# Shark bite fittings, the good, the bad, and the Ugly!



## Calidecks

Ok, I just buried 2 Shark bite elbows in the ground at my home, feeding an exterior hose bib. I'm going to give them the test of time. Anyone have any horror stories?


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## MarkJames

Californiadecks said:


> Ok, I just buried 2 Shark bite elbows in the ground at my home, feeding an exterior hose bib. I'm going to give them the test of time. Anyone have any horror stories?


Feeling lazy, eh? I guess it's Friday.


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## Calidecks

MarkJames said:


> Feeling lazy, eh? I guess it's Friday.


It really wasn't that. The last time I soldered on that line my dog got really sick. So I thought what a great time to see if these things work. And I can keep my dog healthy. It's my home so if it fails it's all mine.


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## illbuildit.dd

I honestly have never heard anything bad happening. I always crimp unless its a repair tough to get to.


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## Calidecks

Now it could've just been a coincidence that she got into something else. But here's where she drinks. It's a pig licker.


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## Tinstaafl

Californiadecks said:


> The last time I soldered on that line my dog got really sick.


As long as you flushed it out afterward, I really doubt the soldering had anything to do with it.

I've accepted sharkbites to the point that I'll grudgingly use them in a location easily and often seen, but won't put them anywhere else.

My only failure story is where I sweated a new joint 4-5" away from a sharkbite, with a pair of vise-grips on the copper to act as a heat sink. Two days later, the sharkbite was dripping. Replaced it with a new sharkbite and that one dripped too, so... I eliminated it. Shrug.


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## The Coastal Craftsman

It was not long ago they were stamping the packets of these with not for concealed use. I used the original speedfit versions in the UK. Had a few failures here and there but it's their long term use that's in question. On hot lines the irings are meant to have a 15 year life span! What's that mean when a whole house is plumbed wit them. It ain't gonna be good even if they last 20 years.


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## Calidecks

Tinstaafl said:


> As long as you flushed it out afterward, I really doubt the soldering had anything to do with it.
> 
> I've accepted sharkbites to the point that I'll grudgingly use them in a location easily and often seen, but won't put them anywhere else.
> 
> My only failure story is where I sweated a new joint 4-5" away from a sharkbite, with a pair of vise-grips on the copper to act as a heat sink. Two days later, the sharkbite was dripping. Replaced it with a new sharkbite and that one dripped too, so... I eliminated it. Shrug.


Thanks tin. Yeah, I'm a little reluctant to blame it on the flux, but she was very ill and just the slightest chance of that happening again makes me just use the shark bites. I'm thinking heck what a good opportunity to see how long these last and how well they work underground. The manufacturer claims they are perfectly fine underground. So I have the test pipe. I'm going to dig it up every year or so and inspect them.


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## tedanderson

A weekend-warrior friend of mine used Sharkbite to hook up both sides of his water heater. I warned him but I'll wait to see what happens. This has been more than a year since I've been to his house. I'll have to check up on him.


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## VinylHanger

They don't like freezing temps. I found out the hard way with around 150 bucks in fittings. Now everything is crimped.

You probably don't have that problem down there, so you should be good.


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## Calidecks

I had to keep raising her licker as she grew from a little twerp. I just kept adding pipe with shark bites. Until the last time I thought "ok she's done growing". Weighing in at 175lbs! So I thought I can now permanently solder her licker. Well the next day she got ill. I even flushed the line. I was thinking maybe I didn't flush good enough and she swallowed some flux. Then I bought that new hose reel and tied into her water supply line. Couldn't bring myself to soldering the line. Just a little gun shy.


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## CO762

Tinstaafl said:


> I've accepted sharkbites to the point that I'll grudgingly use them in a location easily and often seen, but won't put them anywhere else.


Me three, but if the one I have on a .75" pipe dumps it, there'll be a lot of water in the basement and hope I'm around and not away. I think people would be surprised to learn they're only supposed to use a sharkbite once, so for temporary fixes/rerouting, that could be somewhat expensive.


