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libenitz · May 24, 2011, 05:49 PM

So the house we have has a hose bib (I think), it looks like a normal exterior faucet with the old blue wheel dial. It has been leaking pretty bad and we already did the thing where you tighten it down on itself a bit (the actual faucet part, not tighten it to the female part that comes from the house).

There is no tightening left, I think the bushing is beyond usable.

I went to hardware store and they only had a faucet looking thingy with a male fitting that was a boiler drain (red too!) so I got it. I could have gotten the ball valve kind I suppose but it would look strange outside. Also the ones called bib seemed to not have enough threading for a garden hose to attach. A bit confused on terminology here.
My problem is that I put the plumber tape on the 1/2" threads on the fixture I bought and screwed it in and it ends up pointing upward. If I loosen it to point down it leaks. I don't think I can really tighten it anymore, it's as hard as I can by hand but I'm afraid I could break the female end as it is basically elbowing off of 1/2" vertical brass piping. This is piped through a piece of granite that makes up the foundation so I really don't want to go with a frost free sillcock. It already has 2 shut off valves right inside the basement which stays quite warm in winter and it hasn't been a problem in over 5 years.
Any suggestions for easy!! Fix would be great. I thought about a coupler of some kind but it seems I could have the same problem.
Thanks

massplumber2008 · May 24, 2011, 06:06 PM

Hi Libenitz...

Either take the old one out and double the teflon tape you used on the threads (use like 10-12 wraps), or take a larger wrench and hold against yourself as you tighten the faucet that additional 1/2 turn... should be OK!

Of course, I'd try doubling the wraps of teflon first!

Good luck!

Mark

libenitz · May 25, 2011, 09:04 AM

Half turn worked great, thanks

massplumber2008 · May 26, 2011, 05:35 AM

Hi Libenitz,

You said, "My problem is that I put the plumber tape on the 1/2" threads on the fixture I bought and screwed it in and it ends up pointing upward"...

My advice was in regard to this and redoing the teflon tape would have worked here.

With that being said, however, it sounds like you are all set!

Glad if we helped!

Mark