Shark Bite Connection System

Fortunately, my husband and I took a wonderful trip to New Zealand and Australia.

Unfortunately, our upstairs water heater leaked during our trip.

Fortunately, it stopped on its own.

Unfortunately, it still needed replacing.

Fortunately, my husband is a do-it-yourselfer.

Unfortunately, do-it-yourself projects NEVER go as smoothly as a book/tv show/magazine article/website makes it seem.

Let me illustrate....We had replaced our downstairs water heater previously, so we thought this would be a straightforward project and proceeded to buy a new water heater. When Jared turned the cold water shut-off valve, nothing happened--it just spun around. That meant we would have to turn off the water to the house and cut and sweat copper pipe--a project that takes more time than our sport and activity filled Saturdays allow.

When we went to Home Depot for parts we discovered the Shark Bite Connection System.

(Hallelujah chorus)

All you do is insert the pipe until it clicks. No teflon tape, no pvc cement, no sweating with a torch. Visit the plumbing aisle of Home Depot and try it out. Even I can do it. Watch the video for a demo (it's a little cheesy, but gets the point across).

We asked the Home Depot employee repeatedly, "Is it really that easy? Does it really work?" He reassured us, so we bought the connector for less than $10.

Installed in our attic:

No leaks. The connection took less than 5 minutes.

Tips:

• It really works.


• It's really that easy.


• While the price may not be typical of a bargain, the savings in time, effort, and frustration definitely make it a bargain.