Which Pipe Fitting Do You Actually Need?A Homeowner’s Guide from Trickett’s Hardware — Elkins, WV

tricketthardware
Apr 15
11 min read

If you’ve ever stood in the plumbing aisle staring at a wall of fittings and wondered what the difference is between a SharkBite and a brass compression fitting — or whether you need PEX-A or PEX-B — you’re not alone. Pipe fittings are one of the most common things people come in and ask us about at Trickett’s, and for good reason: picking the wrong one can mean a failed connection, a leak behind the wall, or a wasted afternoon.

We carry a wide selection of pipe fittings right here in Elkins — brass, stainless steel, PEX-A, PEX-B, SharkBite push-to-connect, PVC, CPVC, and black iron — covering just about every residential plumbing situation you’re likely to run into. Here’s a plain-language breakdown of what each one is for and when to reach for it.

The Big Picture: What Are You Connecting?

Before you can pick a fitting, you need to know what kind of pipe you’re working with. The three most common pipe materials in West Virginia homes are:

• Copper — the longtime standard for water supply lines, found in homes from the mid-20th century onward

• PVC/CPVC — plastic pipe used for drain lines (PVC) and hot/cold supply (CPVC)

• PEX — flexible plastic tubing that has become the go-to for new construction and repiping projects over the last two decades

Older homes may also have galvanized steel or black iron pipe, especially on gas lines. Once you know your pipe material, the rest gets a lot simpler.

SharkBite Push-to-Connect Fittings: The Easy Button

SharkBite fittings are the most beginner-friendly option we carry, and they work on copper, CPVC, and PEX pipe alike — no solder, no crimp tool, no primer or cement required. You push the pipe in and it locks. A stainless steel grab ring bites into the pipe, and an O-ring seals the connection.

Best for:

• Emergency repairs where you need to get water running fast

• Tight spaces where you can’t swing a torch

• Connecting dissimilar pipe materials (copper to PEX, for example)

• Homeowners who don’t want to invest in specialized tools

Keep in mind: SharkBite fittings cost more per fitting than brass or crimp connections. For a single repair the convenience is hard to beat. For a large repiping project, a crimp or clamp system will be more economical.

Brass Fittings: The Reliable Workhorse

Brass fittings have been used in plumbing for generations because they’re durable, corrosion-resistant, and compatible with a wide range of pipe types. We carry brass fittings in compression, threaded, and barbed styles.

Compression brass fittings use a brass ferrule that compresses between the fitting body and a nut to form a watertight seal — no solder required. Solid choice for supply line repairs and shutoff valve connections.

Threaded brass fittings are used where pipes screw together — common on older plumbing and connections to fixtures, water heaters, and appliances. Always use Teflon tape or pipe dope on threaded connections.

Barbed brass fittings go inside PEX tubing — the barbs grip the inner wall, and a crimp ring or clamp ring locks the connection down.

PEX-A vs. PEX-B: What’s the Difference?

PEX has largely replaced copper in new construction because it’s flexible, freeze-resistant, and easier to install — especially in older homes where you’re snaking pipe through walls and around corners. We carry both PEX-A and PEX-B.

PEX-A uses the Engel cross-linking method, giving it the most flexibility and strongest shape memory of any PEX type. You expand the pipe end with a tool, insert the fitting, and the pipe contracts back tightly around it as it cools. PEX-A is the top choice for whole-house repiping.

PEX-B uses silane cross-linking, making it slightly stiffer but still excellent for residential repairs and line extensions. It’s the more common and affordable option. Standard connection method is crimp or clamp rings with barbed fittings.

Remember:

• Use red PEX for hot lines, blue for cold — a convention, not a code requirement, but it makes life easier

• PEX cannot be used outdoors — UV exposure degrades the material

• Never use an open flame near PEX

PVC: Your Drain, Waste, and Vent Pipe

White PVC is the standard for drain lines, waste lines, and vent stacks in residential construction. It is not rated for pressurized water supply — an important distinction.

PVC connections are made with primer and cement (sometimes called “glue,” though it’s actually a chemical weld). The primer softens the pipe; the cement fuses the joint as it cures. Give joints at least 24 hours before putting them under pressure.

Common PVC fittings:

• Couplings — join two straight runs of pipe

• Elbows (90° and 45°) — change direction

• T-fittings — add a branch line

• P-traps — required under every drain fixture to keep sewer gases out of the house

CPVC: PVC’s Hot-Water-Rated Cousin

CPVC looks similar to PVC but is cream or yellow in color. Additional chlorination during manufacturing raises its heat tolerance to around 200°F, making it suitable for both hot and cold supply lines — something regular PVC cannot handle.

Important: CPVC requires its own primer and cement — not standard PVC products. The solvents are formulated for the higher-chlorine material. Using the wrong cement produces a weak joint.

