We had thought there were no issues with frozen pipes. All faucets etc. ran freely. Then while we were hosting Christmas Eve I noticed a drip from a light fixture. Looks like a Pex connection is the problem.

It's the fitting connecting the Pex to the galvanized elbow. Can this be crimped tighter with a PEX tool? Or do I have to replace.

At the moment dripping the faucet it feeds takes off enough pressure to stop the drip for now.

For a problem such as yours, I have used with good success Blue Monster Alpha Compression Tape. This will get you buy for a while until you can put a new fitting in place. Attached is link showing how it works.

Blue Monster 1" Compression Seal Tape - Joint Repair - Bing video

use that stuff the navy uses to turn screen doors into aircraft carriers

Yea those are push on shark bite connections. I would push the joint back together.

I'd suggest opening the sink faucet 100% to relieve as much pressure as possible and press the joint back together. If that doesn't work, go get you another fitting and replace. There is a tool to remove those fittings but an adjustable wrench works in a pinch.

I'll try that tomorrow. I was nervous to do so today while people were over and completely break it.

Of course tomorrow is Christmas so rightfully everywhere is closed.

This. Do what you have to do in the interim, but ditch them in the long term

Go back with steel to steel Tee and transition pex off the tee. This will better mitigate the stress point that caused the leak in first place

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Personally... I would shut the water off and get rid of those push on fittings. I just cannot grow to like them.

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There's like 100 of them up there since 2009 (previous owner). It's the first issue since moving in 2014. And it took 2 freezes in 2 years. If I was doing the transition from galvanized to pex today, I'd agree.

The connection in question is the farthest point from my access and under a low point at the edge of the eve. I can barely crawl over there to reach it by hand while dragging my head against roof nails, let alone have space to work a tool.

It appears the problem is as someone mentioned the pex pipe backed out. Mainly because it's only about 2 inches long (the real issue). I was able to push it back in another half inch or so and the leak has stopped for now.

I'll get back up there tomorrow with compression tape to make sure once stores reopen. After I call my Dr. to verify my tetanus shot is still current.

And now I get to patch the cracks I made in the sheet rock in my kitchen.

Before and after.

I'd be tempted to zip tie that T and elbow as added insurance to taping as well.

SnowboardAg said:

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I'd be tempted to zip tie that T and elbow as added insurance to taping as well.

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I might do that and take some extras incase I find any others like that.

Don't get me wrong, it's not going to hurt to put zip-ties on there, but plumbing connections shouldn't need any of this. That should be a big enough of a red flag.

Quote:

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why I will never trust shark bites or recommend them to anyone. A little bit more slippage/separation and you would have had a catastrophic failure.

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Just happened at m-i-l's house. Connection in the attic froze. Ruined everything under it. Been a sucky holiday cleaning out, treating mold & re-sheetrocking.


edit: there wasn't mold, but she's scared of it, so we super cleaned.

Completely agree with you - but absent of a complete repipe job, just enough to get by for now or until they determine a better resolution. If keeping the home long term, I would have all the fittings fixed / replaced.

SnowboardAg said:

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Completely agree with you - but absent of a complete repipe job, just enough to get by for now or until they determine a better resolution. If keeping the home long term, I would have all the fittings fixed / replaced.

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Sure. That would be great.

Definitely not in the budget. Especially after Christmas.

The connections suck, but less than 3" of pex between joints is idiotic. Especially the angle they are at pulling that pipe out.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Personally... I would shut the water off and get rid of those push on fittings. I just cannot grow to like them.

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Dittos, as I only use them for temporary fixes as I've had one pop off at one point when I was doing a renovation to water heater closet. Luckily I was there when it occurred so there was minimal impact as I was able to shut the water off immediately with a valve nearby.

My friends, not so much luck! They were renovating a bathroom and the plumber capped the pex stub-outs to allow the water to be turned on to the house as they were waiting delivery of the faucet assembly. They came over to our home around noon to celebrate the 4th of July with us and returned home to a flooded home around 11pm as one of the caps popped off.

So for me, I don't trust them damn things any further than I can throw them!!!

PS, in both cases the Shark-Bite/Gator-Bite fittings were properly installed!

Use only for temp fixes and swap out asap.