Were you aware of the vacuum breaker? Most DIYers don't so don't feel alone! There are links to everything used in the video in the description! Hope this helps!
I absolutely was not aware of the vacuum breaker! In my 78 years on planet earth, having replaced countless faucets, having two friends who are plumbers this is a first for me! I once lived in a large city and became aware that lawn sprinkler systems must be equipped with a back flow preventer but not on a faucet. Thanks for letting me know! I have learned so much from your videos.
I loathe vacuum breakers. I understand why they exist but the has to be a better way that will not shoot water all over my legs and feet every time I use the hose. At the least there should be away to channel the water way from the user. So annoying.
I have the same outdoor faucet but it has a long stick inside and can't replace the faucet handle. HD and Lowe's don't sell this kind anymore and I was told to replace the whole thing with a faucet that's already manufactured with a pipe bc the copper pipe keeps fractured (broken) inside the crawl space right before the galvanized pipe with a connector so rusted installed over a decade.
Why don't they just call it a check valve? Also, looks like the vacuum breaker has a gasket on it. Really thread tape only helps on tapered threads such as NPT pip threads, where the seal is made on the thread. If the seal is made on a compression fitting such as a JIC or JIS, or on a gasket, then thread tape is not necessary or helpful.
I have never heard of a vacuum breaker, but now I will be looking for 4 of them. Also, I have a hose bib that needs replacement, but it appears that the metal or brass bib is attached to pvc plumbing, so now what? I hope you can help. Thanks and Blessings!
I was freaking out about my leaky spigot! I went ahead and just replaced the entire Bib with the help of your video! Thank you so so much for making this an easy to follow how to! ❤ I subscribed!
You should mention that in most older northern homes without no-freeze outdoor faucets there will usually be a shutoff valve on the inside to shut the valve off for the winter and a small drain cap to drain the line, making it unnecessary to shut off the water to the entire house.
I shut the ball valve off in the basement before the first freeze. It’s about 4 feet from the faucet on basement ceiling. Then open the faucet valve outside to drain any water.
I came here to say the same thing about there being a shut off inside. 😅 And most I’ve seen are in crawls, basements, or ‘Michigan basements’ thankfully.
Not sure if it was code in 94 but my home in Alabama has an inside cutoff in the basement for all of the hose bibbs. Made it real easy when replacing mine.
Great video for a simple spigot replacement! Loved the info on the vacuum breaker, didn’t know what that thing was. now I know what it is and how important it is. Thank you.
The hose bib has flattened areas for an adjustable wrench right near the screw slots. Also, when you're working with old plumbing that's been compressed or stretched such as the brass nipple coming through the siding, it absolutely is a good idea to use both teflon tape and pipe dope over the top of the tape. Speaking from years and years of experience.
Thank you! I just installed 2 faucets and I need to order the vacuum breakers. You just saved me a lot of money. I spent on my rental $450 for the plumbers to install a kitchen that I had already purchased.
Thank you for explaining the vacuum breaker device. I have them on my faucets. That’s wear I have water leakage when I turn the water off. So I thought that those vacuum breakers needed to come off. Now that I know what it’s for. I’ll just replace the washer. Thank you 😊
Just wanted to give you some encouragement to keep up with your RUclips posts! Just a quick google search and I found this video! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge👊
Interesting. I'm in my 50s and I don't recall ever seeing such a device on an outside faucet. There certainly wasn't one on any house I've ever owned over the years.
If you live in areas where temperatures go below freezing, then likely the homes had silcocks not hose bibs, and in a silcock the vacuum breaker is integrated, usually located behind the handle, not an additional piece on the hose bib discharge as shown in this video, so that may be why you didn’t notice it. I bought my first home in 1992, and it had integrated vacuum breakers on the silcocks. The house I grew up in, built in 1950, did not, so perhaps the homes you have experienced were all older homes.
Good job. Well done and easy to understand. One comment. If the hose bib sitting proud of the siding is bothersome you can always install a piece of wooden trim board to make it fit flush. It just makes the install look nicer. Then pain to match.
I appreciate that the vacuum breakers are required and appreciate the explanation. That being said, I lived for many decades, and others lived for many decades before that without them. I remember all the times, growing up, when families died from contaminated water that was siphoned back, and people said, "I hope they invent something to stop that." But seriously... I never heard of water siphoning occurring or being a problem of any kind whatsoever. It sounds like paranoia to me. Sounds like a vacuum breaker manufacturer with a good lobbyist. Once silly requirements like that are created, no one has the courage to repeal them. Our old house in the Washington, DC area had no way to shut off the water to the outside faucet. It was subject to freezing, but it never broke.
He said specifically, "...this may not be to code." Codes as we know are very, very different from place to place however...just because something has "never" happened to this person over here does not mean it won't ever happen to this same person or that it hasn't in fact happened to that person over there. Call it a conspiracy, call it lobbying, call it crying wolf, call it wearing suspenders with a belt...call it whatever you want. Spending $16 on two vacuum breakers for the two hose bibs on my house seems like a very small expense that brings great peace of mind. Once again, to say nothing of the fact that one's local building code may in fact require them. Is the boogeyman code inspector going to come to your house in the middle of the night and cite you for not having a vacuum breaker or any of the countless other things that code requires...no, of course not. But, if your home is inspected when it's sold, these are the kinds of things that a home inspector is going to note on their report and if you don't agree to fix it and bring it up to code, your prospective buyer now has grounds to back out of their offer and kill your sale. Finally, and this is the big one...let's say that your family member or a house guest is killed or suffers some debilitating quality of life illness or injury as a result of contaminants backflowing into your home's water supply and there was no vacuum breaker on the hose bib and you live in a place where that is required by code. Do you think your insurance company is going to pay out a claim that was the result of a home not being up to code?
If you disconnect your hose and/or remember to take off your garden hose, you will never run the risk of having a backflow event. Having said that, if you leave a hose hooked up, have a plant food attachment at the end of your hose and forget to turn it off at the spigot when you’re done, it is possible to suck some of the chemicals back into the house plumbing. Another example of backflow event called back-siphonage, you leave the hose hooked up and have the male end of the hose submerged into a swimming pool that you are filling, then have a sudden drop in city pressure, fire truck hooked up to hydrant, or a water main break, you could pull pool water into the city supply. Long story short, it’s a very cheap device that could save someone from getting sick or even worse…
@@woohunter1ah yes, the super common “filling the pool and there’s a fire next door” lol Most (all?) regulations are written in blood. I get that. Someone somewhere died from a freak accident and an organization somewhere decided to write a new regulation to stop it from ever happening again. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was already nearly impossibly uncommon to begin with. The back flow preventers on my bibs are absolutely terrible; every time you shut off the water they ejaculate a fan of water all over your legs, they squeal every time you use a hose end attachment, and in some cases they reduce flow. I live in an area with zero standing water, and every hose has an attachment on the end anyway. It’s impossible for me to have a back flow event.
@@Mike-B-Jackson well, I’m a licensed plumber that is certified in the installation and annual testing of backflow preventers. First of all, I’ve never seen a hose bib shower someone’s legs with water when you turn them off (I’ve installed, replaced, repaired hundreds of these things) and secondly, a backflow event is never impossible…. Even if you have a proper backflow device! That’s why they have to be checked every year (commercial properties, for now) by a ASSE certified tester. Things fail, that’s why we have circuit breakers, smoke alarms, seatbelts, insurance, heart surgeons, etc.
@@woohunter1 It's not the bib, it's the attached backflow preventer. Once pressure is no longer applied through the bib, the pressurized hose shoots out the release holes in the bf preventer. I fully understand this is not by design, but it happened EVERY TIME I turned off that bib. Yes, I could replace it, but why - it's a zero chance event here. I just pulled them all off and it's glorious. All my bibs work flawlessly now and at full pressure, with no squealing. I'm not trying to "fight" you on this - surely code is code and it's not your fault you have to follow it. As for "must be tested every year" that must be where you live, because around here nobody ever sees them unless a buyer elects for an optional inspection before purchasing a house. And even then the inspector just lists it in his report and it's up to the buyer to decide if he cares about it being fixed first. (And of course if a new device is being installed it will be up to code) Carry on. Keep up the good fight!
