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I tried to remove my garden hose from the spigot on the side of my house and the whole tap came off the copper pipe it was attached to. I had to turn off the water at the mains and cannot turn it back on until it is capped. To this end, I bought a couple of SharkBite end stops. The 3/4" is way too big; the 1/2" is way too small. Baffling.

The pipe itself protrudes just may an inch or an inch and a half from the wall and getting to the piping inside the house would mean putting a hole in the wall. I'm struggling to get a plumber to look at this, so I'm looking for a fix that I can do which would allow me to turn the water back on while we wait for a plumber.

Beyond SharkBites, is there another solution? Alternatively, should I tape up the pipe and then try and fit the 3/4" SharkBite over it? I'm at a loss for solutions.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Pipe

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  • Are you sure you are dealing with just plain copper pipe or could there be some of the tap still on the pipe? A picture will help.
    – crip659
    Nov 20, 2021 at 23:57
  • @crip659 Thanks for your reply. There's definitely no tape. I've added a photo.
    – Lyngbakr
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:03
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    We're probably looking at what's left of a antifreeze silcock. Picture of the thing you pulled off? Which I'm guessing has a weird length of pipe sticking off it, or there's another pipe inside that pipe.
    – Mazura
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:20
  • @Mazura I've added a photo of what came off. (The hose is still attached and the long part was inside the copper pipe.)
    – Lyngbakr
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:29
  • sometimes these outdoor bibs come off the water line where it enters the house. if that is the case you could cut the 1/2" line that is coming off the service line and cap that and then have a plumber out when you can.
    – Fresh Codemonger
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:29

1 Answer 1

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Buy an access panel. Cut a hole for it. Buy 1/2" and 3/4" pipe cutters that look like Pacman. Cut the pipe. Put which either shark-bite cap fits. Place access panel.

When you have a plumber come fix this, have them put a valve behind the panel before the anti-siphon valve that you turn off every winter and leave the silcock open (frost proof my ass). Do a good job on the access panel because it's going to be permanent.

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  • Alternatively, you could unscrew the silcok and put a NPT iron plug, but that's asking for trouble. If you're going to go that far, might as well buy a new silcock that's the exact length as your old one (and some Teflon tape and two crescent wrenches). Which usually ends up meaning buying one of each that they have and getting lucky.
    – Mazura
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:42
  • Thanks for this! You're suggesting that one of the SharkBites will fit the pipe in the wall when it doesn't fit the pipe outside. Is that because the pipe outside is different? Do they put some sort of valve in to separate the outside and inside pipes? (Apologies for my total ignorance on the subject.)
    – Lyngbakr
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:44
  • Solution that will freeze but doesn't require much plumbing and no hole: buy one of every compression adapters that they sell, one of them should get you into a nominal pipe size that you can find a cap for. Insulate it somehow.
    – Mazura
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:46
  • @Lyngbakr - Anti-siphon vales are basically just a really long valve; keeps the water all the way inside the wall. I suppose the pipe in the ceiling could be 1" but it's almost assuredly 1/2 or 3/4. It's a weird size because it's a valve/fitting, not a piece of pipe. They didn't put a "valve in to separate the outside", which isn't required by code but I always put one and why I suggest it.
    – Mazura
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:53
  • Awesome. Thanks for the explanation.
    – Lyngbakr
    Nov 21, 2021 at 0:57

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