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The outdoor faucet on our deck is called an anti-siphon wall faucet. Anti-siphon? Who would want to siphon water from a faucet? Actually, I think it has something to do with the faucet not freezing in cold weather. I also know that it's started leaking badly around that top cap.
I found a repair kit online but before we do that I'd like to ask if anyone knows if this type of faucet can be replaced with a regular outdoor faucet? The outdoor faucets on the other sides of the house are not like this one.
Sorry about the photo quality. I used my cell phone camera and didn't do very well.
I could be wrong, but I believe it has to do with water flowing back through the faucet into the pipes in the house. For example, if you were watering a garden with one of those fertilizer sprayers or filling a swimming pool, water could go back through the faucet and mix with the drinking water. The anti-siphon faucet prevents that.
Anti-siphon means that if you are using your hose to mix up a fifty gallon drum of compost tea, complete with chicken poo and cattle droppings, and you leave the hose end in the drum with the water running, AND the water pressure suddenly drops because a main water line down the hill from you suddenly explodes in a geyser, the compost tea won't get sucked into the water line and you won't drink chicken poo.
There are many places where such a feature actually makes sense - janitor slop sinks, high rise buildings where pumps can fail, water systems where the lines are too small, etc.. A licensed plumber may install anti-siphon hose bibs as a matter of form, since building codes likely require it now.
Since the anti-siphon usually doesn't give too much of a problem, this is one of the instances that I think the couple extra bucks is worth the cost. If you are on a well and wouldn't affect anyone but yourself, then maybe retrofitting to the old style would be OK, however, if you are on a municipal system you have a social responsibility to your neighbors.
Gram is correct. It is code.
If you left a hose attached to it and the other end of that hose was in a muddy or worse puddle with the valve on a bit, then someone in another part of the house turned on water, the potential would exist for the muddy water to siphon up into your drinking water. Very bad.
The anti siphon prevents this.
I only add here that when you turn off the hose you can get a water hammer type pressure wave, which for a second will make the water come out of the top of the valve. This is normal. It should not continue more then a moment.
If this is what it is doing, all is well.
As to the "freeze-proof" feature, that is dependent on how far into the house the valve stem goes. It has nothing to do with the anit siphon feature.
Thank you for the replies to my question on this faucet. I didn't realize it may be required by code, but that makes sense since that part of the house was built later than the rest of it. We're on the city system not a well. It seems to me my neighbors and I would be better off getting the repair kit ($8.44) and fixing the leaky faucet. Next task would be to change over the other outside faucets to the anti-siphon type.
So......are you sure it is leaking? As I said in my post, they are designed to "leak" for a moment with any pressure fluctuation.
As to the others, you do not need to replace the valves to upgrade. Any hardware store or big box store sells anti siphon adapters that screw between the valve, also known as a hosebib or sillcock, and your hose. they cost less than $5.
Ahh for the good old days of plain ol' frost frees. Yea, the 'anti siphon' gizmos are part of the whole backflow prevention bandwagon, and have the virtue of making a pile of money for building depts and manufacturers. If one is concerned about backing oooy goooy into the household pipes a palin old swing check behind a frost free will do the same thing. I have done a LOT of backflow installation, and from close examination of these devices have concluded they are nothing more than an overcomplicated check valve. "Anti siphon' bibs are nothing more than a vaccum breaker on a hose bib that opens to atmosphere and drains the line upon depressurizing. Yea, we can't just have tap points anymore, gotta sell them gizmos.
So......are you sure it is leaking? As I said in my post, they are designed to "leak" for a moment with any pressure fluctuation.
As to the others, you do not need to replace the valves to upgrade. Any hardware store or big box store sells anti siphon adapters that screw between the valve, also known as a hosebib or sillcock, and your hose. they cost less than $5.
Frank
Yes, It's definitely leaking. When we turn on the water, it sprays out about two feet the whole time the water is on. Makes a mess all around the faucet every time I try to water the flowers or the lawn. Thanks for the information about the adapters. We'll take a look later this week.
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Thank you for the information
Thanks for the information about the adapters. We'll take a look later this week.
