How to Install an Outdoor Faucet

It’s not a bad idea to install an outdoor faucet especially during milder climates. It causes pointless struggles with lengthy hoses and leaking diverters for watering your garden or lawn. In this article, I am going to describe the process of installing your new outdoor faucet.

Tools required:

· 4-in-1 screwdriver

· Air compressor

· Adjustable wrench

· Caulk gun

· Drill bit set

· Air hose

· Cordless drill

· Plumbers tape

· PEX crimping tool

· Spade

· Soldering torch

· Utility knife

· Tube cutter

Materials required:

· ¾ inch copper pipes and fittings

· ¾ inch copper T

· ¾ inch PEX T

· ¾ inch female adapter

· ¾ inch PEX to copper transitions

· ¾ inch plug

· ¾ inch by ¼ inch reducer

· Flux

· Backflow preventer

· Lead-free solder

· Gravel

· Pipe elbow or PEX

· Sandpaper

· PVC fence post

· Sill cock

· Shutoff valves

· Sprinkler valve box

Installing pipe and faucet:

Fixing a remote faucet could eliminate the hassle of dragging the hoses forever. This job would take one or two days and this process depends on how much earthwork is required. The cost of installing is around $100 as most of the things you would find in your home.

· Digging:

You should call 811 before digging the trench so that utility companies could locate the pipes and cables that are buried in the yard. You have to conceal the line of the water about six inches deep. When trenching in rocky soil or hard clay, go deep as much as you want.

It is better to dig 12 inches if the soil is soft because it would reduce the future damage risk. To protect the line of water from spade attacks, you would need to cover the tube with soil and pour in at least two inches of dry concrete mixture before you backfill the trench as this would harden it.

· Plumbing:

PEX tubing is flexible and strong to harm from freezing, probably the great option for supply line to your faucet. for getting the right rate of flow at your garden, you should tap into an inner ¾ inch cold-water line. If you could not find that, tap into ½ inch water line but the flow reduces.

· Transition from copper to PEX:

Copper pipe is good for the visible plumbing but PEX tubing is great for underground. It is cheaper and easier for installing. You could make a nonstop run and turns without even connecting any fitting through PEX. It could tolerate the milder freezing well than other copper or CPVC. You have to buy a ¾ inch PEX crimping tool. If you want to save your cash, you may use CPVC. For attaching the PEX with a copper line, you have to join on a switch fitting and crimp PEX to fittings using that tool.

· Blow-out System:

You would need blowing out the system if you are living in a cold zone but do it before the earliest hard freeze or a snowstorm. You may use an air compressor to do this job.

Install a ball valve below rating in a grit pit. You should use a sprinkler valve box for covering it. before the snowstorm, unscrew it’s plug after closing the shutoff valve. After that, screw in an air-hose fitting with a reducer and fix the air hose. Open both the blow out valve and the faucet to drain the water. close only the faucet but not the valve because it could drain excess water with the compressor. Lastly, close that valve and plug in the valve fitting again.

· Mounting your faucet:

You should cut a piece of PVC fence-post for mounting your faucet but for building your personal post, you may cut if from other materials also. Ensure that the PEX could run inside the hollow post and guard it from sunlight as UV light may lessen its life. The depth of setting it should be 18 inches. Screw the sill cock flange to the post. Now install a screw-on backflow preventer

An outdoor faucet could be a useful tool for you to do work outdoors. If you want to install it and don’t know how to install, just follow these steps above. You should be careful when doing this task as it requires accuracy and attention to get a good result out of it.