Install faucet onto outdoor pipe

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gilesitis

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Hi all,

I need to reconnect a faucet to an outdoor PVC pipe (that was capped off) so that I can reach my grass seed with water. Is it just a matter of unscrewing that blue cap and then twisting on a faucet to the white coupling piece on the pipe? Or are there some other things to be aware of? I am not very experienced with plumbing as you can likely tell from this post : )

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A picture I took can be found here
 

charlesey

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Also connect a shut-off valve, with a drain, on the confidential of the household. Shut off the valve and drain wholly of the water from your pipe. You’ll evade revolting spurt pipes during cold weather.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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Word of caution. Use 2 pair of wrenches or pliers... pliers will work best on the PVC. But ensure that you have a firm grip on the PVC fitting as you don't want to transfer energy to the pipe and end up twisting it and breaking it off below the ground. When instructing new hires, I refer to that as your backing wrench.

When you go to install your control valve on the plastic threads, make sure to use the same backing wrench technique, but obviously in the opposite direction. Firstly tho, you will want to make sure that your valve or fitting you're screwing on is square with the male adapter.. its very easy to crossthread plastic and can ruin the fitting. 2-3 wraps with a quality teflon pipe tape should do the trick. Do not over tighten as you can snap the plastic threads off.
 

gilesitis

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Word of caution. Use 2 pair of wrenches or pliers... pliers will work best on the PVC. But ensure that you have a firm grip on the PVC fitting as you don't want to transfer energy to the pipe and end up twisting it and breaking it off below the ground. When instructing new hires, I refer to that as your backing wrench.

When you go to install your control valve on the plastic threads, make sure to use the same backing wrench technique, but obviously in the opposite direction. Firstly tho, you will want to make sure that your valve or fitting you're screwing on is square with the male adapter.. its very easy to crossthread plastic and can ruin the fitting. 2-3 wraps with a quality teflon pipe tape should do the trick. Do not over tighten as you can snap the plastic threads off.
So grip the pvc part with one set of pliers and then twist off the blue cap with another set of pliers?

Is the control valve just one piece? Just want to make sure I get the correct part at Lowe’s. Thanks for your help.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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Yes. Grip the PVC with one set of plier and use a 2nd set to remove the copper threaded piece. The blue portion is just PEX pipe attached to it.. don't turn that portion.

the "control valve" is just a threaded ball valve with a lever handle that will allow you to turn your water on or off at that point. If you're using it to add a watering hose you can probably get a fitting to thread into the other side of the control valve that will accept hose thread. In an effort to recommend best practices, the use of a vacuum breaker would also keep the water supply safe in case your hose end were in a puddle with any sort of chemical or other contaminant that could potentially get siphoned back into the water supply.
 

gilesitis

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Yes. Grip the PVC with one set of pliers and use a 2nd set to remove the copper threaded piece. The blue portion is just PEX pipe attached to it.. don't turn that portion.

the "control valve" is just a threaded ball valve with a lever handle that will allow you to turn your water on or off at that point. If you're using it to add a watering hose you can probably get a fitting to thread into the other side of the control valve that will accept hose thread. In an effort to recommend best practices, the use of a vacuum breaker would also keep the water supply safe in case your hose end were in a puddle with any sort of chemical or other contaminant that could potentially get siphoned back into the water supply.
Thank you so much for the advice. I shouldn’t need any glue right? Just thread it on with Teflon tape?

Also is there a way to find out the size part I’ll need before I take the PEX off?

It says 3/4 on that coupling piece but not sure if that indicates size.

Didn’t know if there was some standard size for PVC applications like this.
 
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Reach4

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I would consider some support to prevent the hose from pulling hard on this piping.

I would have considered removing ring B and putting in a new PEX fitting, or cutting that PEX at C and putting in a new fitting. That would minimize stress on the PVC from unscrewing off the old fitting and screwing on the new. If you cut at C, you could put on a sharkbite fitting rather than crimping on a fitting.

Your current plan, I think, is to unscrew E from F. A 1/2 inch threaded fitting is about o.84 inches OD, and 3/4 is about 1.05 inches OD at the outside of the threads.

img_2.jpg


sharkbite-hose-bibbs-24622lf-c3_145.jpg
Suppose you cut the pex at C put a Sharkbite garden valve on (available for 1/2 and 3/4 inch pex). Then build a support/frame and screw the fitting to that to take the stress. Put an external vacuum breaker and put your hose on that.

Drain the line before any freeze.
 
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gilesitis

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I would consider some support to prevent the hose from pulling hard on this piping.

I would have considered removing ring B and putting in a new PEX fitting, or cutting that PEX at C and putting in a new fitting. That would minimize stress on the PVC from unscrewing off the old fitting and screwing on the new. If you cut at C, you could put on a sharkbite fitting rather than crimping on a fitting.

Your current plan, I think, is to unscrew E from F. A 1/2 inch threaded fitting is about o.84 inches OD, and 3/4 is about 1.05 inches OD at the outside of the threads.

View attachment 55852

sharkbite-hose-bibbs-24622lf-c3_145.jpg
Suppose you cut the pex at C put a Sharkbite garden valve on (available for 1/2 and 3/4 inch pex). Then build a support/frame and screw the fitting to that to take the stress. Put an external vacuum breaker and put your hose on that.

Drain the line before any freeze.
Your suggestion is the only way to go I’ve realized. I tried unscrewing the PEX from the PVC but it hardly budged. Ended up shredding the PVC a little bit it still seems fine. Looks like I’ll have to cut the PEX and put the Sharkbite on. Can I cut the PEX with a regular hacksaw?
 

Jadnashua

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Measure the OD of the pipe. 1/2" pex would be 5/8" OD.

Note, an outdoor valve like that should probably have an anti-siphon, vacuum breaker built-in, or added on.
 

Reach4

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You can cut PEX with a knife.
It might be best to get some scrap pieces of PEX to experiment on. You want a nice square cut, and you want to get it right the first time you work with the real thing.

Check with a friend who might have done pex stuff before.
 
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