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Posted

PEX parts and crimp pliers are not that expensive, plus they can be used around your home if it is a newer build. It is quite simple and affordable to build a comprehensive repair kit with 1/2 inch straight couplings, tees and elbows, some crimp rings and the pliers that sets them. Plus some short sections of hose (blue and red) for emergency repairs....  Shark Bites are way cool but they are extremely costly in comparison.

John E Davies

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: 

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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Posted

Larry, so glad you and Betty were equipped and ready to help. As you two often are... Two of the most generous and knowledgeable people in camping that I have ever met.

 

We've used the shark bite connectors for modifications, and they're great. No special tools. Intuitive.

 

Here in Florida, pex is uncommon. PVC and cpvc rule.

 

To find a qualified plumber for pex plumbing in our new home, I had to call the supplier home office. To use pex in the fire suppression system, we had to petition the county to adopt a newer code. Pex is the best, imo. We used uponor. Unbelievable manufacturer support. But I digress.

 

Many of us don't have 40 or 60 dollar crimping tools in the box. (Uponor doesn't use them). So, shark bite fittings, at a few bucks more, per fitting, for a seldom or never used spare part, can make perfect sense for many of us.

Easily available at HD, or Lowe's under their blue hawk label, it's still not a bad thing to have a half inch coupler in the spares box, for 6 or 8 bucks.

Who knows, you may never need it. But, like Larry and Betty, you may save the day for someone else.</p>

<p style="text-align: left;">Sherry</p>

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

  • Moderators
Posted

Thanks Sherry ! I guess that the cool thing was that the repair we made was with the simplest hand tools. Here is a look at the rusty hacksaw blade and pocket knife that we used.

 

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It was in a tight place where a hacksaw would not go, so we took the blade out of the frame and cut the PEX with the blade hand held.

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Moderators
Posted

The tools used above were "field expedient" and worked.  However there is no better way to cut PEX than with a tool designed for that, and the sharkbite fitting is immediately ready to apply because the cuts are so clean. Here is a look at a later repair. This is the damaged part removed:

 

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Some may notice that the cuts on the ends of the removed PEX section are not exactly perpendicular or at 90* to the pipe. Even though this was in a tight place and cutting the pipe was not exactly straight, the sharkbite fitting still worked flawlessly !

 

The orange horse shoe shapped plastic tool is for removing the sharkbite fitting, if needed.

 

The PEX cutting tool is readily available on line. Here is a current eBay auction photo where the tool is listed for $8.90.

 

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Cost at the time of this entry about $15 for a sharkbite connector and a PEX cutting tool. Now, that's great because they take up little space, add little weight and there will always be mice in campgrounds that are looking for a nice warm home to Winter up in.

  • Thanks 1

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

  • Moderators
Posted
PEX parts and crimp pliers are not that expensive, plus they can be used around your home if it is a newer build. It is quite simple and affordable to build a comprehensive repair kit with 1/2 inch straight couplings, tees and elbows, some crimp rings and the pliers that sets them. Plus some short sections of hose (blue and red) for emergency repairs…. Shark Bites are way cool but they are extremely costly in comparison. John E Davies Spokane WA

John is absolutely right in his post above !  His post is the reason that I thought a follow up posting about assembling a simple PEX repair kit was in order.

  • Thanks 1

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

  • 1 year later...
Posted

We had a major plumbing problem on our trip to Olympic National Park. We were setting up camp in the Hoh Rainforest campground, where we were boondocking without a water supply. I turned on the water pump and I heard a gushing sound. I checked the faucets, but they were off. I turned off the water pump and the sound went away. Not good!

 

I looked in the curb side under bed compartment where the water pump lives. When I turned the water pump on I could see water gushing out of a pipe. One of the plastic elbows had broken.

 

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I have tried to assemble a good tool kit for the Oliver; I even have spares for all of the fuses. I had seen this post from Mountainborn about PEX repair, and getting these PEX repair parts was on my ToDo list. In retrospect, I think I did not get the parts and tools before this trip because I needed to do some research to figure out what parts and tools I needed to get.

 

I remembered this post while in the campground, and I pulled it up on my phone and read about Sharkbite and PEX. I then drove one hour (each way) from the campground to Forks, WA. Fortunately there are two hardware stores in Forks (one was useless in regards to Sharkbite and PEX), and both were open late in the day. The second hardware store also had a very knowledgeable salesperson.

