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When replacing a water heater, should I use plastic (pvc) or metal elbows and couplings with my pex pipes? I plan to use gator bite fittings.

UmpJJ

Gator bite fittings like the solder less ones at Lowes? Kinda like Sharkbite.

I'm not sure I follow you cause you say your using Gator Bite fittings but not going to use the gator bites for the elbows and couplings? Or do you mean the plastic pex elbows & brass elbows the sell for pex pipe?

Personally I am not a fan of the push lock fittings. I have some problems with leakage and since the water heater area is usually not checked regularly the last thing you need is a leak.

If you are using PEX I would use the PEX fittings with either compression rings or the cinch type.
The price of the crimp tools have dropped over the years so they are affordable.

Greg

This is what I like to use on water heaters, http://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/ro ... c-9381.htm. It has threads on one side and a pex fitting on the other. It's flexible and has a shut off built right into it. Works great.

Thanks, Ponch. I'll give it a shot!

UmpJJ

One thing I just thought of is you need a crimper to use the part I linked to above. I guess sometimes I just assume everyone has a crimper! If you don't have one I would buy one. They come in handy and aren't that expensive anymore. Like Greg said they have come WAY down in price. It's also nice to have around if your house is pex. I keep a crimper and a variety of common fittings and crimp rings and a few short pieces of pex around and if I need to I can make a quick repair without running to the store.

For under 100 bucks you should be able to get a crimper and a bunch of pex supplies to have on hand. This is a little pricey to start off with but if you save one call to the plumber it's well worth it.

Another vote for the crimper. I use the type with the cinch clamps. I have never had good luck with the gator fittings, and I would not trust them in an area that will not see regular access, a tiny drip can quickly add up to major damage.

If you do go and buy one I would get the 1/2" & 3/4" crimper. that way you are covered for the 2 most common sizes foe not much more than a single size crimper.

Greg

http://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBite-1- ... sQthNISiSo

I have reply to this one. We purchased a 2006 used mobile home and in short the crimped fittings on the Pex tubing have cost me thousands of dollars.
A point to remember , you can't take those crimped fittings apart, you have to cut the tubing to remove them.
In %100 of my replacements the tubing is to short just add a new fitting.
I have had most of them crack and start leaking, one in the wall behind the refrigerator causing the the floor to rot and the refer to partially fall through just at the start of the holiday season.
I might add we have only lived in this home for 3 years.

I was guided to Sharkbite fittings from a commercial plumbing shop and never been more happy with a product. If I make a mistake I can remove them and start over rather easily. I was able to replace a valve without turning the water off or having to dry the tubing to make a connection.

If I can figure out how to post pictures I will post them to show the bad fittings and the damage they caused.

The manufacturer of this home basically just shrugged his shoulder and never offered to help in anyway simply because we are not original owners.

Before I purchased the Sharkbite fittings I did do some research in my state they are allowed without access panels and underground installations.

As time goes on I am replacing all the crimped fittings before anymore damage can occur.

Today I just installed a shutoff ball valve in the waterheater compartment, took about 2 minutes done.

Jim, welcome to the forum and sorry to hear about all the troubles.

Did you figure out what actually failed on the crimped fittings? What brand are they? Were they the solid crimp rings or the ear type rings? Were the fittings themselves metal or plastic? I'm curious because I've installed thousands of crimped fittings and NEVER had one leak. I've actually never heard of a PEX crimp failing unless it wasn't crimped right. This is with metal fittings and solid crimp rings that I've used. I have a go/no go gauge that is used to make sure the crimped ring is within spec.

I know after all your problems you will probably disagree with me but PEX crimps are actually the most reliable plumbing fitting I've found. With out being there and seeing it I can't really comment but from my experience I would be looking at the installer over the pex fittings themselves. Also from everything I've read in the last decade the PEX fittings have a much better reputation then the sharbite fittings. I believe shark bite got all their issues worked out but they did have some issues not to long ago. They also are a lot more expensive then PEX fittings.

You can take the PEX fittings apart by cutting the ring. They actually make a special cutter for them for about 15 bucks. Just cut the ring and then pull the fitting out. I've had to do it a few times and works great. Not as easy as removing a shark bite but to me that is a good thing.

As for the pictures just under the box where you type your reply is two tabs, first one says "options" and the second one is "upload attachment". Click on the upload attachment tab and then click "choose file" and find the file you want to upload.

I've used the "cinch" style stainless steel rings

http://www.amazon.com/Watts-P-572-2-Inc ... rimp+rings

But I refer to them as "crimp rings" also. When I was in new construction the plumber started off with the other crimp rings first but had issues. He then switched to these stainless steel ones that I linked to you above. We've used them for a while too. Lowes sells a nice one hand crimp tool for these rings for about $70 I believe.

As far as sharkbite, I believe they work when applied correctly. Would I bury sharkbites behind drywall or where I won't be able to get back at? I wouldn't like too. Their great to keep a few different ones lying around for when you need a quick fix.

Jim, What is cracking? I don't think I have ever heard of PEX cracking. Do you have the grey PB tubing in your home?

Greg

We have Blue for cold water and The Red for hot water. The tubing itself did not crack just the white fittings.
I just checked the ones I cut out there are NO metal crimps they have plastic type crimps or maybe you call them compression fittings.
I will try to post more info on those with some pictures, I am having trouble with the pictures right now mostly the size, they show the correct size on my computer but when I try to upload the size increases dramatically, I know the problem is a setting or two on my side.

Those fittings are not available in our area and as the plumbing shop explained , even if they where I would not be able to use them, I would lose a few inches for each fitting and tubing would not reach.

One possible explanation was the fittings on the hot water side expand and contract at a much higher rate as to the cold. So far we have had two cold water leaks at the fittings and six on the hot water side.

On another note in the mobile home park we live in there are at least 5 other home with similar problems.

My neighbor to rear told me he could not understand all my problems with leaks. His home is two years older and he has had no problem.. Last month he said he was watching TV with his wife and they heard a sudden hissing noise and thought it was on the TV, well short story, a plastic fitting under the sink let go, they caught in time to shut off the water before any damage. He now has Sharkbite fittings under the sink

On another note all these homes are the same manufacturer, built with in a couple years of each other and all plumbing was done at the factory. 2 of the homes have been repaired by the builder, others have not because we are not the original owners.

Here in Ca. Sharkebite fittings are approved for no access and under ground applications.
I have spent thousands of dollars repair the damage to the particle board floor, the sections I have replaced I used 3/4" OSB installed with silicone and screws.

Jim

Greg wrote:Jim, What is cracking? I don't think I have ever heard of PEX cracking. Do you have the grey PB tubing in your home?

Greg

Sounds like maybe the crimp rings were overtightened and the fittings failed(brass or whatever)...I can't imagine pex pipe cracking...even PB pipe hardly ever failed unless the water was highly chlorinated. It was always the aluminum crimp rings or the acetal fittings cracking...I've had enough experience with these in my home.

White fittings? are they plastic? If so the problem is right there, Pex (and all tube fittings) should be brass or steel.

Greg