Does this look sound?

[BikeRack]

The joint on my mother-in-law's garden spigot failed, and caused a flood inside her home. A plumber came around to make a repair. He installed a new frost-free spigot. The new joint looks a bit questionable to me, though. Apparently, the spigot manufacturer offers an inlet configuration which accepts a thread or a sweat joint, so while a sweat joint into a threaded fitting is not necessarily a deal breaker. The staggered collection of unions joining the water pipe to the spigot looked questionable to me, though. I just don't want a repeat of this incident. There is mold damage inside the wall, and a room has to be completely re-carpeted.

 

[johnjh2o]

The joints look fine although he used more fittings then he needed. But it's no reason to be concerned. My guess is the joint didn't fail on the old one. What could have happened is there was a hose attached to the frost proof during cold weather and it froze.

John

 

[IFIXH20]

looks like he used the fittings to makeup for the tilted water line, you should be ok. Better that than foreing the piping together

 

[stevemachine]

Those frost frees are 1/2 mip and the inside is 1/2 sweat on all the ones I've ever installed. Looks fine to me.

 

[AQualityPlumber]

If he was a real nice guy, he could of put a shut off and insulated it. Now if that has to be replaced again it will be a pain in the butt having to cut the line so low.

 

[johnjh2o]

If he was a real nice guy, he could of put a shut off and insulated it. Now if that has to be replaced again it will be a pain in the butt having to cut the line so low.

That would depend on what the costumer asked him to do and at what cost.

John

 

[AQualityPlumber]

That is a fact.

 

[stevemachine]

A shut off is nice but yeah I've offered it before an customers say no cause the extra cost. And I'm up here in Alberta Canada and I've never insulated a single frost free. If its installed right you should never need it. Just grade it and you are set.

 

[AQualityPlumber]

No contest. These are just a few things that we do to ensure the highest quality installation. They are not code requirements. We just try to give our clients that extra pizzazz that separates us from the average Joe. A couple feet of insulation and a 1/2 ball valve is not a deal breaker for a new hose bib and does not add that much cost to the job. However does make the client feel like they really higherd a quality Plumber. Again I say that these are not upc plumbing code required by the state of Washington.

 

[AQualityPlumber]

But still a good idea for service ability and longevity of the bib.

 

[johnjh2o]

But still a good idea for service ability and longevity of the bib.

Agreed, but like with just about everything cost comes in to play. More today then at any other time. Everyone would like to own the best of everything but not like are government we must live within our means.

John

 

[stevemachine]

Yeah I agree, it does put you higher than your competition. And for a ball valve being an extra 5 or 10 bucks it's a good idea. Depends on the guy. But like John said I mean if you do 40 hose Bibbs in the summer for your whole company, there's 400 bucks you could have saved. It can really go either way, some customers just expect it and others realize you didnt have to go the extra mile but you did anyways.

 

[PioneerPlumber]

I'm sorry, but this entire job looks like crap. The solder joints are ugly and he used to many fittings. Two 45's would have been more than enough to create a swing joint and correct the riser and make it plumb. It actually looks like its in a bind now as if he didn't want to have to cut any pipe... Even the street 90 isn't inserted all the way into the fitting... Just sayin. Lol

 

[PioneerPlumber]

And as far as installing a full port ball valve, that would certainly help, however probably not cost effective. Definitely offer it to the customer and let them make the educated decision. The valve Ned's to be accessible and depending on the application, now you may need to install and access panel and possible take the handle off as well. ****, if you're going to put a ball valve in, see if there is some other place that may help isolate more than one fixture. Ball valve seems like over kill to me...

 

[Tdanger]

A shut off is nice but yeah I've offered it before an customers say no cause the extra cost. And I'm up here in Alberta Canada and I've never insulated a single frost free. If its installed right you should never need it. Just grade it and you are set.

I live in wpg, Manitoba and we are subject to every weather extreme and it's always a good idea to Insulate water lines. You insulate your hot for energy savings and your cold to prevent condensation. If this guy waters his lawn on a hot day that copper line with condensate like crazy causing a small amount of water damage and this will lead to mold and rotting of wood which are not good things...

 

[stevemachine]

Yeah I suppose that's true, not saying its a bad idea but it's probably not entirely necessary. Alberta weather is almost as bad too and I agree there can wind up being a lot of condensation but I've never saw it so bad to damage like wood and drywall. But each to their own, insulation isn't a bad idea I just don't usually do it besides mobile homes.

 

[Brent]

It may just be me but it looks like that's a 1/2 copper street 90 sweated into the end of that hosebib. If it is a street fitting I would question if it's fully inserted into the hub of the hosebib. It looks like its not pushed in all the way and cocked at an angle.