plumbing with shark bites the right way
are you using push to connect fittings
in this video we're going to talk about
push to connect fittings and if you are
a professional plumber or a plumbing
company using them
i want you to tell me why at the end so
sharkbite fittings are good for pex
copper cpvc
pert and hdpe piping as plumbers here in
the north central texas area we use
copper impacts more than anything as a
residential service provider
we go out and fix leaks that's a lot of
damage well unfortunately we get a lot
of calls for shark bite fittings but
when we talk to the homeowner it really
surprises us that a plumber actually
came out and did the work so
i'm asking you first of all if you're a
plumber or a plumbing company are you
using these if you're a homeowner are
you using them and do you understand the
difference between the universal packs
and the evo packs and here's why these
are what sharkbite calls a temporary
fitting and these are called a permanent
fitting meaning you can take this one
off this one you can't and i'm going to
talk about the differences here in a
minute but let's get back to using these
if you use these for copper and cpvc
you don't actually need the strengthener
on the inside now this strengthener or
stiffener actually keeps softer pipe
from closing and possibly getting out of
the grips of the stainless jaws on the
inside now push to connect fittings
believe it or not there is a time and
place for them we actually whenever i
worked out at the airport had to have
these around actually what we had is we
had caps and valves and we had those in
a flood control box now the reason we
had these if you're a plumber if you own
a plumbing company and you've got a
flood on a big job like that you need to
stop that water flow immediately
one of the best ways to do it is shut
the water down and even while water is
still coming out of the pipe you can
actually force on a shark bite cap or a
valve and then turn it off now this is a
great thing to do it's a great thing to
have
but to me as a professional plumbing
company owner i would never use these
out in the field to do a repair on
somebody's house now i know this creates
a lot of controversy and a lot of people
think why not roger we use them all the
time well
we've gone back and fixed so many leaks
on shark bites that i wanted to actually
do a video and talk about how do you use
them the right way first of all you need
to identify your material like i said
pex works on copper
cpvc pex
pert and hdpe now pex
pert and hdp are all soft for materials
cpvc is a little harder and then of
course copper now they have a stiffener
inside of the pex universal this
definitely goes inside on the softer
pipe but you can leave it you don't have
to remove it or it says you do not have
to use this for using it on copper or
cpvc now the first thing that i want to
show you about these is the reduced size
so this is actually a three-quarter
coupling and this is a three-quarter
inch shark bite fitting
what i want you to notice first of all
is
how much smaller the interior of the
shark bite is
compared to the inside of the
three-quarter inch coupling now remember
this gets pop inside of it with the
stiffener inside of it this gets pop
inside of it the big difference is how
close they are this is going to create
quite a flow reduction now if you're
using these
in multiple places you're using multiple
or you're using them multiple times
you're actually going to create a lot of
flow restrictions this is going to
create loss of volume not loss of
pressure you can still put a pressure
gauge on in the shower and test it your
pressure is going to be fine the problem
you're going to run into is loss of flow
especially if they're running a
dishwasher a washing machine and now
somebody jumps in to take a shower too
there's not going to be a lot of
pressure there because of all the flow
restrictions you've put in along the way
if you look at this three-quarter inch
universal sharkbite coupling and this
half inch copper coupling as you notice
they're almost the same size
you can
line them up and i know this is hard for
you to see from where you're at but by
the time you put the half inch copper in
here they're going to be about the same
size would you take a piece of
three-quarter inch copper reduce down
put a half inch 90 on and then go back
up to three quarter because literally
that's what you're doing every time you
use these now pex fittings are the same
way but i just want you to understand
that in the beginning that way you
understand using too many of these can
actually lead to problems so after you
identify your materials and you know
what to use or if it's okay to use it
then what you want to do you want to
make sure you cut it squarely now the
soft materials you want to make sure you
use a cutting tool that is going to cut
it true straight and square
then you want to smooth everything down
now even if i was using this on pex or
something i would want to take off any
rough edges if you're using this on
copper you definitely want to deburr it
sand it down you want everything as
smooth as possible now this is something
that probably a lot of people don't do
and that's why these tend to leak guys
i've seen these last a long time i'm not
saying they won't do it i'm saying
most of the leaks that we go out and fix
on water lines actually have a shark
bite fitting so once you do that you
want to mark your insertion depth and
then put it together turn it on so
literally that's it identify the right
materials cut it squarely deburr clean
the edges do anything you have to do and
push it together now one thing about the
universal fitting is you can take it
back off they actually make a special
tool that pushes this in unlocks the
teeth where you can slide this back off
one good thing about the sharkbite
fitting is you can rotate it so if you
put it together and it's not quite
square you can tilt it over a little bit
in 41 years of plumbing and soldering
guys we learned to do that before you
ever put it together line it up the way
you want it solder it up you don't have
to move it later now two special tools
they have they have an insertion depth
and the burning tool which is fantastic
to work with this believe it or not
that's a great tool to have no matter
what type soft pop you're joining if you
can get that deburring tool it takes the
edges off everything and it's going to
help you no matter what type you're
putting together the other one is the
removal tool that is good for this now
one thing about the universal shark bite
fitting is if you bury this underground
shark bite has a silicone wrap that
you're supposed to put around it i have
seen so many of these put underground
with no protection at all that might be
why there's part of the legs now let's
talk about the evo system one of the big
differences in these two is the shark
bite universal
seals off on the outside of the pipe the
shark bite evo seals on the inside and
this is a permanent insulation it's not
going to come back apart but again if
you look at the sizes here look at the
reduction
you're literally going to reduce almost
a full pipe size
whenever you put this in
guys as long as you remember things like
that and you have the pressure the flow
rate if you're only doing one and it's
only going to one fixture maybe it's not
going to be that big a deal
but if you're putting this on a
three-quarter inch line that feeds a
house you have now created a flow
reduction to that entire house even if
you use a press fitting people ask me
well what about a press fitting compared
to sharkbite well a press fitting
presses on the outside you're not
creating any flow reduction so if you're
a plumber if you're a professional
plumber are you using either one of
these if so do me a favor and leave me a
comment down below if you're a plumber
and you've had to go out and make
repairs on these also i'd be interested
in knowing about it now if you're a
homeowner this is a great thing to do if
you do all the steps that i talked about
earlier this could be the difference in
turning your water back on over the
weekend or not anyway leave me a comment
down below and let me know what you
think is this a good thing for you and
do you think it's a professional
installation i hope you enjoyed this if
so let me know i'm roger wakefield lead
ap the expert plumber i'll see you in
the next video if you don't get flushed