[TheForge] What (square) taper is an outdoor faucet stem?

[Bruce]

Ah, yes.

It's one of those frost-proof outdoor taps -- goes through the wall and
connects indoors.

I've previously had to try to look for the connection inside because I
suspected a leak (but fortunately there was none).  This involved lifting a
celiing tile that was NAILED in place, looking over a cabinet -- with a
homemade periscope -- and determining that the  spigot is between two rooms
IN the wall.  I could replace it by removing a chunk of ceiling, a cabinet
and part of a wall, or by going in from the other side over the water
heater (and around its flue pipe).

So ... not my first choice.

Bruce
NJ


On Thu, Jun 16, 2022 at 5:38 PM LAWRENCE BROWN via TheForge <
theforge at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> See if you can find a cheap replacement valve and use just the handle
> Larry Brown
>
> > On Jun 16, 2022, at 7:03 AM, Bruce <freemab222 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'm hoping to tap this font of knowledge:
> >
> > The pot-metal handle for an outdoor faucet suffered the zinc pest after
> 25
> > years or more and fell apart.  The stem is a square taper, but there's an
> > annular rim around it (I don't know why and have contemplated cutting it
> > off) that requires a longer-than-typical square-holed shank on the
> handle.
> >
> > I cannot find a replacement.
> >
> > One old-neighborhood hardware store did sell me a tool for four stem
> sizes,
> > but the fit isn't great so I consider this only an interim fix.
> >
> > So the best fix would be to find a source of such handles, but I won't
> hold
> > my breath about that.
> >
> > Another possibility would be to cast a replacement from aluminum or
> > bronze.  I can cast aluminum if need be, but it would require
> considerable
> > effort for this one little part.  I've never cast yellow metal.  I
> expect I
> > could, but don't consider it high on my list.
> >
> > Yet another possibility would be to forge / fabricate a replacement from
> > aluminum or preferably copper / bronze.  The concept would be to take a
> > small yellow metal disk or thick-walled pipe and drive a tapered square
> > drift into it.  On achieving a fit, I'd fabricate and/or braze that shank
> > onto a handle.
> >
> > The catch is that I don't know the taper of the square faucet stem.  If I
> > can learn that, I can easily make a drift, and the rest is
> (comparatively)
> > easy.
> >
> > Anyone have a clue?  Or know where to find out?
> >
> > Bruce
> > NJ
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