Black Iron Pipe: Gas Lines and Specialty Applications

Black iron pipe is the standard for natural gas and propane supply lines in most homes — strong, pressure-rated, and time-tested for gas service. Gas line work generally requires a licensed plumber or gas fitter for permit compliance and leak testing. We carry black iron pipe and fittings for those working with professional oversight.

All black iron connections use threaded fittings and should be made with pipe dope rated for gas service — not Teflon tape alone.

Polybutylene Pipe: The Ticking Time Bomb in Older Homes

If your home was built between roughly 1978 and 1995, there’s a real chance your supply lines are polybutylene — and if they are, you need to know about it.

Polybutylene (poly-B, PB2110) is a gray plastic pipe used extensively in that era because it was cheap and easy to install. It has a critical flaw: it degrades when exposed to chlorine and chloramines used in municipal water treatment.

Over time, chlorine causes the material to microfracture from the inside out. The outside of the pipe can look fine right up until failure — which means leaks can develop inside walls, under floors, and in crawl spaces with no visible warning. The fittings (gray or blue plastic push-fit acetal) tend to go first.

Polybutylene was the subject of a major class-action settlement in the 1990s and is no longer manufactured or code-approved. Many insurers now flag or surcharge homes that still have it. Home inspectors note it on every report.

How to identify it: Look for gray plastic pipe (occasionally blue or black) at the water heater, under sinks, or in the basement or crawl space. The pipe will often be stamped “PB2110.”

The fix: Replacement with PEX is the standard solution. We stock the poly-B to PEX transition adapters that let you tie into your existing system at the main or at branch points and start running new PEX without tearing everything out at once. A phased repipe — one area of the house at a time — is very manageable with the right adapters. Come in and describe your setup and we’ll help you plan it.

Stainless Steel Fittings: Corrosion Resistance Where It Counts

We carry stainless steel fittings for applications where extra corrosion resistance matters — outdoor connections, well water systems with high mineral content, and anywhere you want maximum service life. Stainless is also used in the flexible braided supply lines that connect fixtures to angle stops under sinks and behind toilets.

From the Meter to the Faucet: How Your Supply System Works

Most plumbing conversations start at the sink or the water heater. But understanding the full journey water takes from the street to your tap helps you diagnose problems faster and make smarter decisions. Here’s how a typical residential supply system is laid out — and where Trickett’s carries what you need at each step.

1. The Service Line (Meter to House)

Water enters your property through a buried service line running from the municipal meter to your home. In newer construction and replacement situations, this is CTS (Copper Tube Size) polyethylene pipe — a flexible black plastic rated for underground, direct-bury use. It’s tough, freeze-resistant, and easy to work with. We carry CTS poly pipe along with the insert fittings and clamps to connect it.

2. The Main Shutoff

Just inside the house is your main shutoff valve. Know where it is before you need it. Ball valves are the current standard — full open or full close with a quarter turn, far more reliable than older gate valves. We carry full-port brass ball valves in the sizes needed for main shutoffs and branch lines.

3. The Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV)

Municipal water pressure is often higher than your household plumbing is designed to handle. A PRV steps that pressure down to a safe working range — typically 50–80 PSI — before it reaches your fixtures, water heater, and appliances. Without one, high pressure accelerates wear on washers, seals, and fixture internals and shortens the life of your water heater and appliance hoses.

Signs your PRV may be failing or absent: fixtures that drip, severe water hammer when valves close, or noticeably excessive pressure at faucets. We carry PRVs and the brass fittings needed to install or replace them.

4. The Expansion Tank

If your home has a closed plumbing system — which most do once a PRV or backflow preventer is installed — you need a thermal expansion tank near the water heater. When water heats up it expands. In an open system that water has somewhere to go. In a closed system it doesn’t, and the resulting pressure spike stresses the water heater, the PRV, and everything downstream. An expansion tank absorbs that surge. Many local codes now require them. We stock expansion tanks sized for residential water heaters.

5. The Whole-House Filter

Installed on the main supply line after the PRV, a whole-house sediment filter catches particulates, rust, and debris before they reach your fixtures, water heater, and appliances. Especially worthwhile in older homes with aging pipes, homes on well water, or anywhere you’ve noticed discoloration or grit at the tap. We carry filter housings and replacement cartridges. Swapping a cartridge every 6–12 months is cheap insurance compared to cleaning sediment out of a water heater or replacing a clogged aerator.

6. Branch Lines to Fixtures

From the main line, supply branches out to individual fixtures — water heater, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry. This is where PEX, CPVC, or copper takes over and where all the fittings covered in this post come into play. Each fixture should have its own angle stop so you can isolate it for repairs without cutting water to the whole house. If your angle stops are old compression-style valves that haven’t been turned in years, consider upgrading to 1/4-turn brass ball valve stops — we carry those too.

