[nome_man]

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!

[ballengerb1]

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.

[nome_man]

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.

[ballengerb1]

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

[nome_man]

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.

[ballengerb1]

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.