Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

Swapping out an older wall mounted utility faucet

Waher
Waher Member Posts: 287
edited October 5 in Plumbing

Before I attempt to swap out this older utility faucet for this one:

https://www.zurn.com/products/finish-plumbing/aquaspec-manual-faucets/manual-faucets/wall-mount-faucets/z843/z843m4-xl

Is there anything special I should be aware of or prepared for? I presume I should be able to undo the nuts, unscrew the escutcheons off threaded supply lines and replace the faucet with the same style installation. But I'm not sure if it's really that 'easy' in the real world.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,878

    That's what you need to do. Based on some experience, though… it's that "undo the nuts" which may have you talking to yourself. But you may have enough pipe there to get a backup wrench on. If so, do.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,408

    the new faucet may not match those nuts and you will need to work back to the female thread at or in the wall

    You will know when you get the new faucet and compare the connection threads

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,955

    There are also styles of faucets with a swivel and offset butlt in to the unions that lets you connect it to supply pipes with different centers. Is there a reason you're replacing it instead of just re-gasketing it?

    Lyle {pheloa} Carter
  • Waher
    Waher Member Posts: 287

    I'm not going to reuse the escutcheon nuts. I'm going to screw those off as well so it's the threaded ends of the pipes coming out of the wall with the new escutcheon nuts with the swiveled union connections to the reverse threaded nuts that thread onto the back of the faucet.

    The gasket to the wall isn't a problem, it's the cartridges and the faucet neck which no longer seal properly, so if I use the faucet it will leak for 45 minutes to an hour before it finally seals itself again even after I retorque the bonnets/neck nut. It is a no-name faucet from at least 1991 that someone replaced the original 1950 brass clamp style faucet on the Aberene soap stone sink with. I'd rather replace it with a reputable US manufactured lead free faucet with ceramic cartridges, a vacuum breaker, and hose thread to make it easier to fill mop buckets in the basement and wash out both of the sink basins, than fuss with trying to find replacement parts.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,878

    Quite agree. That faucet isn't old enough to worth the effort of restoring, nor new enough to be reasonably repairable. Swap it out for a nice new one. And, since it is relatively new, the threads on the pipes from the wall ought to be modern standard. Go back a few more decades, and things get much more interesting!

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    Waher
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,955

    I mean the gaskets in the faucet, the bib washers and the stem packing or o-rings and the packing or o-ring for the spout.

    if you do replace it i would go with a compression faucet, it will be a lot easier to find a bib washer in 20 years when it leaks than a proprietary cartridge.

    delcrossvWaher
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,353

    Chicago Faucet is my go-to for utility faucets. Worth the cake, as they say.

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
    Alan (California Radiant) ForbesLarry WeingartenWaher
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,878
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    mattmia2delcrossvWaher
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,298

    that style I go commercial


    T & S Brass

    mattmia2Intplm.Waher
  • My experience is that when you remove the adaptor, the threads on the remaining nipples coming out of the wall are half gone.
    Removing them with a nipple extractor is a trial. Replace with brass.

    8.33 lbs./gal. x 60 min./hr. x 20°ΔT = 10,000 BTU's/hour

    Two btu per sq ft for degree difference for a slab
    delcrossvmattmia2Waher