Your video like every other video I've seen to date does NOT show Sharkbite removal in the "real" world and by that I mean...get away from the bench and focus on a pipe overhead in a ceiling or under the floorboards where you have to actually break apart a joint repair and have little room to work with. Anyone can use a static setting where a fitting isn't shown connected to anything on one end and the other is a stub of a pipe inserted. Flip side? The cheap tool is just that. Cheap and frustrating. In fact I've taken a piece of pvc pipe 1 inch long, split it horizontally and removed 1/4 of the material and slipped the newly cut short pvc section over the line to be connected and successfully removed the Sharkbite fitting. works in a pinch if you've lost the cheap tool. Tongs? you need decent grip strength for certain to use is fully and again...overhead? The other alternative is the pliars but the same issue with grip and fulcrum ethic. further away you are can be an advantage or disadvantage...yet locally not just the conventional home improvement stores but the more commercial places do not offer anything but the cheap garbage and don't have on hand any of the $60+ tools for saying they didn't sell well. mmmm? Rarchet Master went out of business, Ameribrand has the Slim-Gem, Tifco Industries, Mill-Rose and Lawson have all sold ratchet type pliars for removal but your use of the blue handled tool by Sharkbite is my first seeing of it.
I appreciate the feedback, and even tried to highlight that in the video at one point by saying that this is essentially the best possible conditions. In the best possible conditions, the $10 tongs were better and far cheaper than the $60 tongs. Because they both function in the exact same way, I can’t imagine how a different real works scenario would differ between the two. All of us have used the u clamp to know how awful it is in every condition.
Good to know. It’s in my Amazon cart now. I had to install a sharkbite valve on my water heater as it sprung a leak and the old valve didn’t close. I just needed something to keep the water off so we could at least flush the toilets. This would have made the process so much easier. My fingers are mad at me. Those stupid plastic tools are crap. I ended up using an adjustable wrench behind it to give me more leverage.
There is a Sharkbite "look-alike" fitting now here in Canada that are cheaper. They are very difficult to remove with any Sharkbite tool. Incredibly difficult to remove with any tool that I have tried especially in close areas.
For the cheap u tool - take a vice grip and place on the pex - lightly clamp - place above the u next to the connector - tap with a rubber mallet on the vice grips and gradually push the u down. I gave up on this because bad things happen and bought the expensive tool - I’m vested in shark bite
The tool you like may be difficult to use on some of the 90° and tee's s they have a bridge on the fitting between the connections, you will be limited in which way you can actually grip the fitting, against a wall, or in a tight place can make a difference. That's why the expensive tool has those cutouts on the fitting side. Try that same test on some of those fittings and see what you think. I don't use sharkbite fittings either, but I run across them on some jobs, so having tools to make it easy is important, I am thinking about getting this tool. I have been really cheap and using an open-end wrench, since I do so few fittings, it works well enough. (ps, I think sharkbite added those bridges on the fitting only to try and get you to buy their tool)
I end up beating the tongs with a hammer sometimes to remove the fittings from copper, or hammering on the side of a adjustable wrench. The piers work much better, in my opinion.
you didnt use the lock. Squeeze the handle to disengage the clamp ring then flip teh latch to ock it. then you can reposition your hands where ever you want.
If you had done this video with a tee instead of a coupling, you might have a much different opinion of the tongs. You'll find that the tongs are extremely difficult to use with tees. BTW, I've ordered the $64.00 tool and waiting for its arrival. I'm desperate to get some 3/4" tees off pex pipe!
Totally agree. Oddly enough, I thought the U ring was the only removal tool until I finally thought there had to be something different. I bet there are a lot of U ring sufferers.
Non of those are any good. I use them all and non work the best. If a sharkbite fitting has been on the pipe for a long time they are still hard to get off no matter what tool you have. I have the other fancy tool as well that is only for copper to PEX and even it has its issues. I'm old school and solder pipe unlike a lot of plumbing contractors in today's world, but I see a lot of sharkbite fittings so I had to invest in all the tools available. And I use sharkbite fittings on certain applications, mostly Mobile homes.
