What do all you guys think about these items, like or dislike?
1. Shark bite valves
2. PEX lines
3 Copper everything

Let's not factor price in, durability is the opinion saught for.

1) only in a case of extreme necessity

2) done properly the pex will last a lifetime

3) the greatest factor involving copper piping is water quality
so difficult to make an accurate assessment

1. Some plumbers think they are the greatest thing since sex and popcorn. I seldom used them except for situations where a conventional joint was impractical.

2. I never did a complete system in PEX, only for repairs and small projects

3. Copper was my go to option, always.

I am not a plumber just a DIYer that does a bit of plumbing on my home and rentals over the years with the help of the pros here.

(1) I use Sharkbites (and the John Guest quick connects) in some cases but they are all temp use to get water running before a permanent fix is put in place and I never use them where I can't see them every time I walk by.

(2) I like that PEX can have no intermediate joints. I am in the process of redoing my house in PEX so time will tell.

(3) I prefer copper everything else being equal.

1. Agree with packy
2. Agree with packy
3. Agree with all

Do a job and all of a sudden you are married to it....the phone call could come the next day, 364 days after you did the work. Or last week I got a text for a job I did over 2 years ago: the work you did is leaking and we want to know if it's under warranty still.

A plumber can not have leaks. We don't have time to go back a second time. A good and clean type L copper solder joint will guarantee this call never comes.

I personally like PEX for how quick it is to install. With this virus climate where folks look at you as a walking pathogen I love how I can get in and out and still feel good about the repair. PEX is quick and reliable if you do the work meticulously.



Edited 1 times.

copper is the best 'all around'

BUT

it does NOT like acidic water

it does NOT like undersized piping resulting in velocitues above 4 feet per second




PEX installed 'home run' style with no inaccessible joints is good where water conditions make Cu a poor choice

BUT

any fittings are INTERNAL which restrict flow and increase velocity - time will tell




'sharkbite' (while becoming code compliant) is my LAST choice (closely followed by a garden hose)



Edited 1 times.

Your all saying pex, It's (Pex A) you want to be use.



Edited 1 times.

Welp, was going to use shark bite valves when I disconnected water from existing bath lines, but slept on it decided to sweat on two brass male pex adapters.

Boy, that was a pain, and a total failure, I could not get that brass to work on copper. I abandoned them and got a copper female threaded end and male thread end pex adapter. So sweat copper to copper threaded the brass to copper and crimped on my pex valves so we could have water tonight
But this was all done in a really crappy crawl, can't see the joints easily, not good place for a rookie.

1. Sharkbite, I am desperate.
2. PEX, only because the wife wants me to get this done,( women have zero patience for construction), and we will probably be poisoned by this plastic stuff.
3. I would use it all the way wife permitting, I believe water quality would be better.

If, I repeat IF, the valves and connections are in the crawl space where a leak would NOT cause significant damage AND it is truly 'a bit*h of a spot' in which to work THEN I would consider 'sharkbites'.

I did grab shark bites as a backup, it seems like I was successful sweating copper to copper. But I tell you the truth, my eyes will be on those joints regularly. I'll be looking at those joints for a year I bet. I still got a lot of work down in that dungeon.

you want either 50/50 solder (no longer code compliant) or 'silva-brite' which actually contains 0.5% silver (expensive)

and a (small) NEW can of water soluble flux and a NEW small 'throwaway' flux brush



Edited 1 times.

Also construction material are out of this world expensive, it's becoming very difficult to do work within a reasonable budget.

I have the same problem you have, need to repipe all supply lines in a low headroom crawlspace that's very difficult to navigate with many obstructions (ducts, supply pipes, drain pipes, electrical conduits, old phone lines. gas lines...plus a lot of debris from abandoned pipes over the last 80 years.

In order to avoid a lot of soldering, I went with running PEX-A tubings. I got done with laying out the tubing recently. Still have to work on the manifold in my garage. Then the last part is to go down to the crawl again to solder on PEX adapters to existing copper pipes. Are you saying these PEX adapters are difficult to solder? If that is a concern then my approach may be to solder them ahead of time to a short piece of copper, leak test them, then when I go into the crawl I will solder the short piece to the copper pipe using a regular copper coupling, or consider using compression PEX adapters.



Edited 1 times.

Sum
I’ve noticed the lead free brass is not as easy to solder as the old fittings which contain more lead I would do all the soldering in the most comfortable way possible and leak test it before you install it

I could not solder that brass male pex adapter onto copper, I had to do this.

I could not solder that brass male pex adapter onto copper, I had to do this sweat on a copper threaded female, then thread in a brass male pex adapter, then crimp on my pex valve.

It was nothing short of torture. The one sweat joint has duct work hanging over it and I almost didn't get it right.
But, I did observe copper to copper soldering is doable, brass to copper I was not able to get to work.



Edited 1 times.

Probably using the wrong flux. I personally, have never had a problem making that type of joint.

Water soluble was what I had, plus you are pro and I am not. Plus the crawl space is torture, not a good place for a rookie to get his feet wet. But the water lines were open I had to get the water back on that night, so it was a last attempt at soldering copper to copper, or sharkbite. Just didn't want the rely on sharkbite indefinitely.

actually, a tight crawl space IS a good place for a rookie to 'get their feet wet'

in a nutshell:


hidden inside a wall = best practice and exceed code minimum

exposed in a living space = exceed code minimum

exposed in a garage or crawl space = best you can do, but ALWAYS meet code minimum


{when finished, clean up the sweat, blood, and tears}

That's my concern as well. I hate going into the crawlspace. Two weeks ago when I laid out the PEX lines, I crawled in there on my belly, with one tubing in my hand dragging it forward, a head lamp on my forehead, my other hand clearing interference in front of me, with tools and materials in bags tethered to my ankles with ropes.

My next trip in there will be to disconnect the bad polybutylene tubings from the copper risers and connect to PEX. So it will involve soldering on brass lead free PEX adapters.

I have heard the new lead free brass fittings are more difficult to solder. But I have done a few brass ball valves, brass tees to copper and had no issue, but I took careful precautions - I turned off water, then used a vac to clear residual water in the lines, and I used NO CORRODE flux. I don't know if I will have problem with brass PEX adapters. I got 8 joints to make, soldered or compression. I can't pressure test immediately either if i solder I have to wait for the joint to cool down before I put the PEX on the other end.

Mostly tears, some sweat, no blood yet.



Edited 1 times.

wait ...... it will happen

When I was a carpenter, we were demoing a bedroom wall for a renovation job and with the debris on the floor I did not see the wall plate was box nailed and I stepped on one rushing around and all, that was probably the worst injury I had. I could feel the blood pooling up in shoe.


I may want to declare that had the world's longest splinter, 3".
Went in from the bottom of my palm into the middle of my hand as I slide down a piece of treated lumber.



Edited 1 times.

I had an issue with them but this is the first time I soldered anything in about 10 years. The folks on here could have done it easily, but not I.
I did what I needed to to get the water back on for my wife and kids, and well for me too

Remember when pulling pex lines in a crawl space to plug the ends first

Good tip thank you! Shouldn't have crap in the lines, especially the pex lines that are already really narrow inside with the male fitting in the pipe.
Get to the end and I'll be wondering why is my shower only giving me a drip when I am calling for water.



Edited 1 times.

I duct taped the ends when I pulled them.

Also great tip!