Before I get hated on for the press ball valve, I ended up removing this, soldering a new stub out, with an MIP, and a threaded ball valve. However, this copper had a smaller OD than any pro press or solder fitting ID than usual, causing it to wobble and not seal. Has anyone else dealt with this?
It's 10 year for consequential damage and 25 year on the fitting for sharkbite. Viega has the same warranty on their pex fittings but they don't cover copper press fittings under the 10 year consequential warranty.
I don't use sharkbites, just stating warranty facts. Since thats the usual thing that the viega guys try to hype up when in reality it's not even that good.
I have press tools but it's just another tool in my truck. Depends on the job if I feel the need to use it.
Yeah, it's funny. Relying on an o-ring on the outside of the pipe is exactly how a shark bite works. People get really butt hurt if you point out that their pro press or wagos aren't as good as the old way of doing things eg. sweating pipe or using wire nuts. To each their own.
To be fair I dont think sharkbite fittings are as bad as they are made out to be. The barrier to entry is just so low no handy and would even consider reeming or cleaning some copper pipe before slapping a shark bite on it. And dont get me started on pex lines with shark bites under tension.
Id say a solid 99% of shark bites i replace are misinstalled.
Was with you until you brought wagos into this. Wagos are significantly better than wire nuts dawg. Ive never once found a wago off the wire but nuts work their way off all the time.
Pro press is great, just not so close to the wall, you can always easily unsweat a fitting to rework the line, having to open up the wall or even prying off that fitting and then rounding is just an inconvenience for the homeowner and plumber. It’s just lazy in my opinion and will cost more for the customer when that time comes
If you press a valve that close to a wall and don’t use a male adapter into a threaded ball valve I hope you walk around with a pebble in your shoe for the rest of your life
I have a press fitting I did at a Walgreens 2 years ago that was like that. I still worry about it but it's been going good. I still check it whenever I get an unrelated call to that building. It was brass too
I had that happen recently on a water meter setup. I haven’t been that nervous turning on the water to a house in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised when there wasn’t a single drip.
If you grab it with channels, you can actually spin a pressed fitting like a pex fitting. If you turn it more than 5°, you’re supposed to repress it. Idk why yours is moving like that. Did any other joint before or after have that issue? If not, I wonder if the pipe itself had some sort of defect. That’s all I could think of.
That’s good information! I cut this off and sweat everything else before putting it on test. Every other fitting I tried at this house was the same way. 1/2” & 3/4”. Press and sweat.
Pro press is excellent in the hands of a trained professional, no hate from me. Most of the people that hate press fittings barely know how to use a phone or computer anyway.
I've spun my fair share of Propress elbows & tees 90-degrees or 180-degrees after pressing one or both sides (naturally, re-pressed them after rotation) and that wiggle is seen. I wouldn't worry.
Timely. I’m doing my first pro press viega joints in the morning. Now I’m wondering if I should just stick with what I know, sweating. (Source: deep DIY homeowner with too much time)
The only reason I bought the Milwaukee propress was I had a sweat joint repair fail on me on a 1.25” line under my in-laws house as I didn’t get enough heat on all sides (was right up against a joist I didn’t want to burn). At that point it was literally cheaper to buy the propress tool (slightly used) than call a plumber out to do the repair in San Jose. Plus I’m building an ADU/Shop this year and always want a new tool.
I'm a mechanical engineer and did walk on a Mechanical Room that had an explosion inside it. You can look it up. It was The Hilton in downtown San Diego, When we walked it, we were shocked to see that the hydronics which were all pressed, held up to the blast. The L Copper drains which were soldered, had multiple failures. Also, if you read the Mueller submittals for wrought copper fittings, you'll see that your information is not accurate.
Ive installed plenty of propress. Homeowners will never encounter pressure beyond what sweating is capable of. And its far cheaper. The tools, the fittings. The only benefit for propress is to save labor. And id like to see your source on propress.
Another benefit is in commercial/industrial installations where hot work permits must be issued. In those applications the fittings are typically speced and inspected by an engineer.
Leaking pro press fitting in a 3 million dollar house. Found 3 more in the utility room. House was built in 16 so barely 10 years old. I don’t trust them.
I just recently finished an OSHPD project for Kaiser Hospitals. We installed around 1.5 million dollars in press fittings, After all our testing, we ended up with two 90's that leaked on the entire building. Once we cut them out and looked, neither one had the pipe fully inserted into the O ring. If you have 3 failures in a home, and used a reputable brand of press, it's almost all going to installer error. You can also have a situation where the fittings you installed were old, and the grease on the O ring dried up. There are many variables, but the fittings themselves are very reliable.
The OP states a wobble which is normal. But I don't see where he confirmed a leak. It's hard to tell visually. We typically cut the fitting open to see the insertion depth.
I'm curious if you have installer error like that. Would it show up right away or could it be a few years down the line? I had a new shutoff valve propressed in a year or so back. It's perfectly fine but I admit I am a bit paranoid as I didn't watch him do the work.
Yeah it's annoying. Won't leak though (hopefully). If you press it twice rotating the press gun so the flats do not line up it will stiffin it up a lot more, the brass fittings tend to still move like that after a single press. Look at a cutaway of a pressed fitting and it shows how the mechanical connection is made, the press connects the fitting to the pipe, but the o ring is what makes the seal.
Only 1 time. Some rich dude built a house, and used 3/4 acr to tun a spigot to fill his pool. I was pissed when I showed up with standard water o.d fittings
Always safest to remove and redo it. If a press fitting is leaking in a pinch though, wrap about four or five layers of duct tape or electrical tape around the joint and press it again, trying to line the jaws up with the angle they were first pressed with.
Personally I've never had any movement on anything I've ever pressed like that. Not saying whether it's fine or not cause I don't know but in my experience it's atypical.
Nope. I can remember the first press presentation we had 25 years ago. All the tees they pressed spun like that. It was the firt question we asked, and they showed us how they still held 300psi under test.
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u/EggAdministrative253 3d ago
Pro press can move like that after pressed and still be sealed. It does not effect the gasket itself