How many years would you guarantee a Sharkbite repair?

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packardv8

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On another thread, a pro maintenance plumber says he always uses Sharkbite for repairs and they'll last as long as copper fitting repairs.

While I'm old school enough to wonder about that, what say you other pros? What does Sharkbite claim?

jack vines
 
I’ve saw many sharkbite failures. I personally don’t use them for permanent repairs, but obviously they are attractive due to how easy they are to use.
From what I understand the product has gotten better with time. But for now I’m not trusting my name to them
 
Remove the union and solder in a piece of copper pipe . Use repair couplings .

God bless
Wyr
 
🤣🤣🤣🤣 new work guys still debating sharkbite.and copper. Ok I have asked a blue moon many of people. How long do you think copper holds water. ?In my daily service technician ownership. I see an average of 25-45 years for copper to hold water. Sharkbite is not claimed to be permanent. NOTHING PERMANTLY HOLDS WATER. If yours leaks. Go in a garage at a bench and really study the sharkbite. You will realize your fault or carelessness. I use sharkbite. Not in new work. Way too expensive. But when I see copper with pin holes. I repair with sharkbite. That coupling will hold water for 10-15 years. (Got one on my house 16 years old.) I usually know we are gonna do a repipe soon enough. And the sharkbite will last long. my house fitting was to add a hydrant. 90 psi without regulator. Installed that sharkbite in 08.

Copper is not the only water pipe used out there in last 50 years. Are you telling me I am unprofessional for using sharkbite on cpvc? Or Freon copper? Or garden hoses ? Or pvc even on hot side? 45 year old m copper ? You ********** wanna judge a low cost efficient repair and all you gotta do is be onsite by 7 am leave by 5. Punch your clock and glue clean pipe together. We service techs are woke up at midnight. We were there last week and recommended a repipe due to all the green dots. Now suddenly it’s popping and spraying. Do you a. Go get a blow torch and take it in that dry kindled wood house? If ya lucky it takes an hour to dry out pipes and finally put a brand new copper coupling on that brittle 50 year old m copper. Solder it up and make room for your woo woos to fit in your gurdle. $375. Man you did great. 4am house is on fire. Family looses everything. But hey you got to show your stuff to no one at midnight. Or b. Sharkbite it gone in 10 minutes. $125. Schedule a repipe next week.? Home by 1am.


are you asking for a service tech opinion or new work opinion?
 
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I see an average of 25-45 years for copper to hold water. Sharkbite is not claimed to be permanent. NOTHING PERMANTLY HOLDS WATER.
Yes, no, maybe; it depends on pressure, water quality, chemical reactions and what else is in proximity. I've seen 125-year-old wooden pipe still carrying water. I've seen 20-year-old copper with pinholes. I've seen 50-year-old galvanized totally plugged by deposits and in other areas and water, 100-year old galvanized with just a light coating inside and will likely not be leaking in the next 100 years.

are you asking for a service tech opinion or new work opinion?
Just curious, because I've never used them. I'm asking how long a Sharkbite fitting will last.

jack vines
 
Yeah I did ramble. The word ,permanent , in a plumbing question got me. I guarantee them until we repipe. Don’t literally scare them into next week. “Next week” was an exaggeration of simply “ in the future”. Mine in my house is 16 years old and still holding.
 
" Schedule a repipe next week."

So, do you tell the homeowner you temporarily fixed the pipe in order to schedule a full repipe quicker?
Not just for me to collect faster. But just let them be aware of the false rumors of coppers lasting permanently. And to start saving up for the repipe. Could be next year or next decade. But yes. I make them aware that sharkbite. Like any plumbing. It has a failure age. Sharkbite only been out for 20 years. Still seeing its lifespan.
 
Hey, my two cents, FWIW: Sharkbite and similar type of push on fittings seal the fitting against water leakage with, basically, neoprene O-Ring and seat. They hold the tubing in the fitting by means of "the shark bite" or a sharp stainless steel collar that digs into the tubing. (Note: removal of the fitting has a small tool that presses on the top end of the stainless steel collar, spreading the teeth and allowing you to pull the tube out)

I've had good success with Sharkbite, and Blue Hawk fittings. Less so, for some reason, with the Watts equivalent--where I had a number of them fail on me and when replaced with Blue Hawks, everything was fine.

Just like in order to make a very nice, long lasting solder joint in copper tubing, you need clean fittings, the right amount of heat, solder and flux, there are standards you must follow with these push on fittings. First the tubing end must be square, properly cut with a tubing cutter. If you cut it on even the slightest angle with a hacksaw or equivalent, you are setting yourself up for trouble. Second, the tubing end must be clean; I treat the tubing ends AS IF they were going to be soldered. Clean with fine steel wool, and wipe down after. Lastly you need to mark the tubing for the proper insertion depth, and ream the tube edge. They make a simple cheap tool for that.

If any of these things are not right, you can set up for immediate failure (fitting won't seat or work at all) or for failure in the near term. I've had both happen and have learned my lessons.

Neoprene doesn't last forever; when exposed to ozone, sunlight, corrosive chemicals, etc. it can deteriorate rather quickly. But potable, domestic water for the most part is pretty good and free of most of the things that cause it to fail. Thin wall tubing will certainly deteriorate faster than the thicker brass casting of a Sharkbite fitting, so if the water is corrosive enough to cause pinhole failures, the fitting may remain working.

I should also add that copper tubing for plumbing is for the most part, an element not a compound. It must be manufactured to a 99.9% purity to ASTM standards. It does not get brittle with age itself. It can get "work hardened" but boy if you had copper tubing in a plumbing system that moves so much as to be affected by work hardening, I'm here to tell you that you've got a whole lot of other issues to worry about. Plastics do get brittle with age as they "outgas" over time, and the plasticizers used to keep them flexible. I'm sure everyone has seen all kinds of plastic that have aged and gotten brittle, in and out of the plumbing industry. That is the ONE THING that kind of scares me about PEX tubing and plastic push on fittings used to join them. I don't know if it has a name, but "age embrittlement" is a possibility.
 
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Yeah what Mitchell said. He kinda turned my rant into a proper statement. I do see brittle copper though. Don’t know the science but it’s m and 45 years old. Got some in truck. Will snap a pic later. I call brittle when I put a cutter on it and the pipe crumbles. So sry my rant has high jacked your post. I will watch that from now on.
 
I had some “L” tubing in my 54 year old house develop a weeping condition. Not as big as a pin hole, but just as I said, it started weeping in one area. It’s in an open ceiling in my laundry room in the basement and easily replaceable, which I did with pex and crimps and shark bites, till I can get to a copper replacement, which may never happen.
this was L tubing, I wonder about all the M tubing that I’ve installed years ago.
 

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