showere valve thread or sweat

bdawson11 · Nov 12, 2016

Went to a plumbers supply to get a showere valve and all they had was sweat type of valve. I'm going to attach pex to it. I asked for one with male threads that I could connect a threaded pex fitting too it and he said you should never use threaded fittings in a wall. So I ask why do the big box stores sell valves with male threads. Can you thread or just solder valves going in a wall? Thanks

Matt30 · Nov 13, 2016

i prefer soldered connections, but there's nothing saying you can't use threaded adapters. I have done them many times with no issues. There are many shower controls with pex tappings so you don't have to transition from one to the other. Most common in delta and Moen.

bdawson11 · Nov 13, 2016

Thanks didn't know about pex valves I'll check those out. Just got the Milwaukee expander love that tool😁

Matt30 · Nov 13, 2016

Oh you're using the Wirsbo system. Nice, I love that set up. I thought you were using crimp rings.

It may be hard finding those fittings anywhere but a plumbing supply store, not Home Depot. I know where I'm at you cannot get the fittings at big box stores.

plumb_bob_square_pants · Nov 13, 2016

I haven't seen them in the box storez but I belive you can order most brands with the expansion fittings. I got certified on the uponor brand about 8 months ago. I have to say I'm sold on the class a pex. We had shower valves delivered to us on a large apartment renovation several years ago, And we wanted standard crimp connections and they sent us the expansion type. At that time i had never seen them before.

Matt30 · Nov 13, 2016

They're great! It's what I re plumbed all my water lines in, the manifolds are awesome.

I've been trying to get my boss on board with the system for years but he won't change, he only wants to use it for heating/cooling applications, not domestic. Domestic is all crimp.