Shark Bite Good or Bad?

I have a hard time trusting the usage of these fittings and I need feedback on everyones experience with them. Can you use them every where?

The only place I use them is where they are exposed.

They are code approved to be behind walls.
But some people are still leery of them.
They have an excellent record, as long as properly installed.
They are expensive, but can be much faster and easier than soldering in lots of situations.

Make clean pipe cuts, straight across, no burrs or nicks, clean the pipe that goes into the Sharkbite, and insert fully by marking the correct depth with a little gentle scratch or a Sharpie.

They rely on an o-ring seal, and teeth that grab the pipe must be properly seated.

They are not suitable for any connection that must be rigid.

They are not meant to bear much weight or resist spinning or turning.

They will rotate, which is not good like for attaching a valve with a rotating handle.

Unless you can stabilize the valve by screwing it down or otherwise holding it from rotating.

If I need to work somewhere that soldering will be difficult or dangerous, but I need strong mechanical support, I use regular wrench type compression fittings or couplings.

Also, ProPress fittings are great but need special expensive tools to squeeze them on.

"They are not suitable for any connection that must be rigid and solid"
please explain

Alex Collins said:

I have a hard time trusting the usage of these fittings and I need feedback on everyones experience with them. Can you use them every where?

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I have used them with good success, our house has copper, cpvc, and pex, Sharkbite works on all of them!

By “not suitable for rigid or solid connections”, I mean that they are not a stiff strong connection like soldered joints.

They will spin if you twist them.

I would not hang a heavy item like an expansion tank off of a Sharkbite, because there is much less strength there.
Maybe it is approved, but I would not do it.

The connection is safe, secure, and water tight, but you need to support weight with strapping or clamps or whatever is needed.
More so than with soldered joints.

Just go to Home Depot, buy a short piece of copper tube and a few Sharkbite fittings, and also buy the fitting removal tool.

Take them home and put them together, you will see better first hand what I mean.
Then take them apart and return them if you don’t like them.

They are great for lots of applications, but not all.
Sometimes, regular soldering or brass compression fittings are needed.

Never had any problems since they were introduced.
Hundreds installed.
Not designed to be used underground.

The three readily available brands are SharkBite, Blue Hawk, and Watts. When I used Watts, they came apart—massive failures on multiple fittings in different locations. Watts never responded to my inquiry so I now avoid them.

I don’t remember which now, but some include a plastic sleeve used for ALL pipes and tubes, others include the sleeve only for PEX. You have to be careful when inserting with a sleeve it’s possible to damage the fitting if you are careless.

invest the few $$ for the tool to prepare the tube end, and mark the depth. I also thoroughly clean the end of copper tube.

Only use them when forced to. Transitioning out of cpvc mostly. Would never use them where a traditional fitting should be used.