The full path from meter to faucet is a system, and every component affects the others. A high PRV setting stresses your fixtures. A clogged filter drops your pressure. A missing expansion tank shortens your water heater’s life. When you understand how it all connects, it’s a lot easier to troubleshoot — and a lot easier to know what to buy.

The Science Section: What Is This Stuff Actually Made Of?

If you’ve ever wondered what’s actually in the pipe you’re installing — why CPVC costs more than PVC, or what “cross-linked” means in PEX — this section is for you. Understanding the chemistry in plain terms helps you make better material choices and explains why you can’t substitute one plastic pipe for another.

PVC — Polyvinyl Chloride

Poly means many; vinyl refers to the vinyl group in the polymer chain; chloride refers to chlorine atoms bonded into that chain. In PVC, roughly 57% of the material by weight is chlorine — one of the highest chlorine contents of any common plastic. That chlorine is what gives PVC its fire resistance and chemical stability. The tradeoff is temperature: PVC begins to soften around 140°F, which is why it’s fine for cold drain lines but not for hot water supply lines where temperatures routinely exceed that threshold.

CPVC — Chlorinated Polyvinyl Chloride

CPVC starts with PVC and goes through an additional chlorination process — more chlorine atoms are bonded into the polymer chain, pushing the chlorine content from roughly 57% up to around 67–68%. That extra chlorine raises the heat tolerance significantly, allowing CPVC continuous service up to about 200°F. The chemistry is the same family, but the additional chlorination step makes it a genuinely different material — which is why you must use CPVC-specific primer and cement. Using standard PVC cement on CPVC (or vice versa) produces a weak joint.

PEX — Cross-Linked Polyethylene

PEX starts with polyethylene — the same basic plastic family as milk jugs — but goes through a process called cross-linking that fundamentally changes its properties. Standard polyethylene chains slide past each other when heated, which is why it melts easily. Cross-linking creates chemical bonds between those chains, forming a three-dimensional network. The result resists melting, handles temperature extremes better, and has shape memory — it can be deformed and will return to its original shape when cooled. That shape memory is exactly how PEX-A expansion fittings work.

The A, B, and C designations refer to the cross-linking method:

• PEX-A — Engel method (peroxide cross-linking in the molten state). Most uniform cross-linking, most flexibility, strongest shape memory. The pipe expands, the fitting slides in, and the pipe contracts tightly back as it cools.

• PEX-B — Silane method (moisture cross-linking after the pipe is formed). Slightly less flexible but excellent for residential use and more economical. Standard connection is crimp or clamp rings with barbed fittings.

• PEX-C — Electron beam irradiation. Less common in residential work.

Polybutylene — The One to Get Rid Of

Polybutylene is also a polyethylene-family plastic, but without cross-linking. It was valued in the 1970s–90s for being cheap and easy to manufacture. The problem is that it degrades when exposed to chlorine and chloramines — the oxidants used in municipal water treatment. Over time, chlorine causes the material to microfracture from the inside out. The outside can look fine right up until failure. No maintenance fixes this — the material is fundamentally incompatible with chlorinated water over the long term.

CTS Polyethylene — The Underground Workhorse

CTS stands for Copper Tube Size — the pipe is dimensioned to match copper tubing’s outside diameter, which simplifies fittings and transitions. The material is high-density or medium-density polyethylene (HDPE/MDPE), pressure-rated for direct burial. It’s not cross-linked like PEX, but buried service lines don’t face the thermal cycling that interior supply lines do. Its strengths are flexibility, toughness, and near-immunity to corrosion and soil chemistry — the standard choice for water service lines from the street meter to the house foundation.

Quick-Reference Guide: Which Fitting / Product for Which Job?

Situation	Fitting / Product to Reach For
Quick copper or PEX repair, tight space	SharkBite push-to-connect
Extending or repiping with PEX	Brass barbed fittings + PEX-B crimp
Whole-house repipe, best performance	PEX-A with expansion fittings
Drain line repair or extension	PVC + primer and cement
Hot water supply in CPVC home	CPVC + CPVC-specific primer and cement
Shutoff valve or supply line connection	Brass compression fitting
Gas line (with licensed professional)	Black iron threaded fittings
Replacing polybutylene supply lines	Poly-B to PEX transition adapters + PEX-B
Buried service line from meter	CTS polyethylene pipe + insert fittings
Controlling water pressure	Pressure reducing valve (PRV) + brass fittings
Protecting water heater from pressure spikes	Thermal expansion tank
Filtering sediment whole-house	Filter housing + replacement cartridges
Isolating individual fixtures	1/4-turn brass ball valve angle stops