With all the discussion related to water pipes - copper vs. PEX - and
grounding systems, does anyone know if the installation of a SharkBite
connector breaks the continuity of a copper pipe?

I took a quick look at a SharkBite spec sheet and it wasn't mentioned.

I have several Sharkbite "caps" that I bought in case I ever have a situation where I can't finish a job for some reason. I figured I could push the Sharkbite caps onto any open 1/2 inch copper pipes and still turn the water back on at least.

I pushed a piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe into a Sharkbite cap, and there was no electrical continuity between the pipe and the Sharkbite cap until I had pushed the pipe in far enough that it had contacted the end of the metal cap.

So, if you were to use Sharkbite couplings to connect lengths of copper pipe, the quality of the electrical continuity would be determined entirely by the end-to-end contact between pipes. If you had water hammer in those pipes, then you could lose that continuity at any time without knowing it.

DerbyDad03 wrote:
With all the discussion related to water pipes - copper vs. PEX - and
grounding systems, does anyone know if the installation of a SharkBite
connector breaks the continuity of a copper pipe?

I took a quick look at a SharkBite spec sheet and it wasn't mentioned.

Hi,
No multi meter handy?

On Thu, 31 Oct 2013 20:05:43 +0100, nestork
wrote:


DerbyDad03;3142212 Wrote:
With all the discussion related to water pipes - copper vs. PEX - and
grounding systems, does anyone know if the installation of a SharkBite
connector breaks the continuity of a copper pipe?

I took a quick look at a SharkBite spec sheet and it wasn't mentioned.

I have several Sharkbite "caps" that I bought in case I ever have a
situation where I can't finish a job for some reason. I figured I could
push the Sharkbite caps onto any open 1/2 inch copper pipes and still
turn the water back on at least.

I pushed a piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe into a Sharkbite cap, and there
was no electrical continuity between the pipe and the Sharkbite cap
until I had pushed the pipe in far enough that it had contacted the end
of the metal cap.

So, if you were to use Sharkbite couplings to connect lengths of copper
pipe, the quality of the electrical continuity would be determined
entirely by the end-to-end contact between pipes. If you had water
hammer in those pipes, then you could lose that continuity at any time
without knowing it.
In the instructions on the sharkbites I installed a few years ago it
said to jumper the connection with a wire and clamps if electrical
continuity was required.

Tony Hwang wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
With all the discussion related to water pipes - copper vs. PEX - and
grounding systems, does anyone know if the installation of a SharkBite
connector breaks the continuity of a copper pipe?

I took a quick look at a SharkBite spec sheet and it wasn't mentioned.

Hi,
No multi meter handy?

No multi-meter, no pipes, no SharkBites. Just a computer.

On Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:25:23 -0600, Tony Hwang
wrote:

DerbyDad03 wrote:
With all the discussion related to water pipes - copper vs. PEX - and
grounding systems, does anyone know if the installation of a SharkBite
connector breaks the continuity of a copper pipe?

I took a quick look at a SharkBite spec sheet and it wasn't mentioned.

Hi,
No multi meter handy?

Not a good test. What may be a perfectly good connection today, might
not be in ten years.