I'm dealing with a leaky outdoor spigot and I want to replace my frost-free hose bibb. I'm not super experienced in plumbing, but I can handle cutting pipes and soldering if needed. The issue is that I have a threaded connection inside, and the hose bibb is made of 3/4" copper pipe. I've unscrewed it, but can't fully remove it because there's a threaded fitting soldered onto the end that's too wide to fit through the hole in my joist. When I try to pull it out, the fitting gets stuck. Should I cut off the fitting, pull out the old bibb, then insert the new one and solder on a new fitting? I'm sure there are different ways to approach this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
Yep, cutting it off is the way to go! That threaded fitting is definitely not gonna clear the joist. Just pull out the old bibb, slide in the new one, and then solder on a new adapter. Just make sure the new hose bibb has the same length so it reaches outside properly.
Just to clarify, can you really solder an adapter onto the end of a frost-free hose bibb? Is that safe?
You're on the right track! Fully unthread it, pull the line as far as you can, then cut it off. You might also consider widening that hole a bit to comfortably fit a new stem.
I get the plan, but why do all the frost-free hose bibbs have threaded ends? Mine ends with a soldered-on adapter. If I need to shorten the new hose bibb, can I actually cut it down? I thought there was an internal valve inside.
Thanks for the tip! I was checking online for copper hose bibbs, but it looks like all I can find are 1/2" instead of 3/4". Are these older sizes just hard to come by now? Which do you think would work best for a replacement?