I'm located in the Phoenix AZ area. I have a hose bib that's continually leaking. It's time to get it replaced, I think I can do it but the whole pipe and bib is painted over. Can I just use a plumber's torch to burn off the paint from the bib and pipe?

I believe it's the soldered kind too but not too positive because of the paint. I'll post a pic later.
Thanks!

Here's the pic..

Hi Reybie:

Don't use a torch to clean this up. Take some sandpaper and clean around that end joint where the hose bib is.

If this is a threaded adapter you can use two wrenches to simply unscrew the old hose bib and screw in a new one... that would be nice... :)

If it isn't, then you will need to clean the entire tee fitting up until it is all shiny copper. I will explain in better detail if you need that info.

Clean the end... repost a pic.

MARK

Looking at the fitting I can see it's soldered in. Follow Nilos directions and be sure thew water's all out of the pipe before you attempt to unsolder. Good luck, Tom

If you put torch on the connection the valve will come out. Pipe will be clean on the interior. The paint really should not be an issue.

I suggest you solder in Female Adapter and then screw in your new valve. This way, you won't have to deal with soldering when replacing valve in the future.

I might have time to tackle this one this weekend, OK to use one of those sharkbite thingymajigs on this?

Sharkbite fitting won't do you any good in this instance. unless you plan to cut out the tee, and use two sharkbite couplings, and one sharkbite tee and a sharkbite by female or male thread to adapt to the new hose bibb. If you do go this route, you will definitely have to get all the paint cleaned off the pipe where sharbites connect. I really think you best bet is to just unsolder the old bib, solder in a female adapter(as Milo suggested) then tread in a new hose bibb.

For some reason the hose bib you have looks like a threaded hose bib(judging from the hex shape where you would put your pliers to tighen the bibb in. Can you clean that area up where the bibb connects to the tee, I think I may see a joint that is sweated into the tee, that may have female threads on the inside. Cleanit up with a knife, or wire brush and post another pic if you can.

You didn't say where is it leaking from, if it drips from the spout you don't need to replace the hose bib, replace the washer at end of the stem, see the atthament pictures will show you how to remove the stem and replace the washer, if it is leaking from packing nut you can tighten it or replace the packing, will save you mony and time, unless I read your post wrong, good luck.

John

Afaroo, thanks for that very detailed post. I did forget to mention where the leak is coming from in my original post. During my first few attempts to fix this leak I was removed the packing nut and pulled out the stem hoping I can just replace the washer at the end of the stem but the whole thing was so old that the thread where the washer screw goes in is already worn out and falling apart. I took it to my local hardware to see if I can find the same stem but I was told they don't make it anymore and the only way I can fix it is to replace the whole assembly. This is what led me to posting here. I have not tackled this kind of diy project before. I figured the assembly is far from the wall enough that I won't burn the house down with the use of a torch.

In this case you need to replace the whole assembly, follow the instructions from all the experts above, and I like Milo's suggestion to solder a Female Adapter and then screw in your new valve. This way, you won't have to deal with soldering when replacing this valve in the future and be careful with the torch, good luck.

John

I had some time to kill today so I sanded the connection and this is what came out of all the paint...

That's fine. Now close water, open valve to drain the pipe, apply heat to the joint between hose bib and the fitting and remove the valve.

I agree with Milo Looking at the picture you can clearly see it is soldered and you need a torch, and will be a good idea to follow Milo's suggestion in post #5, Good luck.

John

Please let us know how it all goes, and come on back for any further questions. Good luck.

I finally got me some time today to do this but I started too late, there was still water in the pipe and I waited for almost an hour :(

I will give it a go again tomorrow and hopefully I will get all of the water out so I can start desoldering the bib.

You can use a wet vac to remove the water.

Also remember to open a fixture to drain any water(if you have a fixture that is lower than the bib) Other than that, suck the water out with a vac as Kiss suggested, then you can just keep applying heat to the joint and any little amount of water that is left will eventually boil out allowing the solder to melt.

Ok, I think this is getting a bit more complicated than I originally planned. I shut of the main valve, it's the one circled in red. I used a wet vac for about a minute, stopped, it started dripping within seconds. I did the wet vac thing again a few more times, each a few minutes long. It does the same stupid thing each time, continuous dripping. What are the chances that the main valve is not sealing well, not really shutting off the water supply to the house?

Do I call the water company and request a water shut off for a few hours so I can try and see if there's a bad seal in the main valve? :confused:


Edit: Oooh I didn't even notice that, see the dripping in the picture?

Did you drain water from inside of the house ? Open hot and cold water valves at several plumbing fixtures in the house. Let the water drain from this valve.

Turn hot water heater thermostat to "Vacation" setting so it won't come ON while water is OFF. Drain bucket of hot water from the heater

Turn off main water valve at the meter. Dripping should stop...

That's a "T" fitting. Where does the horizontal section go?

For the vacuum to work, the system needs to be open at two ends.

Thus turning off the main and doing what Milo says. Then opening up something downstream and then vacuum.

I'd also make sure that lower valve is working and I'd want to know where the horizontal section is going.

The horizontal part of the T fitting goes to the inside of the house. This is the main supply for the whole house.

I'm a dummy, I did not think about the hot water faucets in the house. I had the sink, another outside hose bib, bathroom, and flushed two toilets (thinking it was the lowest outlet) open. I left all of those fixtures open while I was vacuuming. It just occurred to me that it might be that lower valve being bad also that's why I can not get the water to stop dripping.

The lower valve looks like it could use replacing.

Where I live, homeowners can put a deposit down on the tools necessary to turn the water off at the street. In a nearby city, you cannot. It depends on who supplies your water.

There are also two shutoffs in the house on both sides of the meter.

If you should decide to replace the shutoff and can turn it off at the street, you would need to cut the verticle pipe. Remove the shutoff by unsoldering at the bottom. Then probably use a repair coupling and two sections of pipe to complete the vertical section.

I have not ventured out in the alley yet where the water meters are. I will have to investigate that if my next try this weekend doesn't pan out. That or just pay someone to do it... one more try, not quite ready to give up yet.

Have you practiced soldering yet?

Replace the shutoff with a 1/4 turn ball valve.

What happens sometimes is that when you don't drain a bit of water off the water heater. It burps back into the cold water system. Turning it to vacation and turning the cold supply off is fine because your working on the cold water system.

Repair couplings allow a copper tube to pass through them whereas a coupling does not.

I soldered electronics before but this is different, I did watch a couple of YouTube videos if that counts :)

Good question though, I will grab me some pipes and cheap fittings to practice on.

Electronics soldering is a start. Soldering with the Tin-Antimony solders can be fun.

The tool with 4 wire brushes, 2 for internal and two for external 1/3 and 3/4 makes life really easy.

Put a piece of pipe vertical. Cut fittings and remove burrs. Test fit.

Clean the inside and outside with the brush to remove the oxides. Apply flux.

Put fitting on top.

Heat fitting not pipe (move torch for uniform heating). Note about when the flux starts to smoke.

Test the temperature with the solder on the OPPOSITE side of the pipe. Once it melts, go around the joint. The solder will suck up by capilary action.

You can have a damp rag handy to wipe the joint for a professional appearance.

After it cools wipe the flux off (baking soda and warm water).

My method of teaching someone to solder.

I did a water heater WITH a friend. I did the tricky joints. He did the others. Then he was able to do a 40 joint job with no issues.

I like to teach defying gravity first because it gives you a better feel.