Leaking pipe beneath hose bib.

[Zorn123]

I have a leak in a pipe that descends vertically from an outside hose bib. It looks to be threaded into the bib at the top and bottom of the pipe system. It has an 'on' 'off' valve half way down the pipe for turning on bubblers inside my planters. The pipe connects at the bottom to pvc piping and goes off to the planters. The pipes are not copper and the house is 27 years old. Steel pipes? How hard is this to fix, and what steps can I take to do it? I have replaced inside valves before so I can turn a wrench. Also will I have to solder the pipe? It seems to spin rather freely and the leak is from the bottom of the pipe where it goes into the pvc.

[DIY Guy]

I get the problem, but it isn't clear to me exactly where it is leaking or precisely how everything is plumbed, so if I am off the mark, that is why. But here goes.

It appears that the water system to your planter beds was added after the after the hose bib was installed. Bottom line, someone tapped into the bib as a water supply line. The shut off valve is most likely a threaded valve on both the water in and the out sides. That means you can start there and you will have only threaded pipes to deal with. If the leak is above the valve then you will have to go to where the leak occurs; even there it is likely to be a threaded steel pipe.

Your options are to replace everything, replace some of the parts, or try to just tighten a possible loose connection. I don't know how old the planter bed water system is so it will be your call. When a problem occurs in old plumbing, I like to replace everything back to some logical stopping point. You could replace the hose bib and everything down to the PVC in the ground. Look where the bib connects to the water line. If you see copper pipe, then it may be soldered or it could be threaded. If you see steel pipe, then it is threaded. Everything below the bib is almst certainly threaded pipe. It would be fairly easy to start at the pipe below the bib or below the valve depending on where the leak occurs.

If it were me, I'd replace the hose bib, replace the supply line to the beds with PVC, use a simple 90 degree gate valve and then PVC down to the ground. This easy to work with and easy to replace if the need arises again. If you live someplace where it gets to freezing, then I'd wrap the pipe with an insulator and take standard precautions against freezing.