Getting rid of an old saddle valve

Question

I've been living in my current house for almost a year now, it was built in 1955, so there is a lot of work to be done.

During the pre-purchase inspection I was told that a saddle valve in the basement would inevitably pop open and leak and that we should get rid of it as soon as possible. Now might be a good time as I have other plumbing work planned.

Here is a picture of the saddle valve:

I have soldering equipment in the house, but have never done any soldering other than for electronic components. I don't really want to set the house on fire, so I was thinking maybe of using a sharkbite, there is a sharkbite already used on the same pipe further down:

I have an angle grinder which is probably fine for cutting the pipe once the saddle valve is removed.

Is sharkbite the way to go? Should they be used sparingly?

Answer 1

That is not a saddle valve, it is a grounding clamp. You can even see the tip of the old wire still sticking out from under the screw clamp.

Answer 2

Aside that what you are shoving is not saddle valve but a grounding clap, here are some tips how to cut a pipe.

Using a tube cutter is old way, but cleaner than angle grinder.

It will give you a clean cut and perfectly perpendicular to the tube.

The shark bite is somewhat sensitive to uneven tube cut.

Using the angle grinder is fastest way but requires skills to make a perfectly perpendicular cut. It also leaves lots of residue even inside the pipe which you must clean up, otherwise it will get stuck in the valves. With that said, I use angle grinder, but put a mark on the pipe as guide. For that I use masking tape and wound two around the pipe leaving a small spacing between them to act as my guide.