flameless copper waterpipe tooling

[porthos]

as the title says : looking for recommentations for flameless water pipe connecting.. 3 choices that i can come up with are Pipemaster, Sharkbite, and, Hydraulic crimping tool. any thoughts??

[bangerjim]

I had a buddy that plumbed his new house several years with non-sweated copper. When we turned on the main water, It was like a community shower in the basement! 95% of ALL the joints (0verhead in the basement AND in the walls had some kind of leak........ Fortunately, it was a single-story dwelling! He had to rip it all out and sweat everything like should have been done from the get-go.

Don't be afraid of sweating copper! I have done many dozens of joints with ZERO leakage. Practice on some scrap and get the hang of it, very fast and very easy.

The key is CLEAN & SHINY surfaces on both the male pipe and the female joint. Get the right internal/external cleaning tools and use quality solder + flux. I use acid.


Buyer beware!

[chambers]

Have used for at least 10 years copper propress, Have used both Milwaukee Force Logic propress crimp tool and ridgid. Never have had a leak and install crews have installed 1000's of feet of pipe and fittings. Use Type "L" copper. Best to use a marker to mark depth on pipe then fit all your piping and press and just keep going, no comparison to sweat copper with torch. If you have any water in the pipe this is the way to go.

[Toolmaker TN]

It depends on what you're doing. Major retrofit or new installation, solder joints are the way to go. By far the least expensive option. If done correctly, they will outlast the pipe. Repair, different story, I have used the Sharkbite since they came out. Especially if you have any moisture in the pipe, as stated above. Cut, deburr, snap together, done. More expensive than soldering, but IMO well worth it for repairs. Haven't had one leak yet.

[CastingFool]

Sharkbites have taken the frustration out of sweating copper in tight situations.

[imashooter2]

We had a new heater installed. The fittings are all hydraulic swaged. 2 years now and no leaks. Not sure how I’d feel about the swaged fittings where I couldn’t see them.

[sparky45]

Sharkbite

[elmacgyver0]

Everything is going to solderless connections. If I were to do this, I would go straight pex.
But I'm not and won't.
A true craftsman will sweat and wipe his pipes.
The only reason for solderless connections is to save labor and compensate for lousy pipe fitters.
A company can keep their labor costs down by using solderless connections which can make up for the added costs of the connectors.
They do seem to work, but being old school, I am still kind of leery of them.
I do have some pex on a reverse osmosis water filter, but that's what it came with and haven't given me any problems.
IMHO

[Pine Baron]

I've sweated pipes a long time and am used to it. Lately been using Sharkbites for short runs and repairs on places I can keep an eye on.

[MrWolf]

Sharkbite sounds great for repairs especially with water in the line, but I like old school sweating. Besides where is the fun in getting flux in a cut?

[Texas by God]

I've sweated 1/8" to 3" copper tubing and pipe over the years as an irrigation tech.
As said above, done right it's great.
But other situations require Sharkbite fittings. They are costly but save on labor. I've not seen one leak either.

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[Bmi48219]

You can’t beat sweat copper, period. Pex may be faster and less skill intensive but look up the manufacturer’s warranty before you go that route.

[Mk42gunner]

The old school flameless way of connecting copper without flame is a flare on soft copper, or a compression fitting on either soft or hard copper.

If you go with flare fittings, make double sure you have the nuts on facing the proper way prior to flaring.

Robert

[.429&H110]

I was taught to soft solder by recycling boilers.
A thrifty Yankee might need a new boiler on a budget.
(1/2" copper ells were a dime each. A whole dime!)
The kid takes apart all the existing copper fittings
pipe valves boiler feed DWH
everything cleaned up and sorted out, reused.
My boss called such a thing "Junkyard Plumbing"
usually new meant new everything
except for low budget yankees.

Like all trades, there is a language to pipefitting.
Like most things, you learn by direct adult supervision.

I mistrust PEX there are too many grades of it, and it didn't age well in the old days.
Nowadays Wirsbo in a slab is elegant, until we load glycol into it.

[centershot]

I have used both Sharkbite and Pex with no problems. E-Z PEE-ZEE!

[farmbif]

another vote for shark bite here, it aint cheap but it sure is easy and with the little orange plastic tool can be safely removed and reused if you want to make any changes.
if you do use sharkbite be sure to smooth the ends of pipe, just a small burr can screw up the oring inside.

[ebb]

I was a carpenter till I retired (over 40 years) I have seen shark bite fail, and many of the plumbers we used would have nothing to do with it. I have seen some before I retired use a battery powered tool to compress copper together and it was a nice, neat job. I think the jury is still out on how long it will last but, it looks fool proof to me. If working in tight places remodeling it would have space issues as more room is required for the bigger fittings and the tool. i don't see how a copper-on-copper joint could have an issue but time will tell.

[marshall623]

Have used for at least 10 years copper propress, Have used both Milwaukee Force Logic propress crimp tool and ridgid. Never have had a leak and install crews have installed 1000's of feet of pipe and fittings. Use Type "L" copper. Best to use a marker to mark depth on pipe then fit all your piping and press and just keep going, no comparison to sweat copper with torch. If you have any water in the pipe this is the way to go.+2 on marking fitting depth on the pipe with pro press and when you cant get the water stopped . 99% of leaks I've seen on Pro Press is the pipe not fulling inserted in the fitting and O rings getting cut from folks using a port a band or sawzall to cut the pipe . Using cutters will save alot of grief in that department .

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[Horn Ridge]

@porthos how much plumbing are you doing? A fitting or two or an entire house? If the latter, I’d look hard at Pex ‘A’ specifically Uponor products and a Milwaukee M12 expander kit.

[abunaitoo]

I'm sure above ground, and easy to get to, those would work.
But they do rely on an O-ring.
After time, and on the hot water pipe, I would think they would fail.
Seen pipes in houses, close to 100 years old, that have never leaked.
I'll stick with sweating.