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## Calidecks

CO762 said:


> Me three, but if the one I have on a .75" pipe dumps it, there'll be a lot of water in the basement and hope I'm around and not away. I think people would be surprised to learn they're only supposed to use a sharkbite once, so for temporary fixes/rerouting, that could be somewhat expensive.


Yep, here's what it says in the FAQ on their website

*Is a SharkBite fitting re-usable?

A: *Yes,*fittings can be reused for testing purposes, but any fitting used repeatedly for testing must not then be used in a permanent installation.


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## KillerToiletSpider

Californiadecks said:


> I had to keep raising her licker as she grew from a little twerp. I just kept adding pipe with shark bites. Until the last time I thought "ok she's done growing". Weighing in at 175lbs! So I thought I can now permanently solder her licker. Well the next day she got ill. I even flushed the line. I was thinking maybe I didn't flush good enough and she swallowed some flux. Then I bought that new hose reel and tied into her water supply line. Couldn't bring myself to soldering the line. Just a little gun shy.


Use La-Co flux, you can eat it.


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## Calidecks

KillerToiletSpider said:


> Use La-Co flux, you can eat it.


I knew I should of asked you guys.


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## Calidecks

Is it possible the water from her licker is pulled back through from the pipe the hose is attached to? I ask this because that hose pipe is exposed to the heat. Although it's on the other side of her Line that's actually mostly underground.

There's a tee one side goes to the hose and the other to her licker


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## AccurateCut

Ive got two sharkbites here at home buried going on 4 years no problems whatsoever.
I have seen them in clients basements and all dry so I cant imagine it wouldnt hold.


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## Robie

Californiadecks said:


> Is it possible the water from her licker is pulled back through from the pipe the hose is attached to? I ask this because that hose pipe is exposed to the heat. Although it's on the other side of her Line that's actually mostly underground.
> 
> There's a tee one side goes to the hose and the other to her licker


Sounds like what the anti-syphon spigot is designed to alleviate.


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## The Coastal Craftsman

Californiadecks said:


> Is it possible the water from her licker is pulled back through from the pipe the hose is attached to? I ask this because that hose pipe is exposed to the heat. Although it's on the other side of her Line that's actually mostly underground.
> 
> There's a tee one side goes to the hose and the other to her licker



Maybe if there was a burst main in your street it could happen but highly unlikely in normal situations.


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## Tom M

Why not compression? I still have not warmed up to sharkbites or crimps. Accessible stuff I guess is would. My plumber insists on pex/crimped.

Im sure it will be fine as long as the plastic collar doesnt degrade in the sun. If its buried the dirt will likely prevent future removal.


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## GaryEvans

It would be nice if we had a plumbing contractor join in on this.

I've been using Shark bites for several years now and they work great.
I use them for repairing underground water lines and they sure make it a lot easier.

I would never use use them to replace PEX crimps.......first of all Shark bites are expensive and second PEX is a proven system for plumbing water lines in a house.
Shark bites were not intended to replace PEX crimps in that application.

But for emergency repairs or for what I'm using them for they are a godsend.


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## Calidecks

Robie said:


> Sounds like what the anti-syphon spigot is designed to alleviate.


Will it keep the water from siphoning from the pipe and hose, or just the hose?


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## The Coastal Craftsman

Californiadecks said:


> Will it keep the water from siphoning from the pipe and hose, or just the hose?



It stops water siphoning from a bucket the hose may be sat inside. As an example is you were mixing some weed killer and left hose in the pump sprayer filling and the main broke on the street or there was a fire engine pulling from the main on that street it would stop the weed killer in the pump sprayer being pulled back into the main.


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## Calidecks

Here's a pic of the connections. Is it possible for the dog licker to pull water from the (exposed to the heat) pipe connected to the hose. You'd think it would just take from the main because that's where the pressure is coming from. I'm trying to keep her water as cool as possible in the summer.


