Confused by leaking hose bib

[jloehlein]

Alright, I've got an exterior hose bib that is leaking around the handle. I assumed it was a seal that needs to be replaced, but upon further inspection, that doesn't appear to be the case. Also - I cannot see how it is possible for this thing to not leak. Please school me on how the heck this thing works and what could need replacing.

Looks simple enough. When it's turned on, water rushes out around the handle.

When I pull the handle and the piece behind it off, the seal that's there looks like it's in fine shape. What is confusing to me is that there is a hole in the shaft past where the seal sits.

And when turned on, water pours out of the end of the shaft as well as that hole. How the heck is this supposed to seal?

 

[tncatadjuster]

Anti-siphon valves allow water to only flow in one direction. For irrigation purposes, it prevents water from the system from being siphoned back into the water supply line. Essentially, it stops unsafe water from entering a clean water supply such as the water that comes from your faucets or shower heads.

Not sure what is wrong with it, I would look up Mfg and model #.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Lookup the manufacturer I'm sure they have spare parts...

Looks like a frost free faucet? Their design in a little different than a typical one.

 

[Shawn S]

As the picture above shows, the true seal/washer is located inside the house. You still access it from the handle side, but it recessed in the assembly so you don't freeze it in the winter.
As you can tell by my wording I am not a plumber.

 

[bczygan]

Needs new stem packing?

 

[The Cobbler]

shut off the water to it, remove the stem & probably will see some sort of packing ring , o ring or something .
I have seen the anti siphons act up too.

 

[Musicinabottle]

I just went through this with mine. You most likely have a piece of something in the anti siphon valve located under the plastic cap at the top of the valve. Unscrew it then turn on the water to flush it out. I put up with mine doing leaking around the handle ( so it appeared) until I got to looking at it closer. When I did flush the anti siphon, a piece of black something came out. By the way, these don't prevent siphoning, but rather break the vacuum in the line so that the water doesn't sit in your hose and in the outside portion of your valve, then freeze in the Winter cold. Unthread that plastic cap on the top, turn the water on then push in the small plastic orifice in the center with a small stick or a nail or something like that.

 

[James E]

I think it's an anti-freeze spigot. The actual seal is back inside the crawl space at the back of the valve like in EOCJason's picture. The whole deal is encased in a larger tube that allows the water to drain out at the handle in case there is a leak or if it actually freezes up. You wouldn't want to move the valve inside the crawl space then allow the thing to leak under the house!

I don't know how easy it is to rehab these valves but I think you can get replacement washers and seals for them just like you can for a standard spigot.

 

[PT Doc]

If you have access from the interior, replace with new woodford frost free valve from HD.

 

[ford33]

You can buy an entire sill **** seal kit from the big box store for about $21. Take the valve apart and replace all of the seals. If one is leaking the others will surely follow in a year or two.

I recommend taking a picture of the parts as you take them out of the valve. It is easy to put a packing seal in backwards or install the seals in the wrong order. I forgot which seals went in the order and had to make a guess on a couple of seals.

It is not hard to repair the valve. You can do it in less than 30 minutes.

 

[James-W]

Or, you could just replace the whole faucet. I replaced one of mine about 4 years ago. The new one cost less that $20 at that time, probably a bit more now but it shouldn't be too much more.

 

[johnnyradiant]

Caution on complete replacement

If the original installer just put a FIP fitting on the end of a piece of copper you could twist the copper into two pieces before you unthread the sillcock or before you get the new one all the way on. Also make sure you use teflon tape or dope when putting the new one on you don't want a little constant drip happening in the depths of your wall. Ideally you will find that the installer put the sillcock on a threaded drop ear elbow (they are also commonly seen in the wall where your shower head is attached).

New ones are also in ball valve format.

 

[NUTTSGT]

If I were to replace the entire unit, I'd put a quarter turn ball valve on the inside to shut off the tap when going on vacation. No reason to pay for the neighborhood kids slip-n-slide.

