Toolbelt Tips - Home DIY Blog

Non-Working Outside Faucet - Quick and Dirty Solution.

by William on July 16th, 2008

I have an outside faucet that doesn’t work.  While I don’t have the monetary resources at the moment (nor the desire to dirty myself up in the crawlspace today on a longer project) I do need another working faucet that I can hook a garden hose up to. It also has to be a cheap fix.

This other faucet will mainly be used for refilling a fish tank or hooking a garden hose up for quick jobs such as bathing the dog  outside so it needs a shut-off but does not need to be anything extra special.

Budget: under $10
Tools: pliers, plumbers tape
Time Frame: 15 minutes

First off, my washer hookups reside in the kitchen, so this is the faucet I am going to use.  Now I just have to split the cold water side into two faucets with individual shut-offs.  Remember, we are renting a house (albeit from relatives), so I don’t want to get into too much plumbing work, just basic stuff.

Basically, I just need a brass Y adapter - 1 female to two males 3/4" to make this work.

So, I take my trip to the local Home Depot and pick-up the following.

I lost my receipt already.  I am bad about things like that. But the Y adapter was around $4 and the tape was just over $1.  This means I may be under budget, but I forgot the cardinal rule and took my wife along to Home Depot… she has two boxes of CFL bulbs in the cart.  (Why did she have to get a cart when we came in?)  Each box of CFL bulbs is 5.88

Over budget but it really is my wife’s fault.  (grumble grumble)

I removed the cold water hose from the faucet and cleaned up the threads just a bit to make sure I get a good clean surface to work with.

Using the plumbers tape I made it look… pretty?  No, that’s not right.  Well, I put it on.

Next up is the Y adapter/fixture.  I love working with new parts by the way.  Especially brass, because you don’t have to worry about rust, etc…

Here is my new fixture screwed on and not leaking.  I turn the water on at this point to make sure my seals are holding and the shut-offs are not letting any water through when in the off position.

Now, I just wrap more plumbers tape around the threads and hook my washer back up to the left side.  I’ll use the other side as my utility faucet to attach the hose to.

There you have it!  Extra nozzle for use with the garden hose to do odd jobs and the washer hooked up too.  Now I just leave the one on for the washer and turn the other one on as I need it.

I was under budget for this project (at least before the light bulbs) and it only took about 10 minutes of work.  Now… to clean the dog.

All images are used by permission from me, myself and I.  - decloned

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POSTED IN: Exterior, Faucets, Plumbing Tips