Several days ago I made a post about a leak under our sink: https://www.reddit.com/r/Plumbing/comments/w769i2/what_is_this_connectorpipe_called_and_how_do_we/
Per suggestions from comments we bought replacement shark bite coupling and removal tool, shut down the water valve, drained the water, pushing down with the tool and pulling out the pipe... But nothing happened except my hand got really sore.
I can see the white-ish ring is kind of compressed. The cabinet is relative small and can only fit one person in there. I read some posts suggesting pushing in a bit then pull, but that is equally difficult: because of the drywall, the PEX pipe has very limited movement in the push direction.
We also tried with a wrench, no luck. Wondering if anyone has any tips and tricks for removing sharkbite before we cut the pipe (or pay $500 for a plumber).
Videos
Try pushing the pipe in a bit, before pulling it out. Sometimes the barbs dig into the pipe, so the release ring can't disengage them. Pushing the pipe in, may allow the release to completely disengage the barbs.
- Use the tool to compress the release ring.
- Push the tubing deeper into the fitting, while keeping pressure on the release tool.
- Pull the tubing out of the fitting.
During step 2, you might feel the release ring move slightly closer to the fitting. This is a good sign that the barbs are fully retracted, and the pipe is ready for retraction. If you don't feel the release move, don't worry, it might just be too slight for your sore fingers to feel.
Alternatively, try reversing steps 1 and 2. Push the tube deeper into the fitting, then use the release tool to operate the release mechanism.
I have worked with Sharkbites 100s of times as I often use these for quick jobs, especially in houses that are a copper and pex hybrid. Here are the easy tips for dealing with this:
To get the connector out you must press on the release collar. The tool picture above works but I have also used needle nose pliers when I didn't have the official tool handy. Actually I have used a lot of things. But you must have pressure on the collar in multiple places.
If you have the tool and it isn't coming off. Don't push the pex all the way in and definitely don't pull on it when using the tool. I would push the pex in then release it out about 1/4" and then try to use the tool. I know it is hard to gauge where the pex is in the connector but you are making it harder by pushing or pulling before the teeth are released.
Try squeezing the tool around the pipe snuggly. Often times the tool is a little deformed and the sleeve isn't pushed in correctly or uniformly enough to release the bite action.
Try rotating the tool around the sleeve. The release sleeve might have an issue or might be obstructed on a certain part. Rotating the tool slowly while keeping it snug on the pex usually works for me 90% of the time.
You can use pliers if you need more force. I have found myself in this situation just a couple times but this works too. I have also used a butter knife to move the sleeve in the right shape - sometimes it gets stuck.
You can use your connector again. I have reused a couple of sharkbite stoppers 10s of times already for showers.
Sharkbite would never tell you this but I have used the Gatorbite removal tool - which is very very similar to remove many sharkbites and have turned to it a few times when the sharkbite tool didn't work. (I have never not been able to remove a connector or had to cut a pipe)
I'm doing a bathroom renovation, and I have been using a few SharkBite ball valves that I had laying around to temporarily cap off the 1/2" copper supply lines that I have cut off in the crawlspace.
I went down there to remove those those and replace with sweat fittings, but to my surprise I could not get the collar to move at all, even with the Sharkbite brand removal tool. After I resigned to just cutting the pipe shorter, I decided to see if it was just that one fitting. Every other sharkbite fitting I have is completely stuck on, there are 4 of them.
To remove, I'm just trying to use the removal tool to push back the beige collar, but it won't move no matter how hard I try.
Is this typical? Did I somehow get a bad batch of fittings? I feel like I'm going crazy and the notion that they are removable is a carefully crafted conspiracy by the plumbing industry designed just to frustrate me.