Here is the situation. Home is 15 years old, wood frame with stucco exterior. Typical of construction in the southwest USA. The plumbing is PEX line with a manifold valve station in the laundry room. I needed to replace a hose bib. The old vacuum breaker was spraying all over the place. I obtained an Arrow-Breaker from Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing, with a compression fitting for 1/2" copper. The Arrow-Breaker is a hose bib with the vacuum breaker integrated into the valve body instead of being an add-on. The connection was a compression nut onto a 1/2" copper stub coming out of the wall. I removed the old hose bib, and then, based on a neighbors recommendation (who said it would leak if I re-used the old ring), removed the old compression ring & nut, replacing it with the new one that came with the Arrow-Breaker.
Now I have a small leak at the compression fitting causing water to leak down the stucco.
As I later found out, in most cases, re-using the old compression ring and nut is recommended as long as there are no leaks.
I have the compression nut snugged up as tight as it will go, but still have a leak.
I'm guessing that inside the wall, there is a junction of some sort connecting the PEX to the 1/2" copper stub for the compression fitting on the hose bib.
How can I fix the leak?
I think that the copper stub coming out of the stucco wall was grooved from the old compression ring, and now the new ring can't reform enough to seal it.
I can't see how to replace the 1/2" copper stub. The stub comes out of the wall only enough to allow for the hose bib, so I can't sweat a coupling onto the old pipe, and then a new short stub for
the compression fitting. I don't want to have to open the wall up from the inside to get access to the copper/PEX junction to put a new length of copper on, and I'd rather not have to
bust up the stucco on the outside of the house.
To keep things from leaking at the hose bib, I am using the manifold valve in the laundry room as needed.
I am hoping that there is some sort of an adapter (or whatever) out there to help correct this dilemma of mine.
How would a professional fix this the right way?
Your suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance (especially since I need to replace the one in the front yard also).
Here is a Youtube link that explains the Arrow-Breaker:
Here is the link for the company that makes the Arrow-Breaker, but the link generally does not work when the company is closed:
Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing: http://champion-arrowhead.com/
Now I have a small leak at the compression fitting causing water to leak down the stucco.
As I later found out, in most cases, re-using the old compression ring and nut is recommended as long as there are no leaks.
I have the compression nut snugged up as tight as it will go, but still have a leak.
I'm guessing that inside the wall, there is a junction of some sort connecting the PEX to the 1/2" copper stub for the compression fitting on the hose bib.
How can I fix the leak?
I think that the copper stub coming out of the stucco wall was grooved from the old compression ring, and now the new ring can't reform enough to seal it.
I can't see how to replace the 1/2" copper stub. The stub comes out of the wall only enough to allow for the hose bib, so I can't sweat a coupling onto the old pipe, and then a new short stub for
the compression fitting. I don't want to have to open the wall up from the inside to get access to the copper/PEX junction to put a new length of copper on, and I'd rather not have to
bust up the stucco on the outside of the house.
To keep things from leaking at the hose bib, I am using the manifold valve in the laundry room as needed.
I am hoping that there is some sort of an adapter (or whatever) out there to help correct this dilemma of mine.
How would a professional fix this the right way?
Your suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance (especially since I need to replace the one in the front yard also).
Here is a Youtube link that explains the Arrow-Breaker:
Here is the link for the company that makes the Arrow-Breaker, but the link generally does not work when the company is closed:
Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing: http://champion-arrowhead.com/
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