Solder or flex hose behind wall?

[borne]

I am replacing a shower valve body that can be soldered but also has threaded inlets. The shower backs to a closet, so I have adequate access to the pipes and interior of the wall. I plan to cover with a plate rather than re-drywall for future access.

The most simple option is to just simply solder the connections. However, it might be nice to have shut off valves. I was thinking of using compression fitting quarter turn ball valves to the supply pipes, and then using the braided flex hose to connect the valve to the body. I've had good luck with flex hose in the past, but I've never had one that out of sight. This would actually be quicker install than solder.

Recomendations?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I'd not use flex behind the wall.

[yeeha]

you could use brass compression fittings to come off the valve

say... threaded fitting to 1/2" pex water line.

if you had 100 extra bux you could do what the pros do and buy a pex crimping tool... get a bag of rings, a couple sticks of pex water line.. a few brass t's, elbows and unions and save yourself alot of time and no worry about leaks.

[Sacramento Dave]

Why don't you just do it right . instead of some half ass flex. Soldier some copper MIP's on some copper, cut them to the length you need , Teflon tape,dope , screw them in . then just pipe to them. Maybe pull the cuts out of the valve when soldering.

[Toller]

It would "probably" be alright, but a serious problem if it wasn't. I can't imagine why you would want shut off valves badly enough to take the risk; the once every ten years you have to work on the shower, turn the water off. On a toilet they are nice in case you have to get the water off quickly, but that doesn't apply to a shower.

[yeeha]

i installed a shower for a family, I used the brass fittings on the valve (with teflon).. I think that is much cleaner and easier than soldering

the brass has compression fittings on the tie ins... way too easy..

[Sacramento Dave]

Compression fitting and flex hoses ( and unions) should always be accessible, that's code ( uniform plumbing code)

[yeeha]

define accessible

heh

for the one I did i mean, you can GET TO EM... all in how you approach it

[Edwin Pawlowski]

In my house, it means moving the mirror. In my downstairs bathroom, I had to replace the shower control and the only way was to make a hole in the wall next to the vanity. My wife wanted a mirror there so rather than patch the drywall, she got the mirror.

[HerHusband]

First, some shower valves have shutoffs built in. You simply turn a couple of screws to turn off the water.

Otherwise, you shouldn't need to work on the shower very often. Just shut off the main house water when you need to do repairs.

That said, I did install shut off valves on our showers. This way, I can shut off the water to those showers if I need to leave the water off for a week or so while I order a part. Our guest bath is accessed by a panel in an opposing closet. The shutoffs for our master bath showers are located in our crawlspace, since they're located on an outside wall. Not exactly easy to get to, but they're only there for those very rare situations.

We have CPVC piping in our house, so I soldered adapter fittings to our shower valves before installing them. It was then easy to make the connections to our plumbing after installation. I would have preferred threaded inlets if those were available on my shower valve body.

Anthony

[hallerb]

shut off valves are a good idea, our home had none, with each project I add them at a convenient easy to reach location. If theres a problem its easy to isolate the offending spot.

Install only quality ball type, the regular valves dont work well in a emergency, ball valves dont reduce flow either and move easily.

I WISH all my water line runs were homeruns serving just one poutlet from a central control panel...