I know it’s not the conventional way of doing it, but I was going to put a frost-free spigot through the wall into the space under the kitchen sink, have a few feet of pex, then tap into the copper supply line with a Sharkbite “T”. Does this make sense or is there any problem? I want water on the other side of the kitchen wall on my outside deck, and the the deck boards are above the level of the basement.
My outdoor faucet is on the rear wall of my house. It’s 5 ft from the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink is on an interior wall that’s shared with my main bathroom. I’m pretty sure it’s just a T off the water line under the house.
The house was built in the 1950’s.
You can insulate the pipe if you’re worried about it freezing.
I don’t think there’s any reason why you can’t. The thing I’d advise, however, is that since you’re going from hard pipe (the frost free spigot) to pex and back to copper, Really make sure that spigot is well secured to the wall since there’s going to be exactly nothing supporting it on the inside and lots of forces trying to move it around. The pex will shake when the dishwasher turns on and off, the spigot gets pulled when you yank on the hose or it gets knocked into. Those two little screws are more just meant to keep it in place and the solder/copper connections would help keep it steady.
Also, make sure you do a really good job insulating it. It’s one thing to have a small draft or some weather entering your basement, but this is a finished area.
One last thing, if you’re just worried about soldering, you might want to try it anyways, it’s not that difficult. In fact, you could even use sharkbite couplers and copper to make all the connections from the spigot back to the cold water supply and avoid soldering anything but still have more strength than pex.
I second** Joey_P** on this. I always DIY stuff and pretty much would do what he said. Should be no problems except drafts, maybe even house centipedes coming in (water source, condensation). If you are not against using that spray insulating foam in a can, it will work and you can do it cleanly, just tape up everything nicely and puncture a hole in the tape that will fit the straw inside, let it dry and take the tape off, it’ll be filled perfectly, no mess. Just make sure you have finalized everything first, the foam is a pain to get off later.
Sounds fine as long as the spigot is physically secure as noted above … my guess your biggest headache will be the SharkBite T … take your time, do it right the first time and enjoy the sprinkle on your deck …
What is the diameter of the copper supply line? Kitchen sinks usually have a small supply line. And you might want substantially more water than that outside.
Are you concerned about backflow?
You can always put in a backflow prevention device like a double check valve.
Yeah, where I am (eastern North Carolina) new construction is required to have backflow preventers where irrigation water and potable water supplies cross-connect, even when both are supplied from municipal water lines. The theory is that people will sometimes put in their own (untested) well to lower the cost of irrigation and end up pumping ground water into the municipal system.
It’s a whole little industry with $25 to $35 annual testing. I’m grandfathered in so don’t have to do it, but figure sooner or later they’ll make me.
You certainly want any outdoor spigot to have it’s own shutoff valve.
Home Depot sold me a spigot that they claim you can just use outdoors without worry about frost or backflow.
I wouldn’t be against trying soldering except for the fact that it’s a very confined, flammable area snaking it through cabinets, but I’ll see if I have enough clearance to use copper with the sharkbite fittings rather than pex.
It certainly takes some practice. If you’re handing with a measuring tape, you can probably fit up some, possibly most, of these connections away from the cabinet (like, in your garage) and just deal with the Tee and the connection to the spigot last. This will also give you some practice.
I’d recommend a propane torch (blue bottle) over a MAPP torch. MAPP gas gets the job done faster, it’ll also do everything else faster. Like burn out the flux, wreck the spigot if you don’t take it apart or burn the cabinet. Propane is easier to learn with.
Also, spring for the trigger start. It’s spendy, but it’s a lot easier than dealing with a flint.
They do also make flame resistant cloths you can drape behind your work if you’re really in a tight area, but I’ve never used one so I really can’t vouch for them.
Being able to do some light soldering isn’t a bad skill. Just make sure you start the project early in the day so you have time to run to Home Depot 3 times. While this project, from start to finish, might take a plumber with 20 years of experience 30 minutes, you’re probably looking at 2 hours.