Hi All,

I was hoping someone has run into this problem before. My
father-in-law recently installed one of those outdoor frost free
faucets/sillcocks but there is a problem. It has the valve on the end,
the spigot, and vacuum break on top. Here is a pictu

http://www.houseneeds.com/Shop/plumb...efaucetbuy.asp

Well, from the first time that I used it a lot of water has been coming
out of that top vacuum break. I tried tightening the nut/capon the
break but it did nothing. Is the fauct broken?

Thanks,
Joe

if I remember correctly that vacum break is to keep water from your hose
from pushing back into the house. Disconect your hose, run some water, shut
off valve. See if it still leaks. If it does it could be defective, if it
doesn't then it may be working as designed. What a pain huh? If its working
as designed and you are not pulling permits and such see if you can get the
old style somewhere and install that. Your problem will go away.
wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All,

I was hoping someone has run into this problem before. My
father-in-law recently installed one of those outdoor frost free
faucets/sillcocks but there is a problem. It has the valve on the end,
the spigot, and vacuum break on top. Here is a pictu

http://www.houseneeds.com/Shop/plumb...efaucetbuy.asp

Well, from the first time that I used it a lot of water has been coming
out of that top vacuum break. I tried tightening the nut/capon the
break but it did nothing. Is the fauct broken?

Thanks,
Joe

Thank you for the reply but I think I fixed it. I will post what I did
in case others have the same problem.

I took the cover off of the vacuum break/breather (which is made of
plastic but was painted a shiny silver color to look like metal, cheap
*******s) and looked inside. I saw this plastic device that had a
washer on the bottom and four prongs pointing up. After staring at the
this plastic device continuously for four hours the light bulb came
on.

[Long version]
I figured that when the cap was screwed on a little chamber was formed
that channeled the water to flow up towards the cap. At the top of the
chamber, on the inside of the cap, was a hole that was smaller than the
washer on the head of the plastic device. This hole let the water flow
through and out. The plastic device fit in the chamber but was upside
down. I figured the plastic prongs were the feet and the washer was the
head and when the water was turned on the water pressure would push
this device up against the cap forming a seal. I also figure when the
valve was turned off the pressure would drop and the plastic device
would drop, breaking the seal. This would allow air to come in so the
water could drain easily out of the pipe through the faucet.

[Short version]
The thingy was upside down.

So, I turned this plastic device upside down and carefully put the cap
over it so was as centered as possible inside the chamber and screwed
the cap on tight. I turned the water on and no leaks. The real test was
when I squeezed the sprayer on the hose because it used to REALLY leak
when I tried to spray some water from the hose. When I tried it,
everything worked fine! I luckily saved myself some time and money by
not replacing the darn thing, like I was going to.

So, I hope this helps this someone else. The sad part is that someone
of normal intelligence could have figured it out in a fraction of the
time that it took me. %-)

-- Joe