Hello,

Looking to replace some valves for sinks and toilets. All seized in the open position due to hard water, but makes repair difficult when can’t isolate a shutoff.

What are people’s preferences for copper these days......solder, compression, quick connect? Pros and cons? Any benefit to one or another in a given install?

Thx

 

I believe soldered joints are best but that's a skill I never mastered so when working with copper I normally use a flared fitting, occasionally a compression fitting. While I've had some compression failures I've never had any leaks with flared fittings .... over time.

 

I have always soldered but recently have fallen in love with with Shark bites. Easy to work with and don't have to dry pipes out.

 

Once you go shopping for the valves you'll discover one difference. The simple push on Shark/Gator Bite fittings are usually quite a bit more expensive. It's probably not a big deal if you're just doing a few valves but if you already have the tools to sweat fittings then doing it the old way is less expensive.

 

Make life easy on yourself and take on the expense of the Shark-Bites. You'll thank yourself later.

However, if expense is a main factor then use the solder method. You don't have to be perfect, as long as they don't leak. And remember when soldering to disassemble the valve prior to soldering. You don't want to melt the seals or plastic ball if applicable. But, if you go solder, do yourself a favor and use screwed on valves by soldering on adapters. That way you can replace them if need be. This will also prevent the need to disassemble the valve.

If you're not sure of your soldering technique practice with a few pieces of scrap copper. So what if solder over spills. You'll get better as you do more of it.

If any fitting are to be behind drywall, absolutely use solder connections, even though Shark bites are approved for behind wall board.

 

If the flow through the current valve is adequate (or you can open it full) , just thread another valve (quarter turn example is Keeney K2072PCLF) in series with the current valve after removing the tank fill line. The tank fill line reconnects to the output of the new valve.

 

Great idea! Looks like it’s called a piggyback valve.