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The main water line into the house has a 1/2" PVC line easily accessible, it's laying exposed in the crawl space. I want to add a faucet into the greenhouse (which is a lean to) so it won't freeze up. I got an estimate of $300. I'm thinking I can do it for a lot less. I know where to turn off the water at the meter.
How difficult would it be to add a T in the main line and feed it to a faucet?
Am I missing something that I really need a plumber?
Thanks
Jim
Jim
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09-09-2020, 02:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2020, 02:43 PM by brianwelch.)
(09-09-2020, 11:58 AM)Halfathumb Wrote: The main water line into the house has a 1/2" PVC line easily accessible, it's laying exposed in the crawl space. I want to add a faucet into the greenhouse (which is a lean to) so it won't freeze up. I got an estimate of $300. I'm thinking I can do it for a lot less. I know where to turn off the water at the meter.
How difficult would it be to add a T in the main line and feed it to a faucet?
Am I missing something that I really need a plumber?
Thanks
Jim
I am not a plumber!
Sounds like your house may be relatively new (with PVC piping). If so, sounds like there is litttle risk.
I have an older home with a galv feeder from the street to my inside meter. I have on a number of occasions successfully shut the water off at the meter to do interior plumbing repairs. The last time, the meter valve handle broke off, before the meter (was able to gently/carefully get it back to the full open position). Since then, I have only shut the water off the curbstop, and at my neighbor's (he's a plumber) insistence, made sure it was performed by an employee of the local water company. Oh, I recently installed a SST ball valve immediately after the meter, so I no longer have to risk the remaining WM valve, or require the water company to show up...
Hope that helps a little...
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For what you describe, I don't think you need a plumber. You just need to make sure that that the PVC pipe you install is rated for the pressure. There are many decent YouTube vids that show the work you want to do.
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Sounds like an easy job; except for the "crawl space" part. personally I would solvent weld a P.V.C socket x 1/2" N.P.T. tee and change right to 1/2" PEX with a male adapter. If you pick up a 1/2" frost free sillcock you can also get a PEX x !/2" female adapter with a large rubber seat. They're typically used for direct connect to a faucet but they also fit the 1/2" male threads on the sillcock.
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Make sure it’s PVC or CPVC. Takes different glues.
VH07V
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I'll second Brian's suggestion for you to not shut off at the meter. When we had public water I was talking to the village supervisor about turning it off at the meter (for a different reason) and he told me there's a good chance something will break, He offered to have the village turn it off for me, that way if it broke it would be their dime. Otherwise what you want to do sounds fairly simple, if you haven't glued PVC before, it grabs pretty quick so make sure you're ready.
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(09-10-2020, 03:14 AM)EightFingers Wrote: Make sure it’s PVC or CPVC. Takes different glues.
And 2 different uses. PVC = Waste water. CPVC = Supply
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Thanks everyone. I have quite a bit of using PVC although never heard of CPVC. I like the heads up about turning the water off at the meter, but it might take a while for them to turn it back on
.
As for going into the crawl space. I was a tunnel rat in Nam and still get anxious sometimes when I do go in there.
BTW my home was built 1998.
Jim
Jim
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(09-09-2020, 11:58 AM)Halfathumb Wrote: The main water line into the house has a 1/2" PVC line easily accessible, it's laying exposed in the crawl space. I want to add a faucet into the greenhouse (which is a lean to) so it won't freeze up. I got an estimate of $300. I'm thinking I can do it for a lot less. I know where to turn off the water at the meter.
How difficult would it be to add a T in the main line and feed it to a faucet?
Am I missing something that I really need a plumber?
Thanks
Jim
Just so you don't get the wrong size tee, your main service line should be 3/4". A 3/4x3/4x1/2 tee, 1/2 will be plenty for your faucet, just wanted to make sure you have the right size to cut your trips to hardware down to 12.
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Hired a plumber ($300) but worth it. He did not tap into the main line. It is close enough to the kitchen plumbing where he just tapped into that. That also means if I have to shut off the water supply to that I can turn off the main house supply. If it was taped into the main line that would present a bigger problem. He said also that he tries to avoid turning off the water at the street if at all possible for the reasons mentioned earlier in this post.
Thanks everyone for your advice.
Jim
Jim