 

John Davies may be correct that PEX parts and crimp pliers are not that expensive, but the hardware store did not have them. But they did have a Sharkbite crimping tool, but ONLY ONE, for the outrageous price of $68.99. I also bought a bag of Sharkbite clamps ($5.79) and a bag of brass 90° elbows ($16.99).

 

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Fortunately, I have a hacksaw in my tool kit. I used the saw to cut off the brass PEX crimps, inserted the brass elbows, and crimped the Sharkbite clamps. Fortunately there was enough play in the existing pipes to make the connection.

 

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I spent $99.48 on the crimping tool, the clamps, and the brass elbows, but the camping trip was saved!!

 

When I got home, I looked at what I could have saved if I had bought them in advance. I suggest you buy a crimping tool with clamps ($29.88) and some brass elbows ($7.65) from Amazon. (Please correct me if I have the wrong items listed!)

 

I would have saved money if I had bought these items from Amazon in advance; more importantly I would have saved time. The job itself took five minutes, but the time spent driving and researching made it a three hour job.

 

Also, if you don't have one, get a hacksaw for your tool kit.

 

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BTW, my brother in law, who is much more mechanically experienced than I am, was surprised that Oliver uses plastic elbows instead of brass ones.

  • Thanks 5

David Stillman, Salt Lake City, Utah

2016 Oliver Elite II  Hull 164    |    2017 Audi Q7 tow vehicle. 

Travel and Photography Blog: http://davidstravels.net

 

  • Moderators
Posted

Thanks, Dave. I guess we'll throw a few more tools, and parts, in the spares.

Glad the second store in forks had what you needed. What a great little town. I really enjoyed it last year. Awesome laundromat, too.

Sherry

 

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

Posted

David has the right idea.  But elbows are seldom needed since you can bend the PEX to fit in most situations and end up with a less restrictive and better setup.  Straight brass barbed fitting are very useful.   I like and trust the brass way more than the plastic.  When using PEX, think in PEX and bend it whenever you can.

 

Stainless pinch rings are also very good in place of the copper rings.  They are available at Lowes and the tool can be made to fit almost anywhere.  If you need to remove one, the ring can be easily removed.

 

Sharkbite is a quick fix, but it's just for emergencies as far as I'm concerned.  Then fix it right when you get home.

  • Thanks 1

John


"I only exaggerate enough to compensate for being taken with a grain of salt."


LE2 #92 (sold),   Black Series HQ19   

  • Moderator+
Posted

I have observed that Oliver has switched their standard fittings from PEX to Sharkbite, apparently to save time and ease in initial installation and in repairs.  I guess the labor saved makes up for the additional cost of the fittings. And no expensive tools to keep up with.  I bought a set of PEX tools earlier this year when I replaced the manual valves at the water pump with electric ones to facilitate using the auxiliary water fill system.  Now flip a couple of switches and the tank fills easily!

Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved dogs Storm, Lucy, Maggie and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge)

2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4       

 

  • Moderators
Posted

I think that there just might be a bit of apples and oranges here.  Of course, I could be the one that is a bit confused - not that it has ever happened before.

 

I was unaware that "Sharkbite" made what appears to be "regular" plumbing supplies versus the ones that Mountainborn talked about in his original post - those are fittings that basically do not need tools such as crimpers and stainless/copper bands.  I believe that ScubaRx is talking about the latter while DavidS is talking about the former.

 

For an emergency kit, the tooless Sharkbite fittings make a bunch of sense and are less costly too (considering the cost of the tools involved, unless of course you happen to already own them).  Either way the bottom line is the same - be prepared.

 

Bill

  • Thanks 1

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

Near Asheville, NC

Posted

On the Sharkbite type, you don't really need a tool (though they are small and cheap $.99 or so). You can take them off by using the side of an open end wrench of the about right size. If you prefer the brass fittings and do your fix with them the Sharkbite is reusable. The nice thing about the Sharkbite is it will fit plastic, copper, and cpvc. Gives nice options in an 'emergency'. Going at add a few pieces of scrap and some Sharkbites to the tool kit...

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