Dale & Dan, Thanks to both of you for getting back to me before Terrie gets home and I go to that damn hardware store. Let me explain what I'm doing and maybe that will help me better understand the suggestions you guys are making. When I go away from home I have this thing I am concerned over and that is a water leak while I'm gone for a week or so. I usually shut off the main water valve just below the water meter when we go away. The problem with this is it is near the floor down behind the washer and it is quite a trick to lay on the washer and reach that sucker. The main line runs right up behind the washer and what I figured I'd do is simply cut the line and put an additional shut off valve in the main line where it is nice & easy to reach. However, I want one that opens fully like the one before the water meter so as to not constrict the flow volume in the main line. I usually use compression fittings when working with copper line and have never had a problem. However with the newer stuff like shark bite fittings I thought they may be better. I've never played with Pex or even seen it (unless that is what the foot long or so things are going from my hot water heater and connect to the copper pipe) so I don't want to get into something complicated, I just want to insert a valve and then get onto more projects. So, with this, what is the suggestion?
thanks Al -----Original Message----- From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com]on Behalf Of Dale Leavens Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 10:44 AM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Shut off valve Al, I think you may want a ball valve. They tend to be a lot more reliable than gate valves. PEX is not the same thing, it is a plastic material. There are methods of joining it to copper but I am unfamiliar with any of them except by sweating threaded fittings onto the ends of the pipes to be linked with plastic types of fitting. I seem to remember that there is a sort of bulbous fitting which can be put onto the end of a copper pipe and the PEX heated and forced over the bulb where it cools and contracts and is further secured with a band. There may also be compression plastic fittings to clamp down over the ends of the copper certainly there are such fittings for drain lines but I don't know about pressured water lines. ----- Original Message ----- From: Alan & Terrie Robbins To: Blindhandyman Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 10:09 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Shut off valve Just called my local hardware store as I need to pick up a shut off valve to go in half inch copper line. I believe what I want is referred to as a gate valve (inside totally retracts to give full unrestricted flow) correct? I asked if they had these so I could use the shark bite fittings. They said they had Pex and it was the same. Since I've read about both but never used either are these the same or interchangeable? Is there a special tool I'll need to have on hand to remove should I want to? Last question: Do you feel the shark bite or Pex are as reliable as compression fittings? thanks Al [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
