I know nothing about plumbing other than water goes in one type of pipe and sewage goes out the other. My house has copper pipes. Is installing an outdoor faucet something I should even think about doing?
How comfortable are you with a blowtorch? Ever do any soldering?
Learn to sweat copper. Tee off the main.
If you live in cold country, you might think about a freeze-proof faucet.
You don’t have to learn how to solder. Look at Youtube videos for alternatives:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=non+soldered+connections+copper+pipe
For installing an outdoors faucet:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=install+outside+faucet
I don’t trust those things.
There’s also glue. I wouldn’t use glue or push-on connections at the faucet itself, or to a threaded or compression fitting that goes into the faucet though. If you don’t know how to sweat pipes (soldering) you should find someone who does because an outdoor faucet isn’t the simplest way to start, although if you are generally handy you watch videos or read a book and you’ve got a decent chance of succeeding. You’ll need a hole through the wall also, so if you don’t know anything about drills and home construction you should just get a plumber or handyman to do it. The key thing here is finding a pipe to cut into that has shutoff valve and you wouldn’t mind if the water through that pipe was shut off for a couple of days if something goes wrong and you need to get a professional to help. You should add a shut off and faucet inside to the pipe you run for the faucet so you can shut it off and drain the pipe going to the outdoor faucet so it doesn’t freeze in the winter time. Frost proof faucets cost extra money and the one a plumber put in for me failed anyway. And don’t try to solder to the faucet, get a faucet with a threaded fitting and solder an opposite sex fitting to the pipe.
Umm, isn’t just closing the shut-off valve (inside the house) and opening the exterior faucet valve sufficient?
CMC fnord!
Good point. Yes, if the pipe runs downhill to the outdoor faucet you don’t need another one inside… Often that’s not possible, or for convenience you want to mount the faucet up higher.
I’d say you shouldn’t be thinking of doing it yourself … it may take you a few months just to learn how to solder … then cutting out drywall and replacing it so it doesn’t look like you’ve cut out the drywall at all … but, other than these two complicated skill sets, it wouldn’t be hard to do …
Months? If you can’t learn it with a couple of test attempts you’re not going to learn at all. However, I assumed he’d be doing this from an exposed pipe in the basement. If he has to cut into a finished wall he’s definitely taking on a lot.
A few months? You apply flux, apply heat, wait for the flux to bubble, apply solder. It takes ten minutes to learn; 20 if you’re particularly stupid. There are plenty of good YouTube videos on the subject.
The thing that really takes the most time is learning about the proper fittings and doodads to get, how to shut off and drain the pipes you’re going to work on, how to drill through your sill plate or foundation wall, how to caulk around your brand new wall-hole, etc. Soldering is the least of your worries on a job like this.
You’ve left out a few steps there … like running a fine grade sandpaper over the surfaces to remove the copper oxides that inevitability form … the requirement for uniform heating of the entire joint, and what to do if it’s not uniformly heated when you’re sweating the connection … and you forgot wiping off the connection with alcohol after it cools to clean off the excess flux …
I personally wouldn’t send a person to cutting apart their home’s plumbing until they were competent in all phases of soldering …
However, I completely agree it’s the least of the OP’s worries … but it is the first of his worries … turning on the water main is a really really bad time to find a cold solder joint … we’ve both been there, so we both know what that’s like …
This shouldn’t be a difficult first plumbing project for some who is generally handy, can follow directions, and successfully completed a couple of home repair/improvement projects. For someone has to first visit the big box store and buy some tools something simpler like hanging a picture would be a better way to start.
Yeah, there’s a copper line going to the laundry sink in the unfinished basement exactly opposite of where I want the faucet. I wouldn’t have to go through a block wall, there’s floor joists resting on a top plate above the blocks, so I can go out through the space between the ends of the joints.
First off, get yourself a sillcock in the correct length.
First LEARN how to do plumbing. Many used book stores have do-it-yourself books on plumbing. Buy one or two of those and read them cover to cover. You will be saving yourself a fortune in future years if you learn to do these things yourself.
FYI - Books and instruction manuals go into details and have a lot of depth you will NOT find on YouTube, internet articles.
Use a Sharkbite fitting, they make a “T” fitting specifically designed for the job. The “T” is longeron one side so you can slide it deeper onto one end of the pipe, position it over the other end and slid it back.
OP: you might post some detailed photos of the outside of the house and basement area including where the existing pipes are and the area you want to go out. [You post these on a photo hosting site and post a link here]. The more information you can provide this way the more specific the advice.
I’ve made a lot of connections over the years (copper pipe and PEX) using brass compression fittings; not a blowtorch in sight. I’m surprised to see people implying that the OP needs to learn to solder joints for a job like this.