Fixing the Fittings

So, remember that leaky spicket in the back yard? Or those nasty fittings in the laundry room? Well, we won! Muahahahaha!! No more leaks! 

The Love decided to crack down on them the weekend of the 14th. Took both days to complete. 

Has anyone ever heard of "shark bite" fittings? Well the Love had. Went mad raving about them while I remained skeptical. 

For those of you who do not know, they are a "push-fit" connection system. After cutting the pipe and de-burring, you just push the fitting on and its secure! They are "certified for underground and behind the wall applications and as a manufactured joint without access panels." No glue or soldering necessary.

Click here to see their brochure. (Because I love them now)

My Love said they've been using these connectors on semi trucks and large equipment for years. Mainly for their air lines which push 300 psi constantly. So I gave in and let him do his thing.

We were to be receiving the washer and dryer on Thursday the 19th, which required us to fix the fittings. We had gone to Home Depot and were able to talk to a 25-year plumber vet who gave us all the necessities for the job (for the spicket and water heater as well). But one thing none of us thought to check, the types of threading on the shark bites and the valve fixtures. We ended up having to run back and purchase a box set (the plastic box with the valves) because they didn't have individual washing machine valves that were non-compression threads... Grr... The box didn't even fit our setup! So we had to purchase another box! 

Well those nasty fittings and box went bye-bye. Helloooo clean, fancy, new fittings and shark bites! 

I wish I had a better picture of the shark bites but the brochure that I have linked above has quite a few.

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I guess it's only natural to assume that every spicket is a thread on. But then again, someone once told me, "Assuming only gets you into trouble." And it did!

As you can see in the picture, the spicket in the backyard was stuccoed to the wall, leaving the joint to be inaccessible. We didn't want to have a hole in the wall for days on end, so we assumed the spicket was a thread on and purchased what we needed to replace the old booger. 

Much to our frustration, the spicket was soldered on. We attempted to melt the solder off, but to no avail. I believe that this fitting was glued by calcium build-up as well as soldered.

So it was back to Home Depot... 

The Love ended up having to make a larger hole in the wall to cut the pipe farther back, only to attach a 90° shark bite to a small piece of copper tubing to another shark bite that then threaded to a shinny, new spicket. 

I unfortunately wasn't able to get pictures of what happened there. But the last picture is the beautiful new spicket sitting outside the wall. 

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And so it was on to the next project, the hot water heater.

The year that is stamped on the side of the tank is 1992, so we are going to have to replace it eventually, but we just wanted to focus on the fittings, being as we were on a roll...

The person who put this together was kind enough to use a 1/4 turn valve on the in-coming cold water, but unfortunately for us, it didn't budge. Plus, the copper flex pipe had been soldered to the copper piping coming out of the walls.

The Love whipped out the cutter and began work before I could even get the camera ready. Sorry! I've been slacking! But these are the pictures that I was able to take of the old pieces. If you look at the fourth picture of the pipes in the orange bucket, you can see the calcium build-up on and around the valve.

The black water that is coming out of the old fitting is burned piping tape. Our water heater was so hot that it actually burned the teflon away... Don't worry though, we've turned it down.

The Love used the shark bites here as well. And I am truly amazed by them!

After all this mess, the Love went into the master bathroom to replace the valves under the sink (before we realized we should wait until we remodel...Duh!). Once they were all replaced, he went around the house and found every single fitting leaking!!! All except the washer fittings. The funny thing, they weren't leaking from the shark bite, they were leaking from the threading! The Love removed the fitting, replaced the teflon tape, with many more passes, and they still leaked! The problem wasn't that they weren't torqued down enough. My Love is a diesel mechanic by trade and works on Caterpillar machines. He knows how to torque. 

We ended up running into the manager of the plumbing department at Home Depot and he gave us liquid teflon to use instead of the teflon tape... Sure enough, none of them have leaked since! 

So here comes the cheers, singing, and happy dancing! 

NO MORE LEAKS!!!

Cheers~