SharkBite 1 Inch 90 Degree Elbow, Push to Connect Brass Plumbing Fitting, PEX Pipe, Copper, CPVC, PE-RT, HDPE, U260LFA

TL;DR: Plastic sleeve inside fittings isnt fixed in place and is poorly designed, causing a catastrophic failure when inserted improperly. I just completed installing two 90 degree elbows and a ball valve onto a length of 1 PEX the builder of my house left exposed in my garage. The loop was supposed to be for a water softener, however, as we do not need a water softener for our location (not sure what they were thinking, no one in our neighborhood uses one), it has been hanging out roughly 24 into my garage/workshop, which represented a significant hazard in my mind. In light of this, and having made a trip to the usual suspects only to be astounded at the $60+ special PEX wrench required to use the standard fittings and clamps, I decided on these as a cheaper and (hopefully) easier alternative as I only had a very small project in mind. Each fitting contains a small plastic sleeve that is used to further strengthen the pipe so as to ensure the shark teeth that clamp onto it do not deform the pipe and cause a leak. From the pictures, I assumed this sleeve was fixed in place - it is not. In fact, its completely loose inside of each end of the fitting and relies on a VERY small lip to seat itself against the brass of the fitting. Predictably, on the first fitting, this small lip pushed right past its brass mating surface on my first insertion attempt, causing the fitting to prematurely bottom out while engaging the teeth enough to make removal impossible. Thankfully, I was able to quickly cobble together a removal tool based on pictures of the plastic one sold by SharkBite online using a hole saw and piece of scrap plywood, but the damage had been done. The plastic insert was mangled and badly bent, rendering the $16 fitting unusable and necessitating an emergency run to Lowes to purchase an overpriced replacement. Installing the remainder of the valves was a painful process as I fiddled with the plastic sleeve to make sure it was aligned before pushing the fitting home, but, not before saying a prayer to all that is holy that the dang thing would go on correctly. Now, having spent as much as if I would have just bought the daggun tool in the first place, and having needlessly sweated and cussed enough to make my neighbors think far less of me, I wish I had just spent the money on the right tool for the job in the first place and heeded my gut when it told me the SharkBite fittings were just too good to be true.

This is a great product, fantastic seller, fair price and fast service. I will buy from this seller again.

Old one O-ring inside failed after about 11 years. A bit tricky to remove but after watching some YouTube videos it was easy to get it off. Very easy to install and not leaks after.

A little pricey, but make plumbing a breeze. Bought several extra. Going to replace all of my plumbing with this type.

Fast easy and super efficient. I will never solder again. Easy to use and no leaks.

These sharkBite connectors come in handy for emergency repair when working on copper pipe. Very easy to use and they do not leak.

Perfect as we are updating all our plumbing due to hard water, so easy to install and use.

These work very well with my PEX plumbing system. I have also used them to join copper and PEX systems together. I have purchased several of these and have not had any problems. (Note: Make sure that you do not have the pipe at an angle or stressed in any manner).

Sharkbites are the real deal! I had to replace a hot water heater in very tight quarters under the counter of a kitchen sink in our cottage in Maine. Swetting all of those joints would have been very difficult. Sharkbites made this a 1/2 hour job versus a 2 hour job and not one single leak. Two strait couplings, two elbows and two 1/2 to 3/4 pipe fittings for the hot/cold inlet fittings on top of the tank was all that I needed. Not one drop of a leak. Buy the pex tube cutter and the measuring/chamfering gauge and watch a You Tube video or two, and anyone can do basic plumbing!

Pricey, but work just as advertised. After trying to connect the pipes with glue-based elbows -- which kept blowing up after a few minutes of water pressure being on -- I gave up and tried these. They work just fine -- the hardest part was clearing off the remnants of the glue from the pipe-ends...