Plumbing Headache

[Mike Johnson]

I'm replacing the 90° shutoff valves to a sink faucet and so I want the outlet thingy pointing straight up towards the sink. But as I'm tightening a new valve by hand it starts to get tight at like 9 o'clock. I use a wrench to tighten it to 12 o'clock but I know it's not tight enough. I try it anyhow and yep, it leaks. Not a lot, but it leaks. Of course I can't tighten it another entire revolution. I can muscle it around to 6 or 7 o'clock.

What can I do? If I went to the trouble of replacing the 2 inch nipple it attaches to, would the result be any different? Should I get the tools to thread my own custom nipple and offset the threads by 180°?

[space-time]

How do you connect the valve to the pipe coming from the wall? there should be a compression nut on the pipe, you can re-use the old one, or remove it (usually you need a tool to extract it) and use the one that comes with the new valve.

Then use a large wrench to hold the valve in the vertical position (outlet at 12 o'clock) and use a smaller wrench to tighten the nut in the back.

[space-time]

Also when I had to do one of these, I found out I could replace only the stem and not the entire valve. Much easier.

[Mike Johnson]

Thanks! In the wall there is a 1/2” fnpt fitting into which a 2” long male nipple is screwed. That bare nipple protrudes 1” from the wall.

I know from personal experience that it’s better not to try to remove that nipple unless absolutely necessary. But it’s a very visible location, so I was also hoping to avoid any sort of adapter. It’s a wall-hung sink, and the plumbing is completely exposed.

[MikeF]

Just wrap more teflon tape (a lot) and tighten. Add more tape until it settles in the position you want (yes you have to undo it, wrap the tape, and try again).

[Dennis S]

Mike Johnson wrote:
Thanks! In the wall there is a 1/2” fnpt fitting into which a 2” long male nipple is screwed. That bare nipple protrudes 1” from the wall.

I know from personal experience that it’s better not to try to remove that nipple unless absolutely necessary. But it’s a very visible location, so I was also hoping to avoid any sort of adapter. It’s a wall-hung sink, and the plumbing is completely exposed.

Newt is sleeping right through this.

[space-time]

MikeF wrote:
Just wrap more teflon tape (a lot) and tighten. Add more tape until it settles in the position you want (yes you have to undo it, wrap the tape, and try again).

This.

Also it looks like about half of the nipple is inside the wall so you cannot really see the other end of the nipple, correct? Do you know if that is screwed into the pipe? You said "I can muscle it around to 6 or 7 o'clock. " Maybe you can also rotate the nipple a little bit if the tape trick above does not work.

[space-time]

if I were to build a house from scratch, I would make all connections Swagelok

[mattkime]

'plumbing' implies 'headache'