Thanks for sharing this safety tip. We've used these on our hose bins for 30 years. The brass model you show is the best one. When shutting off the hose that has a closed nozzle on the hose end, watch out for the valve squirting water out under pressure!
I have always used some pipe dope under tape to lubricate and discourage any corrosion on the pipe. A contractor doing remodel and repair for many years.
Your explanation of the importance of a vacuum breaker makes perfect sense. My question is: why have I never seen one on a hose bib before? My house was built new in 1999; I researched this and discovered that the Standard Plumbing Code has required vacuum breakers on hose bibs since 1963. My house certainly didn’t have them on any of the three hoses bibs and, again, I’ve never even seen one - as far as I know, that is. They are kind of inconspicuous so I might not have notices one on someone else’s house.
I've never seen threads on the outside of the house. And I live in a Southern state. I'd love to see a video on how to tell If you've got a soldered or threaded internal connection and how to tell the length of stub prior to removing the old stub. Thanks for your great channel.
Glad you touched on Freez Proof Hose Bibs ! I feel sorry for the people in Texas that found out about frozen plumbing the hard way! I still can't understand why anyone anywhere would have their water heater a other plumbing mounted on the exterior of the house! That's just asking for trouble since freezing temperatures in Texas may be rare but have happened periodically and with in living memory and before.
Up here in Amarillo it freezes all the time during the winter, not rarely. Not to mention the harsh winds driving the wind chill into the negatives routinely.
What a great tutorial!!! Very informative and very detailed. I was going to hire a plumber but with your expertise and instructions I just might give it a try on my front faucet that's been needing a replacement for over a year. Thank you for posting. 👍
Very helpful, thank you very much. Most instructional videos are full of what the box the product came in looks like and other nonsense such as that. Yours gets right to the point.
Something I do when I have to replace a hose bib is after removing the old bib and scrubbing the threads, but before installing the new bib, I turn the water back on to flush the line of any debris that might be in the line. I don't know how much of an overkill it is, but it seems like a good idea to me.
Try WD-40 and some CLR product. I had a hose that got stuck due to the hard water in our area. I had to apply and re-apply while loosening it with a wrench. It took several days trying until the CLR loosened up the hard water and rust.
When I sold my house about 8 years ago the inspector pointed out that I didn't have those back flow things on my outside faucets... Home depot had them for about 50 cents, but this seems like a scam someone started to sell the damn things. Highly unlikely a sufficient amount of any diluted chemical is going to back up through the piping in a house.... much bigger things an inspector should be looking for.... What was funny is I left him somethings to find.... like a loose toilet, etc. didn't even mention that stuff.
Most of those guys are a-holes. They live for telling people what to do, and of course, without question, you gotta do it. An “apparently” well known inspector in our town came to check out a wood fence my husband built in our front yard. Of course it didn’t quite meet HIS approval, whatever 🤷♀️ Gotta respect that, it’s his job. A few days later I saw him so drunk at a local pub that his head was practically “on the bar”. 🤣 It shouldn’t be something to laugh about, but that didn’t quite meet MY approval, or respect. The loose toilet, classic move 👍
Home inspections ! They tend to steer off their main target and write up concerns that apply to current codes vs. the codes that were in place when the home was built. We all know that codes are changed now and then, adding, changing etc. how things should be but no home is required to "be up to current code" to sell it nor is it required to own it. the only time newer codes are required on an existing home is when they are remolded, added onto etc. then the local city may require those modified areas of the home be brought up to the current codes for the remolded part. Those home "inspectors" are basically superficial inspection folks who will call out something and then recommend a contractor in that field give their opinion. Most of the inspection they do carries weight in the health and safety subject matter...that's really all that matters to a seller, that they are not putting a buyer in harms way but also at the same time, not guaranteeing conditions or suggesting everything is perfect. Buyers need to know more about "condition" and operation of a residence mostly and then they can focus on the purchase to go forward or backout or ask the seller to credit them on items that are reasonable to fix or replace. Not every seller knows what kind of shape their place is in so, they also could get a surprise by those inspections. The worst inspections are full of lame opinions about conditions vs. function such as a pool heater that is 20 years old and works but the inspector is suggesting "it is beyond its intended lifespan". If it works, how does that opinion lend itself to the buyer? Same about "galvanized plumbing pipes" vs copper. Again, no leaks, water flow good so whats the point being made its not copper plumbing? It continues on and on so you have to wonder if the inspector is just calling out lame things to make his paycheck or attempting to give a report that the buyer could use against the seller for more discounts !
Home inspection is a scam unless it is done Mike Holmes way - ie How old is the roof, is the driveway sloping the proper way, is there a bathroom exhaust fan, does the kitchen hood exhaust to the exterior.........................NONE OF THAT COSMETIC BUSINESS.
I use pvc lumber to make shim blocks between the house and the hose bib. Sometimes rectangular and sometimes round using a hole saw to make a 3 1/2” wheel out of a scrap of pvc lumber. Drill out the center and softened the edge with sandpaper. Then you can screw the new bib to the block and hide the pipe extending through the wall.
I’ve kept some leftover pvc lumber and that still didn’t occur to me. Thank you! You could always make it look really nice by cutting out the pieces with a hole saw after cutting the smaller hole. So it’s a nice smooth uniform connection.
@@davidramey7186 you mean because of covid stimulus inflation money printing and biden. covid has been over for years but prices did not go back down. basic logic tells you covid was not the long term issue.
I did not realize he was finished with the job with that space between his hose built in the house left un finished. I thought leaving it that way looked crappy. Anyway, each to his own after all the water is more important than how it looks.
@user-he4mm7yf2k the video was more about how to replace one. Those are all my local stores had in stock. Tried to find one like what was originally installed.
Here in my hometown in Florida the code states that the set screw on the vaccum breaker which is designed to be snapped off after installation must be snapped off to prevent removal in order to comply with the code.
Excellent video. I'm a slightly handy 69-year old woman and I believe I can replace my leaky faucet after my research. One suggestion: I live in Massachusetts and homes up north generally have individual shut-offs for the exterior faucets in the cellar.
Nice video. I have three problems not covered here: a) my plumbing is Pex, b) my bibs, by code, are antisiphon and freeze proof and c) the bib is screwed into a large 1 1/2" wooden block that is cracked.
The new faucet does have flats for a crescent wrench, but there's only one set, rather than 3 sets. It's perpendicular to the screwdown holes. Good vid though. Just had to do this two weeks ago. Sad part is, we live in a cold environment and we don't have freeze proof bib. Gonna have to fix that. Thanks for the info.
My home, 2006, had 7/8 male not 3/4 with a crimped back flow. Had to replace a 5 since the back flows will go bad. Thank goodness the plumbers left barely no pipe exposed so I had to chisle away the brick. Thank goodness professional are building homes. Few minute job took well over 2 hours.
I appreciate the way you always point out the obvious bc the obvious are the things I tend to over look.... Costing me not only $$ but a seemingly never ending additional hour to every 15 min job around the house. Your always the best man...many thanks!
This was a very great and self explantory videeo of installing a new outside faucet that you just presented and the most intresting part to me was I did not have no idea of also installing of the anti-syphine device this was so very great to know, Thank you so much for this good and healthy knowledge that I never knew about.
Either they're automatically built in to most hose bibs... or 100% of the exterior hose bibs I've ever seen in RI/Mass are not up to code. Always glad to learn something new.
I have come to learn that when Wrapping the pipe threads with plumers tape, it is easier to flip the tape around, allowing the pressure unrolling the plumers tape a little tighter! It also (for me any way) allowing the roll to spin in my hand! From a cheapscape Diy-er
I took those silly things off years ago. Water backflowing into the house and overcoming city pressure, and making it's way to another outlet and into my body WILL. NOT. HAPPEN. 🙃 Good video, tho.
The set-screw on the vacuum breaker has a narrow neck immediately beneath the six-point head. It's called a "break-off" or "shear-off" bolt or screw. It's designed to break off once the intended torque or tension is reached and discourages removing the vacuum breaker. It's a one-shot deal.
