New house has a water line and drain roughed in to the stand alone shop. The water line appears to be PEX-A (inside the black sleeve in the photo) with an expansion sleeve and barb plug termination.

I have never worked with PEX before. Can I remove the plug and insert a valve or do I need to cut off the sleeve/barb combo and start with a fresh cut end?

You cannot remove the plug. You need to cut it off. Are you staying pex on the building?

Don't hassle with trying to remove the plug, just go 1-2" below it and cut it off. PEX is really easy to work with provided you have the right tools.

Note: Be sure the water is turned off before doing so or you'll have an instant geyser in your shop.

Yep, cut it off. If you're in or near Houston, I have all the tools you need and will be happy to let you borrow them.

Thanks all! I was afraid of that, I don't have PEX crimp tools but since all I'm doing is adding a shut off valve for a shop sink, could I just cut it and push on a sharkbite type fitting?

You should be able to. I've heard good things about them, but I've never personally used them. I always go with copper crimp or stainless cinch (gotta get my money's worth out of those expensive tools)

Section327Ag said:

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Thanks all! I was afraid of that, I don't have PEX crimp tools but since all I'm doing is adding a shut off valve for a shop sink, could I just cut it and push on a sharkbite type fitting?

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That is PEX A (aka ProPex), so it does not use crimp tools. It uses an expansion gun and rings to make connections. You absolutely need the proper tools to do this.

Also, everyone else is correct that you need to shut off the water first, then cut the cap off about 1-2" below it. Then you can make a connection to a valve, or transition to other type of pipe. Make sure you use the proper transition fitting from ProPex to whatever.

I HIGHLY recommend finding someone that has the tools or pay a plumber to do it. I would not use shark bites on pex.

ETA if you want to buy the tools so you can do the work yourself, there is a battery powered version (~$400), and there is a hand pump version that is significantly cheaper (~$100). If you're only making a few connections, I recommend the hand pump.

What's your location?

I'm in College Station. I could probably rent the expansion tool locally but I'm thinking of just going with a Sharkbite push on valve which they say is rated for PEX-A (and B and C).

The current conventional wisdom (IMO) seems to be that Sharkbite push fittings are fine for temporary use in non-concealed applications However, they haven't been generally accepted as a long-term solution where fittings are located in a wall, as their longevity is questionable.

These fittings rely on a set of rubber o-rings. If you are on municipal water, those o-rings will be exposed to chlorine... so they aren't going to last forever and will eventually leak before the end-of-life of the PEX pipe itself.

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That is PEX A (aka ProPex), so it does not use crimp tools.

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You can use crimp tools on PEX A. It's just not typical since it's assumed the person spent the extra money on PEX A to use the expansion rings. You won't get as much volume using a crimp ring over expansion.

Sharkbite is typically not used for a permanent fix since it's sealed by an o-ring that will fail sooner than a crimp ring.

Great feedback from you guys with expertise, thank you. I'm going to call around and see if any of the local tool rental shops have an expansion tool.

Don't try to save hassle by using sharkbites. Just do it right and be done. Home Depot sells all the fittings you would need. I believe they're under the Apollo brand. You may also see Uponor which is probably what's on there now but I don't believe it's carried at HD.

You can buy a manual expansion tool for $60. Return it when you're done if you want to.

Here's the expansion tool from HD. They probably have them for rent as well.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Apollo-PEX-a-Expansion-Tool-Tool-Only-EPXTOOL/302742798

If you're planning to do a lot of fittings, try to rent one of the Milwaukee guns.

Make sure you buy/rent the actual expander head for whatever size you have (1/2, 3/4, 1", etc)

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Apollo-1-2-in-PEX-a-Expander-Head-EPXHEAD12/302742294

I have a manual pex expansion tool in the west woodlands you can borrow too. Fine for a couple connections.

Shark bite will work just fine on a sink that won't be used very often,

Go to one of the plumbing supply houses in BCS and they can point you in the right direction.
Moore Supply, Ferguson, Hughes, Morrison Supply

Shark bite works fine on PEX…but make sure you use the insert sleeve that comes with the shark bite fitting. It goes inside the pipe and keeps it from getting crushed and leaking.

You MUST use the insert for it to have a proper fit