I have what appears to be a stripped out faucet handle on my outdoor spigot, and I am wondering if I can just replace parts, or if I need to get the entire thing replaced.

Background: I have two exterior spigots, one in the rear of my house, one in the front. The rear one works fine. The front one, the handle just spins freely either direction. I have already been under my house to look for cut-off valves (none), and I have removed the handle by unscrewing the flathead screw that attaches it to the spigot. The nut (?) that the screw inserts into also spins freely when I turn it with a pair of needle nose pliers. I do live in a northern zone, so it is probably a frost-free faucet. The house was built in 1981.

Thanks!

I have had this issue with several frost proof spigots and they can be repaired. However, I prefer to relace them because parts are difficult to find and no universal kits work. That spigot reaches inside your home 8-12" and can be threaded or soldered. Locate the connection and tell us what you have.

Mine is soldered, which I am guessing means a plumber. I don't know that I have the tools to mess with copper and solder.

Probably not a bad idea. The new spigot also must be disassembled from the outside before soldering.

I did not need a new sillcock. The rubber washer at the end of the stem was entirely trashed and simply needed to be replaced. A $0.40 part. However, I would never had noticed that if the stem had not been ejected by water pressure when trying to refit the packing nut.

Current frost proof sil cocks have no washers but employ a plastic valve. The failures I have seen frequently come from that plastic valve stripping off the stem, that's why you can turn in both directions.