Yeah, but once it is tightened down and broken off they are near impossible to take off without some rather annoying methods that have to be taken in order to do so. There is no need to replace a perfectly good hose bibb just because the vacuum breaker goes bad, which it will and some hose bibbs are quite expensive. In my opinion it is a really dumb design. I get it's purpose so that a homeowner just doesn't take it off but that same homeowner might then just take the whole faucet off and install one without it. I refuse to break them off and no code states that it is required and none of the instructions I have received with mine say to do so either. In fact, they rarely have instructions.
@@HowToHomeDIYthey are designed to break off on purpose. Because that way some nieve person doesn’t take it off in the future. Turning it back to a boiler valve… so, snap it off…
Yeah for you to tag me it means you read my comment so no, won’t break them off and neither did the plumbers that installed mine. Why? Because it’s dumb.
The safety set screw is supposed to be tightened until the head breaks off so that the vacuum breaker cannot be removed--either by someone who does not know why it is there or accidentally when unscrewing a hose.
If you want to break it off so that you can’t remove it later without using a saw or having to replace the whole hose Bibb then be my guest. The plumbers here don’t break them off as it’s not required and they know eventually they will need replaced. But yes, even you yourself can make videos if you like, be my guest and share all of that wisdom.
That is a reasonable argument to not breaking it off, but there is a more reasonable argument for breaking it off: Most homeowners don't even know why the vacuum breaker is there or what it does, so if it fails, they are likely to remove it unless that is prevented. The breaker is there to prevent sucking dirty water off the ground (from a hose lying on the ground and still connected to the bibb) back into the home's potable water pipes where it may later cause illness, In any case, there is no cause to get snarky with your last sentence.@@HowToHomeDIY
Yes I understand what the vacuum breaker is for, I explained that in the video. The comment was to another snarky commenter that appears to have deleted their comment since then. As a homeowner, knowing that the vacuum breaker is probably going to fail before the valve, I’m not breaking the head off. It’s a massive pain to remove and replace when it goes bad. To each their own. And if code in your area says to do it, then follow code. But here, a lot of the time they aren’t broken off.
Instead of positioning your wrenches at 180˚ (4:09) to each other to break the threads loose, you're better off setting them at about a 60˚ angle or less. When you have them at 180˚, the force you put on them are pushing with both your backup wrench and your turning wrench at a 90˚ angle on the supply pipe. This can damage the pipe, or the next connection inside the wall. The correct way is to have the wrenches close enough together that you can kind of pinch them together. You can exert more force on the connection this way (handles far apart isn't using your muscles efficiently) but also reduces the lateral force on the pipe.
Good point. The net TORQUE will be zero on the pipe when the wrenches are set 180° apart. But the net FORCE will not because both wrenches exert a force on the pipe in the same direction, as you said. You are "One With Physics," my Jedi Warrior. 👏👏👏
Hi. Thank you for this video...one question tho, does the new hose bib screw ALL the way on to the threads coming out of the house??? I ask this because mine will NOT screw all the way on, and there was a teeny tiney drip when I was done...so I wonder if I am supposed to screw it on even tighter?? I did use the teflon tape...and I only hand tightened it but to go any more with it felt like it'd be too much, and the spigot wouldn't have been facing down....Thanks for your suggestions.
If you flip the Teflon tape over, you can keep pressure on the tape while your covering the threads. On old threads use both tape & sealant, sealant works as an lubricant when tightening. Also the Faucet has a flattened spot by the screw slots for a wrench. Also this is the wrong spigot for an outside hose, unless you drain the pipe every winter. Even the right ones should be drained in winter.
Vacuum breakers as you said are not needed 100% of the time as it depends on what you will use the hose bib for. With that said, they also are a PITA when it comes to decent water flow as they restrict water flow to an amount less than the hose bib can supply. They also tend to malfunction at times and require replacement. It is interesting that "code" requires them without knowing what purposes the homeowner will use them for...not everyone uses them for spraying chemicals.
@@jime8532 no doubt! I understand the concept of the back flow preventer, but when you turn the valve off where does the back flow get around the closed valve? Makes no sense to me!
Does it matter if you switch to a bibb with a different type of handle? Water is coming out through the handle connection. I was thinking of a getting a new hose bibb with the quarter turn handle which seems like it would be easier for arthritic hands/wrists.
I need to make ours stick out farther its tight up against the house needs to stick out more. I know our valve in it is bad its been leaking for years and freezes solid in the winter but works
For whoever it may concern.. It’s physically easier to loosen the spigot if your plumbing wrench and adjustable wrench are closer together. The further away from each other (like he has it) will be physically harder to loosen.
Regardless of what you are using your hose for, most garden hoses are made of material that can be toxic, especially when laying in the elements, and labels warn against drinking from them and it being necessary to wash your hand after handling them.
I just watched you replace the washer only, which looked pretty easy for an old lady like me to do, so I was happy 😊. But now you are replacing the entire spigot?? I really don’t wanna get into something too deep and mess stuff up, cuz I live in a rental. My hose is not turning off completely and it’s running constantly, I don’t mean just a drip or 2, I’m wasting tons of water 😩 Since my spigot looks completely different than yours, mine is sideways… do you think that just replacing the washer will work? My landlord likes to raise my rent every time he has to repair something, even a doorknob, so I try to do everything myself watching RUclips. 👍 I think I do a pretty good job.
@@Gods-Elect ….. No answer yet, but my problem seems to be solved. After watching this entire video.. the spigot replacement wasn’t as scary as I thought, I think I could have done it. The word DANGEROUS 😳 is what scared me. Luckily my brother came to the rescue with a brand new “sideways spigot”. I didn’t think we would find that type for some reason, I’ve never seen one before. Thanks for the great video. I will “text” it to him, cuz I’m sure he won’t appreciate his sister showing him how to repair something, he never does. But I’ll be standing by, just in case he needs my help 🤭
@@NEILZEE11 Great you got it fixed I was worried about you with your water running like that. Not nice of your landlord raising rent when you need somthing fixed when its his job. Have a great day.
So when we were kids and we used to drink water from the garden hose, do you think the backwash for my drinking would’ve gotten back into the water system?
6:13 Actually, I think that you COULD have used a crescent wrench --- it looks like there are two opposing flats on the faucet's barrel, next to where the screw-holes are on the flanged mounting-base of the faucet.
Been doing piping professionally for 20 years, i always use Teflon tape and pipe dope on all pipe threads except gas piping. Why risk a leak, just a little bit of insurance means doing the job once...
Adam, your use of teflon tape on the male threads of the hose bib, just before you attach the vacuum brake, shows a misunderstanding of how this connection seals. Unlike the other end of your hose bib, where you correctly used the tape to seal the npt pipe threads where the bib screws onto the 1/2 inch pipe. Just like a garden hose, the vacuum break has a round rubber seal at the bottom of the female threads and this is where the seal is formed, not on the threads. Pipe threads are actually tapered on both the female and the male threads. It is this taper that produces an interference fit between the mating threads and thus the seal occurs in the threads themselves. Pipe threads is a very old and affective way to join pipes, but it is still somewhat rough around the edges so to speak, and always requires pipe dope or tape to fill in those rough parts for a good seal.
Thanks for this. Im a renter who lives with the homeowner and they wont do any of this kind of stuff themselves...so i get to charge them to do it for them!
My issue is no water comes out and looks like the whole pipe is in the wall. I dont have a basement to access the pipe. Would a plumber need to cut into my drywall in my laundry room to get to the pipe?
I was hoping you would show the vacuum breaker blast out water after you shut the water off with a hose attached...and maybe explain why that happens. Keep up the great work brother. LOVE your content.
I removed those vacuum breakers on all my outdoor faucets for exactly that reason. I was fed up with all the water spraying everywhere every time I would cut off the water supply. Made a big mess including water all over my clothes and shoes. As a side note, I also replaced all the faucets with 1/4-turn valves which work like a charm compared to the screw in/out valves.
The spray comes from the pressure in the hose AFTER the water is turned off. It has to go somewhere so either you hold the trigger on your nozzle to release it or it comes back through the vac breaker. That's why the holes exist.
Never heard them called vacuum breaker. Usually, Backflow Preventer. First thing I toss in the yellow brass bin. With a little over 60psi of water pressure nothing is going to flow into the house.
