[Flick]

Guys there is a section of hose on my water heater that is between two copper pipes. The reason there is hose is that there was what appears to be a restrictor valve on there. I have attached a pic here hopefully so you can see what I am talking about. The hose leakes near this valves and so my thought was just to sweat back in pipe rather than hose. I have now discovered the resrictor is an odd size and that is why someone had used hose to put this in. Now this restrictor is suspect at best. It is old and has loads on deposits on it and probably does not let water pass well or restrict as it may be intended. I assume I need this on there for some reason correct or could I simply toss it and sweat the two pipes togther?? see the pics for the area and the valve.