Outdoor faucets - no water

Figgy

I've got three outdoor faucets in my end unit townhome. One is in the backyard, and it works fine (although it doesn't have a seperate shutoff valve for the winter.)

One is on the side of the house and there is no handle, but I'm not sure what kind of tap would fit. So, I don't know whether or not water is reaching this faucet.

The third is in the garage, and it doesn't work. When I turn it on, nothing happens. It also has a black fitting on it that looks like it would be for a hose quick connect, but I can't seem to get it off. It is really stiff to turn, and after maybe 20 turns it is still in place, so I don't know how that thing is on there. After turning it on though, I can pull out the little nipple inside the fitting and water still doesn't pour out--not even a drip.

Now, the basement is fully finished. I have access to the water shutoff under the stairs in a tiny little crawlspace, where there are three valves. One right before the main supply goes into the cement floor, one shortly after, and one on a seperate, smaller pipe that branches off from there. I can't seem to tell what this one does, since turning it off completely seems to have no effect on any taps--except perhaps the ones I can't turn on anyway. Peeking up into the cieling, it looks like the best bet for this mystery valve is that it runs to the tap on the side of the house, for which I have no handle.

I'd like to know how to get both of these faucets working.



Here are pictures of the faucets:

Side of the house:


Garage:

Shogun

The top picture you just need to go to a hardware store and get handle like the one pictured in your garage for example.

For the one in your garage are they any other plumbing related things in the near vicinity? Do you know if what is pictured is for a washing machine or anything?

You mentioned 'end-unit townhome.' I'm assuming that's a condo or something similar? Is there a homeowner's association or better yet a maintenance department you can contact? You might inquire there about it. From the picture it would appear normal but something in your plumbing somewhere has either been shut off, been removed, or is broken. All else fails call a plumber to come take a look.

Figgy

I've tried taking off the handle from the garage to bring to the side of the house, but it doesn't fit. Is that just a different fitting then? I guess I'll bring the picture to the store on my phone and have a look.

As for the garage, it shouldn't be a laundry fitting. The laundry is in the basement and always has been. It was the model home when these units were built, so everything is more or less how it was when it was built, the previous owner didn't really do anything... except maybe install a stupid fitting on the garage.

I guess I can call the condo corp, but they have been notoriously not helpful in the past. There is no maintenance department that I'm aware of, all they take care of is really the landscaping and what not. Everything plumbing related from the main up is mine.

Is it possible there is something stripped in the faucet for the garage one? Like, I'm turning the handle but it's not really opening the valve? I really don't want to call a plumber, since my last fiasco cost me $400 for an hour of work.

Shogun

Well if you do call a plumber don't call the one you called previously. Also obviously don't let anyone do any work without your consent and make sure you know what all is going on before any work is done.

I think it is strange that the handle won't fit on the fixture outside. They really shouldn't be different unless something is missing or something is broken. That doesn't mean I'm not wrong however.

For the faucet outside can you move that little ribbed nub with some plyers or channel locks at all? This is hard to write out. What I want to know is if the water at that faucet comes out at all or if its like the one in the garage.

Figgy

Shogun wrote: »

Well if you do call a plumber don't call the one you called previously. Also obviously don't let anyone do any work without your consent and make sure you know what all is going on before any work is done.

I think it is strange that the handle won't fit on the fixture outside. They really shouldn't be different unless something is missing or something is broken. That doesn't mean I'm not wrong however.

For the faucet outside can you move that little ribbed nub with some plyers or channel locks at all? This is hard to write out. What I want to know is if the water at that faucet comes out at all or if its like the one in the garage.

I've tried taking a pair of plyers to it but all that accomplished was scoring the nub. I know what you're getting at... turning it without actually having a handle.

Shogun

Figgy wrote: »

Shogun wrote: »

Well if you do call a plumber don't call the one you called previously. Also obviously don't let anyone do any work without your consent and make sure you know what all is going on before any work is done.

I think it is strange that the handle won't fit on the fixture outside. They really shouldn't be different unless something is missing or something is broken. That doesn't mean I'm not wrong however.

For the faucet outside can you move that little ribbed nub with some plyers or channel locks at all? This is hard to write out. What I want to know is if the water at that faucet comes out at all or if its like the one in the garage.

I've tried taking a pair of plyers to it but all that accomplished was scoring the nub. I know what you're getting at... turning it without actually having a handle.

Yikes you didn't strip really bad did you? Did you do that before or after using the garage handle to turn it?

Figgy

It isn't stripped, just sort of "marked up."

I've got the side faucet working. The reason why the handle doesn't fit is simply because there is more of a "lip" or coupling or whatever on the side faucet, preventing the actual handle from gripping the nub enough.

I took apart the blue handle and pulled out the plastic "nut" piece that goes over the nub. After fitting that on there and taking plyers to it, I got water! Success!

Now, all I need to do is figure out why the garage faucet isn't working.

dispatch.o

I don't know what kind of situation you're in but a lot of places in this area have that knob off for a reason. If it's outside and on the side of your building with no fence, a lot of people wont think twice about hooking up a hose and washing their car.

edit: I've had construction workers hop over the fence to my back patio and plug their compressor into my outdoor AC outlet. We live in apartments and the outlet is literally 2 feet from my door and inside my patio enclosure.

I asked them not to, their answer was "outside outlet, fair use".

So I took insulated sheers and cut their extension cord off at the enclosure line.

Figgy

Well, I'm not going to leave the knob on the side of the house for the simple reason that I don't want kids using it or the landscapers doing it, but I'm not worried about car washers or the like. There really is nowhere for them to park their car within reach besides my driveway.

Really, since that faucet is now confirmed to work and just needs a proper (if perhaps uncommon) knob attachment, I don't really need the garage faucet anymore, but it would be nice to have it fixed.

The "outdoor outlet, fair use" excuse is hilarious, especially since it's private property. Is my BBQ fair use as well? Do you wanna take a break on my patio lounger? Hey, my car is parked outside too! :P

Shogun

Hey glad you got one of the faucets working. Being a homeowner is pretty tits right? For your garage faucet I honestly think the problem is internal to the plumbing and not the faucet itself. In the picture the part sticking down where the water should come out looks a little odd to me. Different than what I've seen, but without a better look I really don't know. You can see the pipe coming directly out of the wall so its not as if there's some obvious valve. What room is on the side of the wall opposite to the garage?