I noticed that this was how to replace the existing but not a peep about how to improve it, in any way. 🙁 Of course you may know better than me the simple capabilities of a home DIYer. How about replacing that 1940s contraption with a ball valve.
The Teflon tape doesn't fill a gap to stop water from Moving through the threads. It acts as a lubricant so you can tighten the tapered thread into the fitting tighter to get a better seal. No need to put it on Garden hose threads, they are not tapered, you have a washer that Makes it water tight. The set screw head is supposed to break off so the vacuum breaker cannot be removed without damaging the threads, making it unusable. An inspector will fail you unless the head is broken off. The Teflon tape is also easier to wrap, If you flip it over to where it's rolling around the pipe instead of rolling against the pipe.
1st, I'm not a plumber, but I have a lot of common sense, and I have sweat on new copper pipes in my home before and replaced an antifreeze faucet before. Now that being said, now I live in a different house with an outside faucet, and I don't know if it is thread on or sweat on. There's a valve that is turned off just 2 feet from the faucet. So what should I do? I am unsweetened by the pip just before the valve and pull it out, then remove the old faucet and put on a new faucet, then sweat the pipes back together?
Just a quick point of information regarding proper use of a Pipe Wrench. It is extremely important that the wrench maintains three points of contact with the pipe. Failure to do so could result in damage to the pipe, particularly if you need to put a bit of torque on the fitting to break it fee. Not to nit pick, but it IS an instructional video.
@@givethanks_s4418 3 POINTS of contact are the top and bottom jaws of the wrench (that's the obvious 2) but the all important 3rd point of contact is the front part of the jaw the adjusts should be touching the pipe. ie. make sure to push the open part all the onto the pipe until it hits.
Why did you use pipe thread sealant on a garden hose connection? Garden hose connections utilize the washer on the female side. Sealing the threads will not protect from leaks. Npt or mpt sure but not with gh connections. Just curious. Good video.
I don't have the backflow protection but I always drop the hose running on the lawn. Walk to the house and turn off the water. The hose was washed clear during my walk and it's more or less empty.
5:12 while you are technically correct. There are reasons to double up. 1. If you go light on tape or dope, having both applied can save you from a small drip. 2. Doing both is actually very handy for years or even decades down the road. So many times I have had pipes seized together because only dope or only tape was used. When you use both it is easier to break and unthread your connections in the future. You will do yourself or someone else a favor by using both and the cost of using both is minimal. So just use both.
The vacuum breaker has a rubber washer (standard seal for a hose bib connection) so you don't need teflon tape or other thread sealant on the hose bib threads. Also, although the replacement hose bib did not have a hex cast in, I did notice two wrench flats adjacent to the cutouts for the screws, so you could have simply used your adjustable wrench rather than the strap wrench to install the valve. Good instructions nonetheless, including the most important thing about using a pipe wrench on the pipe exiting the wall to resist the torque applied while installing the valve.
I think whatever gets the job done as safely and efficiently as possible without damaging it beyond what you personally can bare is good. Doing it that way probably wouldn’t damage the spigot but depend on what the wrench handle is made of it could potentially break. I have seen some lesser expensive tools made of pot metal which is pretty easily broken.
Correct. Garden threads are not designed to seal. Unlike this vac-breaker, most female threads are swivel, so putting sealant between those threads accomplishes nothing. -Except possibly causing threads to bind before the rubber ring can seal.
Tape is not a sealant. It fights against friction, allowing you to tight the two parts together. Pipe dope is for sealant, and that is why you see ppl using both tape and pipe dope
I had a guy replace a frost proof outdoor water faucet that started leaking after the freeze we had here in Texas a few years ago. The faucet is pointed to the side and not down. I'm assuming that is because that's where it was pointed when it was tightened up. What do you do in a case like that? Thanks.
I have never understood how it would be possible for something like a passive sprayer on a hose to force anything back into the water pipes against the existing pressure...can someone enlighten me?
Very unusual circumstance but if you were to have a broken main line somewhere or if your water/fire department department opened up hydrants it could create a backflow condition. However like you said you would have to lose pressure and actually have a vacuum occur in order to pull water back into your potable water system, hence the name vacuum breaker.
Well, it can't, AS LONG AS there is existing pressure in the line. As Scottdavis says, if the pressure in the house drops for some reason, and if the end of the hose is in a puddle or a pool then that will siphon water back into the potable system of the house, contaminating it.
In 2010 Nibco sent me free of charge replacement hose valve stem assemblies complete with the handle and washer that I screwed into the hose valve body. At that time, the existing hose valves were 45 years old, and after removing the valve stem I examined the inside of the valve body and saw it was in good condition. So I screwed the replacement stems into the body. Since 2010, all has been working well. After this presentation, I'll be looking into buying anti-syphon valves..
When putting the Teflon tape on, turn the roll over and then wrap clockwise like you did. It stays tight as you wrap it so you don’t have to keep unravelling it
Serious question - how would the water flow backwards into the house when the water pressure is in the direction "house to sprayer". And when you turn off the sprayer (using, say, an Ortho sprayer) there's no water flowing either way because the valve in the sprayer is closed.
Hi. I want to relocate an outdoor faucet externally. No digging of concrete. Add an elbow to where the faucet is now and come down the wall and along the side of the house. Any suggestions? A plumber wants to charge an💪🏼 and a 🦵🏼
Many years of plumbing in public facilities. Not sure where you're at but in California the CDHS made us remove those type of anti siphon devices. They are faulty and it's also been my experience that they do not protect from anti siphoning. They're a false since if security. The better alternatives are atmospheric vacuum breakers. Far superior.
Were you aware of the vacuum breaker? Most DIYers don't so don't feel alone! There are links to everything used in the video in the description! Hope this helps!
I absolutely was not aware of the vacuum breaker! In my 78 years on planet earth, having replaced countless faucets, having two friends who are plumbers this is a first for me! I once lived in a large city and became aware that lawn sprinkler systems must be equipped with a back flow preventer but not on a faucet. Thanks for letting me know! I have learned so much from your videos.
I loathe vacuum breakers. I understand why they exist but the has to be a better way that will not shoot water all over my legs and feet every time I use the hose.
At the least there should be away to channel the water way from the user.
So annoying.
I have the same outdoor faucet but it has a long stick inside and can't replace the faucet handle. HD and Lowe's don't sell this kind anymore and I was told to replace the whole thing with a faucet that's already manufactured with a pipe bc the copper pipe keeps fractured (broken) inside the crawl space right before the galvanized pipe with a connector so rusted installed over a decade.
Why don't they just call it a check valve? Also, looks like the vacuum breaker has a gasket on it. Really thread tape only helps on tapered threads such as NPT pip threads, where the seal is made on the thread. If the seal is made on a compression fitting such as a JIC or JIS, or on a gasket, then thread tape is not necessary or helpful.
I have never heard of a vacuum breaker, but now I will be looking for 4 of them. Also, I have a hose bib that needs replacement, but it appears that the metal or brass bib is attached to pvc plumbing, so now what? I hope you can help. Thanks and Blessings!
As a widow whose Beloved Husband used to do everything for, I so appreciate your videos. Thank you!
Sorry for your loss. Inspired that you're putting in effort to learn and grow during a tough time
I was freaking out about my leaky spigot! I went ahead and just replaced the entire Bib with the help of your video! Thank you so so much for making this an easy to follow how to! ❤ I subscribed!
You should mention that in most older northern homes without no-freeze outdoor faucets there will usually be a shutoff valve on the inside to shut the valve off for the winter and a small drain cap to drain the line, making it unnecessary to shut off the water to the entire house.
GOOD POINT SIR!!!
I shut the ball valve off in the basement before the first freeze. It’s about 4 feet from the faucet on basement ceiling. Then open the faucet valve outside to drain any water.
I came here to say the same thing about there being a shut off inside. 😅 And most I’ve seen are in crawls, basements, or ‘Michigan basements’ thankfully.
Not sure if it was code in 94 but my home in Alabama has an inside cutoff in the basement for all of the hose bibbs. Made it real easy when replacing mine.
Great video for a simple spigot replacement! Loved the info on the vacuum breaker, didn’t know what that thing was. now I know what it is and how important it is. Thank you.