 

[ddawg16]

If I were to replace the entire unit, I'd put a quarter turn ball valve on the inside to shut off the tap when going on vacation. No reason to pay for the neighborhood kids slip-n-slide.

But it's so fun...............

 

[yeldogt]

I believe the OP's valve is leaking only when "on" -- the water is leaking through the weep hole at the front of the assembly when the water faucet is open and he has a closed nozzle on the end of the hose.

The weep hole is part of the anti-siphon system ... should the house loose water pressure ----- opening an exterior hose under pressure could send hose water back into he house. The AS is designed to relieve the pressure in the hose.

I think mine were arrowhead .. I finally had to replace them. Cleaning everything worked for me on one -- the others kept leaking. I replaced the seals around the antiphon on another .. only to have it leak again.

Unfortunately -- my plumber used the sweat connection vs installing a female fitting and threading the valve .... had to cut mine out..

I installed Legend valves -- have had no issues. If you read the reviews --for all of them -- people have problems. Including the Legend. For an open basement situation -- I would not use them.

 

[jloehlein]

Thanks for all the replies. Taking the cap off and flushing it didn't do anything besides soak me in water. Looks like I will have to get access to remove it (it's above a finished portion of the basement).

 

[n20junkie]

Those things are nothing but damn issues.


I removed them and went to a straight ball valve style. We have interior ball valve shutoffs for all the exterior spigots, and shut them off and drain in the fall. Takes all of 5 minutes.

 

[wssix99]

Thanks for all the replies. Taking the cap off and flushing it didn't do anything besides soak me in water. Looks like I will have to get access to remove it (it's above a finished portion of the basement).

You shouldn't need to do that. If you can identify the make and model of the spigot, (look at the stamps on the side and on the plastic cap to ID) you should be able to find a rebuild kit with all the seals and washers.

A few turns of the wrench will take all the innards out, leaving your valve body (and your interior finishes) intact. Replace, reassemble, and

If you can't find the make and model, then... that's a more unfortunate situation. (This reminds me that I should probably go buy rebuild kits for mine while I can and have them on hand for the future.)

 

[Musicinabottle]

Thanks for all the replies. Taking the cap off and flushing it didn't do anything besides soak me in water.

Any chance you got that on home security for all of us to view?

 

[jloehlein]

Any chance you got that on home security for all of us to view?

Hah, no - I imagine I just looked annoyed. Since there is no shutoff valve on the line and the connection is buried inside the wall, I'll wait until a convenient time to shut the water off to the house and pull the guts out. Looks like replacement inards are cheap. Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.

 

[Spencer Was Here]

I had the same thing happen with one of mine this Spring. I emailed the manufacturer to see if this was common and if they could recommend a solution. Since it was brand new last Fall they just sent me a brand new one.

Once I got the new one I planned on simply unscrewing the entire guts assembly and installing the new guts assembly from the new unit. While I had the old guts out, I noticed that the spring on the very end (farthest away from the hose connection), was sticking a bit, so I tried to loosen it up and I reinstalled it. It worked better, but since I had the new guts, I ended up just installing them as I originally planned.

It saved me from having to remove and replace the entire fixture, so the whole repair was done from outside. If you can find an exact match at the store you could do the same.

Otherwise, as others have said, you can simply just replace the whole unit for less than $30.

 

[Musicinabottle]

Hah, no - I imagine I just looked annoyed. Since there is no shutoff valve on the line and the connection is buried inside the wall, I'll wait until a convenient time to shut the water off to the house and pull the guts out. Looks like replacement inards are cheap. Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.

Well, I hope you beat it!

 

[Lelandwelds]

Yet another reason to be glad I dont live north of Waco.

 

[6PTsocket]

I have frost free faucets like the one shown. They do leak except when fully open or fully closed. See if that is the case with yours. I didn't know it was called a sillcock. Live and learn.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk