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I love compression fittings for plumbing work. They are fast and easy, and all you need are tools that are probably laying around in your garage. Compression fittings are commonly seen on plumbing fixtures such as toilet supply valves, hose bibs, and really any place where a bare copper pipe needs to connect to a valve.
Installing a compression fitting or valve is easy. Slip the compression nut over the bare copper pipe. Then slide the soft ferrule over the pipe so that it is totally on the pipe with about ¼” of the pipe sticking out of it. You will have to fidget with the ferrule as there is no play between the ferrule and the pipe.
Once the cap and ferrule are on the copper pipe, place the valve onto the end of the pipe. The small amount of pipe sticking out of the ferrule ought to be just right to insert into the valve. The valve will have threads on it that will reach the nut.
So the soft ferrule is basically sandwiched between the nut and the valve. Once you start to tighten the nut, the ferrule will compress to fill any voids between the cap and valve. One everything is tight, turn the water on and check for leaks. If you have a leak, it can usually be stopped by simply giving the nut another quarter turn.
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