The hose bib has flattened areas for an adjustable wrench right near the screw slots. Also, when you're working with old plumbing that's been compressed or stretched such as the brass nipple coming through the siding, it absolutely is a good idea to use both teflon tape and pipe dope over the top of the tape. Speaking from years and years of experience.
Yep belt and suspenders.
I replaced my faucet but it is leaking very slightly I'm wondering if i need to make another round on the faucet - worried about over tightening.
Thank you! I just installed 2 faucets and I need to order the vacuum breakers. You just saved me a lot of money. I spent on my rental $450 for the plumbers to install a kitchen that I had already purchased.
Thank you for explaining the vacuum breaker device. I have them on my faucets. That’s wear I have water leakage when I turn the water off. So I thought that those vacuum breakers needed to come off. Now that I know what it’s for. I’ll just replace the washer. Thank you 😊
Just wanted to give you some encouragement to keep up with your RUclips posts! Just a quick google search and I found this video!
I appreciate you sharing your knowledge👊
Interesting. I'm in my 50s and I don't recall ever seeing such a device on an outside faucet. There certainly wasn't one on any house I've ever owned over the years.
Politicians in those days used logic...today, they feel the need to control everyone.
@@Garth2011 That is a really stupid take.
If you live in areas where temperatures go below freezing, then likely the homes had silcocks not hose bibs, and in a silcock the vacuum breaker is integrated, usually located behind the handle, not an additional piece on the hose bib discharge as shown in this video, so that may be why you didn’t notice it. I bought my first home in 1992, and it had integrated vacuum breakers on the silcocks. The house I grew up in, built in 1950, did not, so perhaps the homes you have experienced were all older homes.
@@jpe1 I grew up on the Gulf Coast.
@@Garth2011Logic should tell you certain chemicals in your water is bad. Technology and science...
Good job. Well done and easy to understand. One comment. If the hose bib sitting proud of the siding is bothersome you can always install a piece of wooden trim board to make it fit flush. It just makes the install look nicer. Then pain to match.
I appreciate that the vacuum breakers are required and appreciate the explanation. That being said, I lived for many decades, and others lived for many decades before that without them.
I remember all the times, growing up, when families died from contaminated water that was siphoned back, and people said, "I hope they invent something to stop that."
But seriously... I never heard of water siphoning occurring or being a problem of any kind whatsoever. It sounds like paranoia to me. Sounds like a vacuum breaker manufacturer with a good lobbyist. Once silly requirements like that are created, no one has the courage to repeal them.
Our old house in the Washington, DC area had no way to shut off the water to the outside faucet. It was subject to freezing, but it never broke.
He said specifically, "...this may not be to code." Codes as we know are very, very different from place to place however...just because something has "never" happened to this person over here does not mean it won't ever happen to this same person or that it hasn't in fact happened to that person over there. Call it a conspiracy, call it lobbying, call it crying wolf, call it wearing suspenders with a belt...call it whatever you want. Spending $16 on two vacuum breakers for the two hose bibs on my house seems like a very small expense that brings great peace of mind. Once again, to say nothing of the fact that one's local building code may in fact require them. Is the boogeyman code inspector going to come to your house in the middle of the night and cite you for not having a vacuum breaker or any of the countless other things that code requires...no, of course not. But, if your home is inspected when it's sold, these are the kinds of things that a home inspector is going to note on their report and if you don't agree to fix it and bring it up to code, your prospective buyer now has grounds to back out of their offer and kill your sale. Finally, and this is the big one...let's say that your family member or a house guest is killed or suffers some debilitating quality of life illness or injury as a result of contaminants backflowing into your home's water supply and there was no vacuum breaker on the hose bib and you live in a place where that is required by code. Do you think your insurance company is going to pay out a claim that was the result of a home not being up to code?
If you disconnect your hose and/or remember to take off your garden hose, you will never run the risk of having a backflow event. Having said that, if you leave a hose hooked up, have a plant food attachment at the end of your hose and forget to turn it off at the spigot when you’re done, it is possible to suck some of the chemicals back into the house plumbing. Another example of backflow event called back-siphonage, you leave the hose hooked up and have the male end of the hose submerged into a swimming pool that you are filling, then have a sudden drop in city pressure, fire truck hooked up to hydrant, or a water main break, you could pull pool water into the city supply. Long story short, it’s a very cheap device that could save someone from getting sick or even worse…
@@woohunter1ah yes, the super common “filling the pool and there’s a fire next door” lol
Most (all?) regulations are written in blood. I get that. Someone somewhere died from a freak accident and an organization somewhere decided to write a new regulation to stop it from ever happening again. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was already nearly impossibly uncommon to begin with. The back flow preventers on my bibs are absolutely terrible; every time you shut off the water they ejaculate a fan of water all over your legs, they squeal every time you use a hose end attachment, and in some cases they reduce flow. I live in an area with zero standing water, and every hose has an attachment on the end anyway. It’s impossible for me to have a back flow event.
@@Mike-B-Jackson well, I’m a licensed plumber that is certified in the installation and annual testing of backflow preventers. First of all, I’ve never seen a hose bib shower someone’s legs with water when you turn them off (I’ve installed, replaced, repaired hundreds of these things) and secondly, a backflow event is never impossible…. Even if you have a proper backflow device! That’s why they have to be checked every year (commercial properties, for now) by a ASSE certified tester. Things fail, that’s why we have circuit breakers, smoke alarms, seatbelts, insurance, heart surgeons, etc.
@@woohunter1 It's not the bib, it's the attached backflow preventer. Once pressure is no longer applied through the bib, the pressurized hose shoots out the release holes in the bf preventer. I fully understand this is not by design, but it happened EVERY TIME I turned off that bib. Yes, I could replace it, but why - it's a zero chance event here. I just pulled them all off and it's glorious. All my bibs work flawlessly now and at full pressure, with no squealing.
I'm not trying to "fight" you on this - surely code is code and it's not your fault you have to follow it. As for "must be tested every year" that must be where you live, because around here nobody ever sees them unless a buyer elects for an optional inspection before purchasing a house. And even then the inspector just lists it in his report and it's up to the buyer to decide if he cares about it being fixed first.
(And of course if a new device is being installed it will be up to code)
Carry on. Keep up the good fight!
Thanks for explaining WHY this is the proper way to replace
Thanks for sharing this safety tip. We've used these on our hose bins for 30 years. The brass model you show is the best one. When shutting off the hose that has a closed nozzle on the hose end, watch out for the valve squirting water out under pressure!
I have always used some pipe dope under tape to lubricate and discourage any corrosion on the pipe. A contractor doing remodel and repair for many years.
Your explanation of the importance of a vacuum breaker makes perfect sense. My question is: why have I never seen one on a hose bib before? My house was built new in 1999; I researched this and discovered that the Standard Plumbing Code has required vacuum breakers on hose bibs since 1963. My house certainly didn’t have them on any of the three hoses bibs and, again, I’ve never even seen one - as far as I know, that is. They are kind of inconspicuous so I might not have notices one on someone else’s house.
If you’re in a place that freezes you may have a frost proof faucet that everything is internal.
I've never seen threads on the outside of the house. And I live in a Southern state. I'd love to see a video on how to tell If you've got a soldered or threaded internal connection and how to tell the length of stub prior to removing the old stub. Thanks for your great channel.
Glad you touched on Freez Proof Hose Bibs ! I feel sorry for the people in Texas that found out about frozen plumbing the hard way! I still can't understand why anyone anywhere would have their water heater a other plumbing mounted on the exterior of the house! That's just asking for trouble since freezing temperatures in Texas may be rare but have happened periodically and with in living memory and before.
Up here in Amarillo it freezes all the time during the winter, not rarely. Not to mention the harsh winds driving the wind chill into the negatives routinely.
@@rabie4x4 I'v seen and felt windchill of -60 farenheit here in Columbia County NY. Admittedly that doesn't happen regularly.
@@rabie4x4 Wind-chill is about rate of cooling. It doesn't cool things below ambient temperature.
Really good in-depth video. More informative and step-by-step than Ask This Old House videos. This video was a great help. Thanks.
What a great tutorial!!! Very informative and very detailed. I was going to hire a plumber but with your expertise and instructions I just might give it a try on my front faucet that's been needing a replacement for over a year.
