Sharkbite rip-off, why doesn't Sharkbite put out shut off valves?- their globe valves are just two sharkbites connected to their threaded valves?!)
.. the install seemed okay with one test, but then I noticed slight bubbling at one shark bite coupler to old brass.. I know I pushed it in far enough.
I used plumber's emory cloth after I had cut the copper to clean it as they suggested however it seemed to scratch it up a lot.. I also have a bad HD pipe cutter that spirals a little, but I tightened gently as I turned and it seemed a OK cut.
The PEX tubing also seemed impossible to cut perpindicular even with a $18 tubing cutter- will that also compromise the sharkbite fittings? That is not an issue, YET.
Is it the scratches on the copper causing the slight drip?
Have people have success with the removal and re-use of Sharkbite fittings? Seems to me that although they advertise that feature once you re-use an O-Ring and gripping "teeth" it could never be as good.
Hate that I replaced a pinhole solder leak with an unknown cause Sharkbite leak...
I also know I should hire a plumber, but I simply cannot afford it for small stuff like this (not at $130 an hour)..
so I used PEX and Sharkbites to cut out old copper and install a new DW tee and used a "NEW" push-in Brasscraft 1/4 turn 1/2" push-in to 3/8" compression shutoff valve (seems like a Sharkbite rip-off, why doesn't Sharkbite put out shut off valves?- their globe valves are just two sharkbites connected to their threaded valves?!)
.. the install seemed okay with one test, but then I noticed slight bubbling at one shark bite coupler to old brass.. I know I pushed it in far enough.
I used plumber's emory cloth after I had cut the copper to clean it as they suggested however it seemed to scratch it up a lot.. I also have a bad HD pipe cutter that spirals a little, but I tightened gently as I turned and it seemed a OK cut.
The PEX tubing also seemed impossible to cut perpindicular even with a $18 tubing cutter- will that also compromise the sharkbite fittings? That is not an issue, YET.
Is it the scratches on the copper causing the slight drip?
Have people have success with the removal and re-use of Sharkbite fittings? Seems to me that although they advertise that feature once you re-use an O-Ring and gripping "teeth" it could never be as good.
Hate that I replaced a pinhole solder leak with an unknown cause Sharkbite leak...