HELP, PLUMBING SAVVY! - How do I uninstall this faucet?

December 15, 2020 8:03 PM

Faucet in question is 3-hole, but with some connections between the water lines / handles to the center faucet that I can't puzzle out how to disassemble. Photos here.

My main concern is: how do I remove that t-shaped connector thingy? It is attached to the faucet above somehow, and it certainly won't fit through the hole. Do I need to take apart the faucet component above-counter to disconnect something?

Is this above a normal, non-plumber-person's pay grade?


Bonus q: I think my shut-off valve is slightly leaky on the hot water side. The faucet is dripping slightly when I've turned it off all the way. I live in an apartment building where the unit water valve is hard to get to, and not accessible without complicated communication with the building management. Any tips on how to handle this?

Thank you all!

posted by blueberrypuffin to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Best answer: I think you will have the remove the spout assembly, the handles and whatever the "inverted cup" shaped pieces are called, then pull the T shaped portion of the faucet down though the bottom. Do you see the flat spots on the spout above the inverted cup? The flats are for putting a wrench on. (Since you're junking the faucet (?) you don't have to worry about marring the finish.) Similarly, the nuts underneath the valve handles will remove the cups for them. As for the non-shutting off shutoff, if the drip rate is slow, just catch the excess water with a bowl or something while you work.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 8:23 PM on December 15, 2020

That T shaped connector looks brazed onto the other pipes leading to it. This seems like some git'r done plumbing that will not be easy, or necessarily possible, without the destruction of the T itself (or the pipes leading to it). If you look at the brass fittings on either side of the T, they have threads showing, with the pipe inserted into them...that's not how you use those fittings. This is installed very incorrectly.
posted by furnace.heart at 8:25 PM on December 15, 2020 [3 favorites]

When you say, "shut-off valve," do you mean that the water drips from the faucet tap when you turn off the hot water handle? Or do you mean the water drips from the water supply line on the underside of the sink when you turn off the under-sink shut-off valve?

The most important thing I can tell you is that, unless you have access to completely turn off the water supply to this fixture -- such that no water at all comes out of the tap when you turn it on -- you should not attempt this repair. Trying to do so will end in an unstoppable stream of water flowing into the apartment below you.

Second: it looks like the entire assembly on the underside of the sink is brazed or soldered together. See the line of silvery material where each bit meets the next? That's the solder joint -- it's like those pipe pieces have been glued together with metal. It may be possible to disassemble this without a blowtorch, but I don't see how from your pictures. I'd highly recommend getting a plumber if you can swing it.
posted by ourobouros at 8:28 PM on December 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

I take that back. After looking at it further, that's an even stranger setup than I thought. There are retaining nuts on the underside of the individual valves off to the left and right, which implies that the valves are supposed to be removed from the top. Agree with furnace.heart that you might have to cut through the pipes going sideways, which is doable but might be out of your comfort zone. It looks like there might be enough room to swing a mini tubing cutter or use a mini hacksaw.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 8:32 PM on December 15, 2020

Second'ing that it appears that someone soldered a franken-plumbing hack under there. The simplest way to remove soldered joints is to cut the pipe with a hacksaw. (Copper is fairly soft and easy to cut.) I'd start with cuts close on both side of the central tee, unscrew the feeds left and right, and then figure out if you can unscrew the tee or if you're going to have to saw through that stem, too. Sorry you're having to deal with this mess.
posted by introp at 8:33 PM on December 15, 2020

If I'm understanding correctly, you live in an apartment? Due to the braised connections, there is no way to uninstall this faucet in a way that's 100% reversible, if that's a concern. You'd have to saw apart the pipes connecting to the T in the middle, and possibly the T itself.
posted by Aleyn at 8:39 PM on December 15, 2020

Best answer: That's probably a factory faucet that came out of the box all brazed together or at least was fully soldered before installation. The nuts on the under side are to adjust the height of the taps for different counter thicknesses.

Larry David Syndrome is right. The chrome shaped chrome fittings above the counter will unthread.

To remove the faucet you need to:

1. Pop the centre inserts off the tap handles with a flat screw driver. Often there is a slight cut out on the cap to fit a screw driver. If you can't get a screw driver under the cap a sharp knife can be used between the cap and the handle. Don't pry with the knife; just use it as a wedge.
2. Remove the screws that are located under the centre caps.
3. Remove the handles. They are on a splined shaft and pull off. You may need to rock them a bit to get them to budge.
4. Unscrew the spout with the nut at it's base.
5. Pull the spout up out of the faucet. Again it might take a little wiggling.
6. Now you can unscrew the cones. If you are tossing the faucet you can just grip them with a set of channel locks. If you are keeping the faucet then tape the jaws of the channel locks with several layers of electrical tape first to prevent marring.
7. Under the caps (either all three or just left and right) there will be some large nuts that are clamping the brass body of the faucet to sink/counter. Remove those and the brass part can be pulled down (you'll need to remove the lines from underneath first natch).

The exploded diagram on this page sort of shows what you can expect. Some of the nuts may be reverse threaded.

A picture of the shut off valve would be helpful for replacement suggestions. Do you have access to your hot water tank/heater? often for hot water shut offs you can just shut off the water to the heater. I have on several occasions just ninja'd the new tap in with a leaking shut off if it has just been dripping. Have a bucket and plenty of towels around and keep both the old and new faucet ON to remove pressure from the supply line otherwise you won't be able to get the fittings in place.

Much easier though to have the actual water shut off and replace the valve.
posted by Mitheral at 9:30 PM on December 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

If a faucet is really stuck in there, it's better to just rip it to bits. Faucets don't cost much, cutting them in tight spaces and uncomfortable positions sucks, and they are very cheap to replace.

Some idiot soldered it together - you can see the threads where it's supposed to screw together. That thread on the base of the faucet spout should take it apart, the bottom part falls away from the above-sink parts.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:23 AM on December 16, 2020