Thank you for posting. 👍
Go 4 it lady. Best of luck
Very helpful, thank you very much. Most instructional videos are full of what the box the product came in looks like and other nonsense such as that. Yours gets right to the point.
It would be an interesting video to show repair of an existing hose bib, such as washer replacement and/or replacing the packing around the stem.
Something I do when I have to replace a hose bib is after removing the old bib and scrubbing the threads, but before installing the new bib, I turn the water back on to flush the line of any debris that might be in the line. I don't know how much of an overkill it is, but it seems like a good idea to me.
Any tips on removing a hose that rusted onto the faucet?
Try WD-40 and some CLR product. I had a hose that got stuck due to the hard water in our area. I had to apply and re-apply while loosening it with a wrench. It took several days trying until the CLR loosened up the hard water and rust.
Nicely done video. Simple, and very easy to understand. The next video would be how to do this without an external pipe fitted to the faucet.
When I sold my house about 8 years ago the inspector pointed out that I didn't have those back flow things on my outside faucets... Home depot had them for about 50 cents, but this seems like a scam someone started to sell the damn things. Highly unlikely a sufficient amount of any diluted chemical is going to back up through the piping in a house.... much bigger things an inspector should be looking for.... What was funny is I left him somethings to find.... like a loose toilet, etc. didn't even mention that stuff.
Most of those guys are a-holes. They live for telling people what to do, and of course, without question, you gotta do it. An “apparently” well known inspector in our town came to check out a wood fence my husband built in our front yard. Of course it didn’t quite meet HIS approval, whatever 🤷♀️ Gotta respect that, it’s his job. A few days later I saw him so drunk at a local pub that his head was practically “on the bar”. 🤣 It shouldn’t be something to laugh about, but that didn’t quite meet MY approval, or respect. The loose toilet, classic move 👍
Home inspections ! They tend to steer off their main target and write up concerns that apply to current codes vs. the codes that were in place when the home was built. We all know that codes are changed now and then, adding, changing etc. how things should be but no home is required to "be up to current code" to sell it nor is it required to own it. the only time newer codes are required on an existing home is when they are remolded, added onto etc. then the local city may require those modified areas of the home be brought up to the current codes for the remolded part. Those home "inspectors" are basically superficial inspection folks who will call out something and then recommend a contractor in that field give their opinion. Most of the inspection they do carries weight in the health and safety subject matter...that's really all that matters to a seller, that they are not putting a buyer in harms way but also at the same time, not guaranteeing conditions or suggesting everything is perfect. Buyers need to know more about "condition" and operation of a residence mostly and then they can focus on the purchase to go forward or backout or ask the seller to credit them on items that are reasonable to fix or replace. Not every seller knows what kind of shape their place is in so, they also could get a surprise by those inspections. The worst inspections are full of lame opinions about conditions vs. function such as a pool heater that is 20 years old and works but the inspector is suggesting "it is beyond its intended lifespan". If it works, how does that opinion lend itself to the buyer? Same about "galvanized plumbing pipes" vs copper. Again, no leaks, water flow good so whats the point being made its not copper plumbing? It continues on and on so you have to wonder if the inspector is just calling out lame things to make his paycheck or attempting to give a report that the buyer could use against the seller for more discounts !
Home inspection is a scam unless it is done Mike Holmes way - ie How old is the roof, is the driveway sloping the proper way, is there a bathroom exhaust fan, does the kitchen hood exhaust to the exterior.........................NONE OF THAT COSMETIC BUSINESS.
@@Garth2011Absolutely
@@AMC-eq3jr Agree on those points. Most home inspections have a number of chicken $%(& items listed that have no merits.
I use pvc lumber to make shim blocks between the house and the hose bib. Sometimes rectangular and sometimes round using a hole saw to make a 3 1/2” wheel out of a scrap of pvc lumber. Drill out the center and softened the edge with sandpaper. Then you can screw the new bib to the block and hide the pipe extending through the wall.
I’ve kept some leftover pvc lumber and that still didn’t occur to me. Thank you!
You could always make it look really nice by cutting out the pieces with a hole saw after cutting the smaller hole. So it’s a nice smooth uniform connection.
It’s legit gross how expensive pvc lumber became
Same with pvc pipe
In general the price of pvc went complete out of control with covid
@@davidramey7186 you mean because of covid stimulus inflation money printing and biden. covid has been over for years but prices did not go back down. basic logic tells you covid was not the long term issue.
I did not realize he was finished with the job with that space between his hose built in the house left un finished. I thought leaving it that way looked crappy. Anyway, each to his own after all the water is more important than how it looks.
@user-he4mm7yf2k the video was more about how to replace one. Those are all my local stores had in stock. Tried to find one like what was originally installed.
Here in my hometown in Florida the code states that the set screw on the vaccum breaker which is designed to be snapped off after installation must be snapped off to prevent removal in order to comply with the code.
Excellent video. I'm a slightly handy 69-year old woman and I believe I can replace my leaky faucet after my research.
One suggestion: I live in Massachusetts and homes up north generally have individual shut-offs for the exterior faucets in the cellar.
Thanks, this keppt me from putiing in a maintenance request with the management...who have some of the worst maint staff available
Great tutorial, thanks. I watched this and the video about replacing the gasket. Both are great. Thanks.
Thanks for making your instructions easy to understand.
Exactly what I was looking for. No fancy frosty freeze or whatever the new ones are called. Simple, old school outdoor faucet.
Nice video. I have three problems not covered here: a) my plumbing is Pex, b) my bibs, by code, are antisiphon and freeze proof and c) the bib is screwed into a large 1 1/2" wooden block that is cracked.
Love this! Exactly what I needed to replace my leaking water spigot!
The new faucet does have flats for a crescent wrench, but there's only one set, rather than 3 sets. It's perpendicular to the screwdown holes. Good vid though. Just had to do this two weeks ago. Sad part is, we live in a cold environment and we don't have freeze proof bib. Gonna have to fix that. Thanks for the info.
I had one of those freeze proof valves blow up on me, turned my lawn into an ice rink. Replaced it with a regular valve and a shut off inside.
My home, 2006, had 7/8 male not 3/4 with a crimped back flow. Had to replace a 5 since the back flows will go bad. Thank goodness the plumbers left barely no pipe exposed so I had to chisle away the brick. Thank goodness professional are building homes. Few minute job took well over 2 hours.
I appreciate the way you always point out the obvious bc
the obvious are the things I tend to over look....
Costing me not only $$ but a seemingly never ending additional hour
to every 15 min job around the house.
Your always the best man...many thanks!
This was a very great and self explantory videeo of installing a new outside faucet that you just presented and the most intresting part to me was I did not have no idea of also installing of the anti-syphine device this was so very great to know, Thank you so much for this good and healthy knowledge that I never knew about.
Either they're automatically built in to most hose bibs... or 100% of the exterior hose bibs I've ever seen in RI/Mass are not up to code. Always glad to learn something new.
I always use both teflon tape and a good pipe dope. Tru-Blue works really well. Blue teflon and tru-blu. Zero issues. But to each their own.
Thank you for mentioning the vacuum breaker because I'm tapping from an outside spigot a line inside the house to use for our drinking water cooler.
I have come to learn that when
Wrapping the pipe threads with plumers tape, it is easier to flip the tape around, allowing the pressure unrolling the plumers tape a little tighter!
It also (for me any way) allowing the roll to spin in my hand!
From a cheapscape Diy-er
I took those silly things off years ago. Water backflowing into the house and overcoming city pressure, and making it's way to another outlet and into my body WILL. NOT. HAPPEN. 🙃
Good video, tho.
The set-screw on the vacuum breaker has a narrow neck immediately beneath the six-point head. It's called a "break-off" or "shear-off" bolt or screw. It's designed to break off once the intended torque or tension is reached and discourages removing the vacuum breaker. It's a one-shot deal.
Bad idea what if the device fails and actually needs to be replaced?
@@greenspiraldragon, one simply replaces the vacuum breaker and valve with new.
