He's just fine. The Shakebites are twenty years old and doing just fine. People love perpetuating fear. If Tom Silva says it's ok, that's good enough for me. Mine are 10 years old and are fine (behind drywall too! Oh my!)

Why are shark bites not a long term solution? Thats the first time I've heard that

Go with professional copper crimps or sweats and / or pex. Avoid sharkbites as they are too fragile.

Shark bites are fine for short or long term. The issue here is that could have been fixed in a few minutes with $3 worth of graphite or Teflon packing rope, and not needed to use sharkbites. Also would not need to add the extra piece of copper would you have used a hacksaw to cut the old valve out rather than the pipe cutter, that wasted probably about an inch of pipe.

@@kevin83FL on a water main? No shark bites are designed for temporary fixes on simple fixtures not the main water supply lol, what he should have done is called the city, shut the water off at the street.. installed shark bite to drain remaining water in THAT line and then soldered in a permanent ball valve.

Undo that union and sweat in a new piece of copper tube to the correct length to eliminate the extra shark bite coupler…

Thats why im here. Thank you Alex I figured they would try and gouge people. Got a drip pan under it now. Temporary band aid.😔 I dont know if i have the guts to give it a whirl or not. Wish you the best let me know how it goes! Best of Luck!!

Make sure you look up proper procedures when using shark bite fittings, I know one of the most important things is deburring the cut edge before slipping it on, otherwise you can cut the internal o-ring

Pro tip: you can watch series at Flixzone. I've been using them for watching a lot of movies lately.

@Adam Jensen Definitely, I've been using Flixzone} for since november myself :)

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Maybe if you leave that existing valve in place and wide open but cut the pipe somewhere else in the line?

@@SpiritofaHandyman I think the difference is you live an area that has basements where plumbing is accessible and there are often relatively long runs. I live where there are no basements and freezing isn't a concern; plumbing is buried underground and inside the walls. The supply line comes up from the ground outside the house, has about 12" of pipe, then a gate valve for the main shutoff, then an tee with one side going into the exterior wall, the other is a hose bib. No obvious easy solution to replace the gate valve.

You should use a regular coupling that doesn't have the stops inside it or sand down the stops so that the coupling can slide fully into the pipe then sweat the fitting on. I personally hate using shark bite connectors, but they are good for certain applications. Soldering the pipe is always the better option for long term reliability and it isn't very difficult to do nor does it require many tools.

@@MrSamwiseganja shark bites are great when it's accessible. I'd never use one in a wall or hard to reach place though.

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Thanks I'm about to dive into this myself

This is pure comedy 🤣🤣🤣

That is a better idea, just swap out the innards of the one that was already soldered in, I would also install a second valve while the water is off

Good question! The ground wire was attached right where the pipe disappears through the wall, so on the street side of the SharkBite that I installed. This means my Shark Bite connection wouldn't affect the ground one way or another.

Id say yes and no. If all water can be out for a single family home then a solder connection would be best. If multiple homes or apts affected then the quickest and most error free method would be best. Aka push connection.

No tape or glue required for the push-to-connect fittings

The outside of pipe seals with a rubber gasket in the fitting so the outside of the pipe needs to be immaculate.

I couldn't find any hardware store in my area that sells the packing rope. I have done that once before but figured it would be easier to just replace the entire valve.

You will have to open the drywall to get further access

If you shut off the power to your wellpump you will lose pressure real fast

Behind your property an access is buried somewhere, you have to jump through hoops and hire their people etc to go in there wrenching the valve

I wasn’t aware they had different ratings

@@SpiritofaHandyman What do you charge your customer for this job? My house is really old and the shut off valve runs along the floor so there's not enough room to run the pipe cutter around it like you did. And I wouldn't be able to put anything underneath it to catch the water that comes out because it lays along the floor. So would my floor just have to get soaked? And what other tool could be used to cut the pipe since the tool you used won't work on mine? And you think a plumber would charge $145 to complete this job? How long should the job take from start to finish?

@@septembersapphire347 $145 sounds like a very reasonable price for a tricky location.

Have you had bad experiences with SharkBite fittings I take it?

@@SpiritofaHandyman Well actually no, but used in open area like sinks and toilets and not inside walls. The worst could happen is leaks are seen and they can shut off main and get another SharkBite to replace. With main leaking you would need to call a plumber or city to shut off the street valve and hopefully the basement would not be under water by then. Better keep a identical spare close by just in case the whole thing blows due to people slamming those 90 degrees main ball valve shut during some other emergency.

Buy all three sizes and return the ones that aren’t good fits

Measure it width wide. It goes by outer diameter, most main shut off valves for residential are 3/4 inch pipes, and toilets and sinks are 1/2inch

Sounds like you have a bad gate valve

Spirit of a Handyman yeah this is essentially what i ve been assuming.

@@irockbmw6s908 yes gate valve is stuck closed. It happens alot actually with them, especially with age of 10 years or more on them.

Change the gate valve not sure why you're asking a question you seem too have the answer for.

Most of the time (trolls read: most of the time) one of two things causes this - the end of the shaft came loose from the gate by the end of the threads being gone due to various reasons, or two, the threads of the shaft are gone completely and let go of the gate. Either way, sometimes you can simply pull out on the handle while spinning and it MAY bring the gate open and it will just become a push valve. I have seen an older lady have this on her house for about 15 years now without issue and she still has it today.

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It has held up all this time

@@SpiritofaHandyman Thank you very much.

Sharkbite for main shutoff valve. Hell no

That was an option, and I have done that before but for the cost of purchasing a replacement vs the time it takes to make the repair wasn't worth it in this situation

Seems like a lot less work than cutting the pipe etc

I'm not a plumber and wouldn't do it for insurance purposes. I know how to do it well but I'll let the plumber take the "plunge" if something goes wrong.

Shark bites don’t leak if you fit them correctly

I've never had one leak, use them a bunch --- like anything prep is key

Sharkbites take professionalism out of the trade. Doesnt matter if they work or not. If you're trained and licensed and have pride in your work, do it the professional way, not the weekend warrior that doesn't know fuck all. Prove them wrong and hand the bill.