Soldering vs. Compression fittings vs. sharkbite

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dru

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I find myself having to replace my water heater. hooray. so when the old water heater was put in, I guess the plumber ran copper pipe straight down to the water heater and soldered it directly to the tank. Now that I am having to replace the heater I thought I would save a little money and try a relatively simple DIY home repair task. The heater is electric and is in the garage in a raised little "closet". When I reinstall it, I would like to try to use some sort of flexible tubing, that way when the next water heater breaks it hopefully won't be such a pain in the ass.

So my question is whether to solder (which I don't know how to do) or use a compression fitting (which I've heard can break) or this new sharkbite stuff which seems to actually work pretty well for pipes that aren't in the wall. I would assume that soldering is the most permanent and reliable but I have been seeing a lot of really good reviews about this sharkbite stuff. Just not really sure which way to go here.
 

Okie4570

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Soldering is not hard to do, especially in that situation where you have plenty of room to work. The sharkbite that you're referring to is Pex pipe, I assuming that's what you're talking about? Takes a copper ring or a crimp ring over a brass barbed fitting. It will require a crimp tool, and is super simple. I've never been a fan of compression fittings for anything if I could help it.
 

dru

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thanks. is there anything about sharkbite that I should know, like not scratching the outside of the pipe, deburring, and all the rest?
 

Okie4570

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thanks. is there anything about sharkbite that I should know, like not scratching the outside of the pipe, deburring, and all the rest?

Nothing special, it's pretty much fool proof. Every man should solder some pipe in his life though............now's your chance!!
 

n8thegr8

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Nothing special, it's pretty much fool proof. Every man should solder some pipe in his life though............now's your chance!!

This...plus you have an excuse to buy a torch and play with fire! That's the main reason I'm going to be replacing mine this summer.

"Hey honey, I need to buy this $300 Oxy Acetylene torch kit to install a new water heater kthx"
 

Okie4570

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This...plus you have an excuse to buy a torch and play with fire! That's the main reason I'm going to be replacing mine this summer.

"Hey honey, I need to buy this $300 Oxy Acetylene torch kit to install a new water heater kthx"

Or a $20 MAPP gas torch will work too:)
 

gun001guns

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Shark bite are by far the easiest they just push on copper. I took out a shower, toilet and sink from our laundry room to make arger during remodel. I used the shark bites on the copper cut the lines under the floor caped with shark bites been two years ago not one leak or other issue. No special tools needed. Highly recommend
 

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