Yeah, but once it is tightened down and broken off they are near impossible to take off without some rather annoying methods that have to be taken in order to do so. There is no need to replace a perfectly good hose bibb just because the vacuum breaker goes bad, which it will and some hose bibbs are quite expensive. In my opinion it is a really dumb design. I get it's purpose so that a homeowner just doesn't take it off but that same homeowner might then just take the whole faucet off and install one without it. I refuse to break them off and no code states that it is required and none of the instructions I have received with mine say to do so either. In fact, they rarely have instructions.
@@HowToHomeDIYthey are designed to break off on purpose. Because that way some nieve person doesn’t take it off in the future. Turning it back to a boiler valve… so, snap it off…
Yeah for you to tag me it means you read my comment so no, won’t break them off and neither did the plumbers that installed mine. Why? Because it’s dumb.
The safety set screw is supposed to be tightened until the head breaks off so that the vacuum breaker cannot be removed--either by someone who does not know why it is there or accidentally when unscrewing a hose.
😅
If you want to break it off so that you can’t remove it later without using a saw or having to replace the whole hose Bibb then be my guest. The plumbers here don’t break them off as it’s not required and they know eventually they will need replaced. But yes, even you yourself can make videos if you like, be my guest and share all of that wisdom.
That is a reasonable argument to not breaking it off, but there is a more reasonable argument for breaking it off: Most homeowners don't even know why the vacuum breaker is there or what it does, so if it fails, they are likely to remove it unless that is prevented. The breaker is there to prevent sucking dirty water off the ground (from a hose lying on the ground and still connected to the bibb) back into the home's potable water pipes where it may later cause illness,
In any case, there is no cause to get snarky with your last sentence.@@HowToHomeDIY
Yes I understand what the vacuum breaker is for, I explained that in the video. The comment was to another snarky commenter that appears to have deleted their comment since then. As a homeowner, knowing that the vacuum breaker is probably going to fail before the valve, I’m not breaking the head off. It’s a massive pain to remove and replace when it goes bad. To each their own. And if code in your area says to do it, then follow code. But here, a lot of the time they aren’t broken off.
@@servalcat i wrote the same comment before i read yours that the screw is suppose to be broken off, if it fails you replace both again
Instead of positioning your wrenches at 180˚ (4:09) to each other to break the threads loose, you're better off setting them at about a 60˚ angle or less. When you have them at 180˚, the force you put on them are pushing with both your backup wrench and your turning wrench at a 90˚ angle on the supply pipe. This can damage the pipe, or the next connection inside the wall. The correct way is to have the wrenches close enough together that you can kind of pinch them together. You can exert more force on the connection this way (handles far apart isn't using your muscles efficiently) but also reduces the lateral force on the pipe.
Good point. The net TORQUE will be zero on the pipe when the wrenches are set 180° apart. But the net FORCE will not because both wrenches exert a force on the pipe in the same direction, as you said. You are "One With Physics," my Jedi Warrior. 👏👏👏
Yeah, I was cringing a bit there. Probably no big deal for that application, but it's a good habit to do it your recommended way.
His wrenching is the mark of a DIYer.
Hi. Thank you for this video...one question tho, does the new hose bib screw ALL the way on to the threads coming out of the house??? I ask this because mine will NOT screw all the way on, and there was a teeny tiney drip when I was done...so I wonder if I am supposed to screw it on even tighter?? I did use the teflon tape...and I only hand tightened it but to go any more with it felt like it'd be too much, and the spigot wouldn't have been facing down....Thanks for your suggestions.
If you flip the Teflon tape over, you can keep pressure on the tape while your covering the threads. On old threads use both tape & sealant, sealant works as an lubricant when tightening.
Also the Faucet has a flattened spot by the screw slots for a wrench.
Also this is the wrong spigot for an outside hose, unless you drain the pipe every winter. Even the right ones should be drained in winter.
drained before?, during, or after a hard freeze or extended below freezing temps?
@@oliveiramusic4u
After a hard freeze may be too late, once it expands it will leak when thawed,,
Vacuum breakers as you said are not needed 100% of the time as it depends on what you will use the hose bib for. With that said, they also are a PITA when it comes to decent water flow as they restrict water flow to an amount less than the hose bib can supply. They also tend to malfunction at times and require replacement. It is interesting that "code" requires them without knowing what purposes the homeowner will use them for...not everyone uses them for spraying chemicals.
I always stopped the water from going back into the system by closing the valve when I'm done. I always thought that worked pretty well.
@@jime8532 no doubt! I understand the concept of the back flow preventer, but when you turn the valve off where does the back flow get around the closed valve? Makes no sense to me!
Does it matter if you switch to a bibb with a different type of handle? Water is coming out through the handle connection. I was thinking of a getting a new hose bibb with the quarter turn handle which seems like it would be easier for arthritic hands/wrists.
Yeah, you can absolutely do that and many do just because the 1/4 turns are a lot faster to open and close.
Lower your pipe wrench so that the movable jaw make 3 points of contact with the pipe to lessen the chance of distorting the pipe; (Rich Trethewy tip)
Right on! I learned about 3 points of contact from my uncle and good old Richard Trethewy!
I need to make ours stick out farther its tight up against the house needs to stick out more.
I know our valve in it is bad its been leaking for years and freezes solid in the winter but works
Excellent detail. Thank you!
These videos are great, really geared toward the every day DYI
Really glad to hear you are finding value in the channel. Really means a lot to me. Thanks a lot for taking the time to leave that feedback!
For whoever it may concern.. It’s physically easier to loosen the spigot if your plumbing wrench and adjustable wrench are closer together. The further away from each other (like he has it) will be physically harder to loosen.
I would still put two holddown screws on the flange of the spigot. These spigot experience a lot of side thrust which could damage the pipe.
Regardless of what you are using your hose for, most garden hoses are made of material that can be toxic, especially when laying in the elements, and labels warn against drinking from them and it being necessary to wash your hand after handling them.
I just watched you replace the washer only, which looked pretty easy for an old lady like me to do, so I was happy 😊. But now you are replacing the entire spigot?? I really don’t wanna get into something too deep and mess stuff up, cuz I live in a rental. My hose is not turning off completely and it’s running constantly, I don’t mean just a drip or 2, I’m wasting tons of water 😩 Since my spigot looks completely different than yours, mine is sideways… do you think that just replacing the washer will work? My landlord likes to raise my rent every time he has to repair something, even a doorknob, so I try to do everything myself watching RUclips. 👍 I think I do a pretty good job.
Did anyone help you with your question?
@@Gods-Elect ….. No answer yet, but my problem seems to be solved. After watching this entire video.. the spigot replacement wasn’t as scary as I thought, I think I could have done it. The word DANGEROUS 😳 is what scared me. Luckily my brother came to the rescue with a brand new “sideways spigot”. I didn’t think we would find that type for some reason, I’ve never seen one before. Thanks for the great video. I will “text” it to him, cuz I’m sure he won’t appreciate his sister showing him how to repair something, he never does. But I’ll be standing by, just in case he needs my help 🤭
@@NEILZEE11 Great you got it fixed I was worried about you with your water running like that.
Not nice of your landlord raising rent when you need somthing fixed when its his job.
Have a great day.
Great, clear step by step explanation. Thank You.
So when we were kids and we used to drink water from the garden hose, do you think the backwash for my drinking would’ve gotten back into the water system?
6:13 Actually, I think that you COULD have used a crescent wrench --- it looks like there are two opposing flats on the faucet's barrel, next to where the screw-holes are on the flanged mounting-base of the faucet.
Thank you ! Great video , the only one I needed to watch ! Have a Blessed Day 🙌
Been doing piping professionally for 20 years, i always use Teflon tape and pipe dope on all pipe threads except gas piping. Why risk a leak, just a little bit of insurance means doing the job once...
Adam, your use of teflon tape on the male threads of the hose bib, just before you attach the vacuum brake, shows a misunderstanding of how this connection seals. Unlike the other end of your hose bib, where you correctly used the tape to seal the npt pipe threads where the bib screws onto the 1/2 inch pipe. Just like a garden hose, the vacuum break has a round rubber seal at the bottom of the female threads and this is where the seal is formed, not on the threads. Pipe threads are actually tapered on both the female and the male threads. It is this taper that produces an interference fit between the mating threads and thus the seal occurs in the threads themselves. Pipe threads is a very old and affective way to join pipes, but it is still somewhat rough around the edges so to speak, and always requires pipe dope or tape to fill in those rough parts for a good seal.
