On Sep 4, 11:50*am, Matt wrote:
I have a hose bib in my garage that simply appears out of a hole in
the drywall. *It has a 45 degree turn connector and a vacuum breaker
attached, and then the garden hose. *The valve is always open, as it
is regulated at the exiting end of the hose. *Once in a while water
leaks from the valve itself - typically when toilets are flushed or
the washing machine is running in the house. *I took the vacuum
breaker and 45 out of the equation and it seems to be a tight
connection now. *The gasket on the breaker looks to be a bit worn.
Other issue is that the valve simply comes out of a 1" hole in the
drywall. *I haven't looked behind, but the valve is very loose - like
I can move it probably 1" or more in every direction (in/out/up/down/
left/right), and then it is only restrained by the size of the drywall
hole. *Should I just replace the entire valve with an anti-siphon
valve (i have soldered before, but it is NOT my profession), should I
just buy a new vacuum breaker with new gasket and spackle the hole
around the valve to make it a little tighter, or should i find some
other mechanical means of securing the valve to the drywall. *I hate
that every time I turn that valve on or off it moves in and out of the
wall, or left/right/up/down and puts stress on the water pipe behind
the drywall. *Sorry to be long winded, but thanks.

Are you sure the existing valve is not an anti-syphon? Because it
sounds like one. Anti-syphon will leak water if the pressure in the
house system drops for any reason and the valve is on. Like flushing
a toilet. That is to prevent water re-entering the house system from
the hose. It doesn't close anything, it simply vents the excess
pressure at the valve.