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## The Coastal Craftsman

*Shark Bite Fittings, The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly!*



Californiadecks said:


> Here's a pic of the connections. Is it possible for the dog licker to pull water from the (exposed to the heat) pipe connected to the hose. You'd think it would just take from the main because that's where the pressure is coming from. I'm trying to keep her water as cool as possible in the summer.



Here's what could happen but again Prob wouldn't. The hose reel could be left pressurized and the sun beat down on it all day. I have noticed that mine will increase in pressure as the water heats up even with the faucet off to the hose reel. Then you could open the dog faucet and the pressure in the hose reel is higher than the incoming pressure you could force water from the hose reel into the dog faucet. This would Prob only happen if you had a non return valve on your incoming main. But if your really concerned that it could feed back to the dog faucet put a non return valve onto the faucet that the hose reel is connected to. Or just turn of the hose reel faucet when your not using the hose reel.


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## Calidecks

BCConstruction said:


> Here's what could happen but again Prob wouldn't. The hose reel could be left pressurized and the sun beat down on it all day. I have noticed that mine will increase in pressure as the water heats up even with the faucet off to the hose reel. Then you could open the dog faucet and the pressure in the hose reel is higher than the incoming pressure you could force water from the hose reel into the dog faucet. This would Prob only happen if you had a non return valve on your incoming main. But if your really concerned that it could feed back to the dog faucet put a non return valve onto the faucet that the hose reel is connected to. Or just turn of the hose reel faucet when your not using the hose reel.


Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I always keep the hose reel faucet off so I think I'm good.


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## The Coastal Craftsman

Californiadecks said:


> Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I always keep the hose reel faucet off so I think I'm good.



I do too. Had a couple times the hose I got from lowes has split open and been spraying water out until I got home. Always shut them off now.


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## KillerToiletSpider

GaryEvans said:


> It would be nice if we had a plumbing contractor join in on this.


My license to commit plumbing isn't good enough?


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## Juan80

*Shark Bite Fittings, The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly!*

I have 5 yrs on my shark bite fittings on my water heater. No problems. Yet
I live in nor cal with a hard water well also. 
Tough on everything ( washer, sinks ect) but the fittings are good to go


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## Tinstaafl

Hard water usually has enough minerals in it to clog up any leaks that try to happen. :laughing:


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## Calidecks

Tinstaafl said:


> Hard water usually has enough minerals in it to clog up any leaks that try to happen. :laughing:


That's how us carpenters stop leaks. Just give it some time ma'am, it'll be fine. :laughing:


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## The Coastal Craftsman

I seen some funny stuff in hard water areas. Fittings that have never been soldered but running in mains pressure but never leaked once in 20+ years. Oy knew they were not soldered when we pulled the old system out.


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## madmax718

been using one for 7 years off the hot water tank. no issues. Its not that I couldn't solder it in, its just because I wanted to see how long it could last.


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## Calidecks

Fire is a concern as well


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## tccoggs

Californiadecks said:


> Fire is a concern as well


Not sure what the concern would be, fitting heats up water sprays out, fire goes out.

Sharkbite should market the free sprinkler system aspect of the fittings. Maybe get a discount on insurance.


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## Calidecks

tccoggs said:


> Not sure what the concern would be, fitting heats up water sprays out, fire goes out.
> 
> Sharkbite should market the free sprinkler system aspect of the fittings. Maybe get a discount on insurance.


You don't think soldering pipes in walls have ever started fires?


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## madmax718

think you two are talking about two different things. tcoggs is saying that if there were a fire, the sharkbite would melt and spray water out.

Your saying during installation. And yes, you are correct. Lots of fires do happen just as you described.

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2015/02/avalonbay_workers_who_sparked_massive_fire_never_called_911.html


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## jlsconstruction

Tom beat me to it. Compressions are definitely my preferred way to go. Less money too


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## Fouthgeneration

Don't water a loved pet out of a Vinyl hose that left out side in the sunlight, Kidney and liver damage. 

PS Don't drink from vinyl hoses, especially new ones, same problems.

If You must, run the hose cold for a few minutes, the standing water has the most PVCs.....


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## Calidecks

I drank out of a hose all the time as a kid


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