This as exactly what I needed! Thank you!!!
Another amazing video. Thank you so much. You explain it well and the video quality is superb.
You are very welcome. Really glad to hear you liked it so much. Really means a lot to me. Thanks a lot for taking the time to leave that feedback!
Thanks for this. Im a renter who lives with the homeowner and they wont do any of this kind of stuff themselves...so i get to charge them to do it for them!
My issue is no water comes out and looks like the whole pipe is in the wall. I dont have a basement to access the pipe. Would a plumber need to cut into my drywall in my laundry room to get to the pipe?
I was hoping you would show the vacuum breaker blast out water after you shut the water off with a hose attached...and maybe explain why that happens.
Keep up the great work brother. LOVE your content.
I removed those vacuum breakers on all my outdoor faucets for exactly that reason. I was fed up with all the water spraying everywhere every time I would cut off the water supply. Made a big mess including water all over my clothes and shoes. As a side note, I also replaced all the faucets with 1/4-turn valves which work like a charm compared to the screw in/out valves.
The spray comes from the pressure in the hose AFTER the water is turned off. It has to go somewhere so either you hold the trigger on your nozzle to release it or it comes back through the vac breaker. That's why the holes exist.
@@stevenz933 Same here I removed all mine got tired of getting spayed with water every time I shut it off with hose on it.
Awesome information so thank you. Those strap wrenches come in handy a lot!😊
Never heard them called vacuum breaker. Usually, Backflow Preventer.
First thing I toss in the yellow brass bin.
With a little over 60psi of water pressure nothing is going to flow into the house.
This is a good video. Fun with Silcocks, garden valves and hose bibbs.
I noticed that this was how to replace the existing but not a peep about how to improve it, in any way. 🙁 Of course you may know better than me the simple capabilities of a home DIYer.
How about replacing that 1940s contraption with a ball valve.
The Teflon tape doesn't fill a gap to stop water from Moving through the threads. It acts as a lubricant so you can tighten the tapered thread into the fitting tighter to get a better seal. No need to put it on Garden hose threads, they are not tapered, you have a washer that Makes it water tight. The set screw head is supposed to break off so the vacuum breaker cannot be removed without damaging the threads, making it unusable. An inspector will fail you unless the head is broken off. The Teflon tape is also easier to wrap, If you flip it over to where it's rolling around the pipe instead of rolling against the pipe.
1st, I'm not a plumber, but I have a lot of common sense, and I have sweat on new copper pipes in my home before and replaced an antifreeze faucet before. Now that being said, now I live in a different house with an outside faucet, and I don't know if it is thread on or sweat on. There's a valve that is turned off just 2 feet from the faucet. So what should I do? I am unsweetened by the pip just before the valve and pull it out, then remove the old faucet and put on a new faucet, then sweat the pipes back together?
Just a quick point of information regarding proper use of a Pipe Wrench. It is extremely important that the wrench maintains three points of contact with the pipe. Failure to do so could result in damage to the pipe, particularly if you need to put a bit of torque on the fitting to break it fee. Not to nit pick, but it IS an instructional video.
What do you mean by 3 points of contact? Can you explain further please
@@givethanks_s4418 3 POINTS of contact are the top and bottom jaws of the wrench (that's the obvious 2) but the all important 3rd point of contact is the front part of the jaw the adjusts should be touching the pipe. ie. make sure to push the open part all the onto the pipe until it hits.
Why did you use pipe thread sealant on a garden hose connection? Garden hose connections utilize the washer on the female side. Sealing the threads will not protect from leaks. Npt or mpt sure but not with gh connections. Just curious. Good video.
I don't have the backflow protection but I always drop the hose running on the lawn. Walk to the house and turn off the water. The hose was washed clear during my walk and it's more or less empty.
Thank you and a comment for your algorithm!
Much appreciated!
5:12 while you are technically correct. There are reasons to double up.
1. If you go light on tape or dope, having both applied can save you from a small drip.
2. Doing both is actually very handy for years or even decades down the road. So many times I have had pipes seized together because only dope or only tape was used. When you use both it is easier to break and unthread your connections in the future.
You will do yourself or someone else a favor by using both and the cost of using both is minimal. So just use both.
Thank you for an excellent presentation of good information.
The vacuum breaker has a rubber washer (standard seal for a hose bib connection) so you don't need teflon tape or other thread sealant on the hose bib threads. Also, although the replacement hose bib did not have a hex cast in, I did notice two wrench flats adjacent to the cutouts for the screws, so you could have simply used your adjustable wrench rather than the strap wrench to install the valve. Good instructions nonetheless, including the most important thing about using a pipe wrench on the pipe exiting the wall to resist the torque applied while installing the valve.
What are your thought on using a wrench handle in the spigot to twist the new bib on?
I think whatever gets the job done as safely and efficiently as possible without damaging it beyond what you personally can bare is good. Doing it that way probably wouldn’t damage the spigot but depend on what the wrench handle is made of it could potentially break. I have seen some lesser expensive tools made of pot metal which is pretty easily broken.
FYI any time there is a rubber gasket (like in the vacuum breaker) you do not need Teflon tape on the threads.
I use it because they are notorious for leaking, with or without the gasket.
Correct. Garden threads are not designed to seal. Unlike this vac-breaker, most female threads are swivel, so putting sealant between those threads accomplishes nothing. -Except possibly causing threads to bind before the rubber ring can seal.
Tape is not a sealant. It fights against friction, allowing you to tight the two parts together. Pipe dope is for sealant, and that is why you see ppl using both tape and pipe dope
I had a guy replace a frost proof outdoor water faucet that started leaking after the freeze we had here in Texas a few years ago. The faucet is pointed to the side and not down. I'm assuming that is because that's where it was pointed when it was tightened up. What do you do in a case like that? Thanks.
Very helpful
In MN they tend to snap the allen set screw. Usually gotta drill em out. Heads up
I would add to caulk where the pipe enters the wall to keep out rain or water from the hose.
I have never understood how it would be possible for something like a passive sprayer on a hose to force anything back into the water pipes against the existing pressure...can someone enlighten me?
Very unusual circumstance but if you were to have a broken main line somewhere or if your water/fire department department opened up hydrants it could create a backflow condition. However like you said you would have to lose pressure and actually have a vacuum occur in order to pull water back into your potable water system, hence the name vacuum breaker.
Well, it can't, AS LONG AS there is existing pressure in the line. As Scottdavis says, if the pressure in the house drops for some reason, and if the end of the hose is in a puddle or a pool then that will siphon water back into the potable system of the house, contaminating it.
Mine does not have 1/2 or 3/4 on the side. Instead it has the letter L and the numeral 5 like this L5. What is the replacement part I need?
Do I need an AVB if the faucet is attach to a sprinkler system or garden hose? Thanks.
In 2010 Nibco sent me free of charge replacement hose valve stem assemblies complete with the handle and washer that I screwed into the hose valve body. At that time, the existing hose valves were 45 years old, and after removing the valve stem I examined the inside of the valve body and saw it was in good condition. So I screwed the replacement stems into the body. Since 2010, all has been working well. After this presentation, I'll be looking into buying anti-syphon valves..
Best vid I’ve seen so far
My comment, thank you for being so thorough.
When putting the Teflon tape on, turn the roll over and then wrap clockwise like you did. It stays tight as you wrap it so you don’t have to keep unravelling it
Serious question - how would the water flow backwards into the house when the water pressure is in the direction "house to sprayer". And when you turn off the sprayer (using, say, an Ortho sprayer) there's no water flowing either way because the valve in the sprayer is closed.
Hi. I want to relocate an outdoor faucet externally. No digging of concrete. Add an elbow to where the faucet is now and come down the wall and along the side of the house. Any suggestions? A plumber wants to charge an💪🏼 and a 🦵🏼
Many years of plumbing in public facilities. Not sure where you're at but in California the CDHS made us remove those type of anti siphon devices. They are faulty and it's also been my experience that they do not protect from anti siphoning. They're a false since if security. The better alternatives are atmospheric vacuum breakers. Far superior.