How to Replace a Bathtub Spout

Cutaway photos prove how to supplant the three most common types of bathtub spouts when they are leaking or cleaved.

Time

An hour or less

Complication

Beginner

Toll

Less than $20

Introduction

Replacing a broken bathtub spout is a uncomplicated, inexpensive project. In this article, nosotros'll show you the near mutual types of spouts, and how to replace them. Even if you've never tackled a plumbing project before, you can handle replacing the spout. And don't worry. You don't need any special skills or plumbing tools.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Nipples
  • Silicone caulk
  • Spout
  • Thread tape

Project step-past-step (3)

Step 1

How to replace a tub spout

Unscrew the old nipple

Unscrew

Unscrew the quondam nipple with a piping wrench. If the nipple is likewise short to grab with a wrench, use an "internal" pipe wrench ($10).

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Step 2

Install the new nipple

Install

Wrap both ends of the new nipple with thread tape and screw it into the fitting within the wall. Seal around it with silicone caulk and screw on the new spout. Bathtub spouts can go bad in three ways: First, the tub spout diverter can clothing out so it no longer blocks the water menstruum and sends water to the shower head. Second, the threads within the spout can crack or corrode where the spout screws onto the pipage. Water can so trickle forth the pipe and drip inside the wall. Finally, the spout's finish tin flake off or corrode.

Replacement is the solution to any of these problems. A new spout ($10 to $20) and everything else you might need are available at hardware stores and home centers. But before y'all buy a new spout, decide what blazon you lot demand. First look under the spout. If you lot see a setscrew (Photo A), you lot take a "slip-on" spout.

The setscrew might be smaller and harder to see than the 1 shown here; you may need a flashlight to spot it. Replacing a sideslip-on spout is like shooting fish in a barrel: Just loosen the setscrew (usually with a hex wrench) and pull the spout off the copper pipage that protrudes from the wall. Twist the spout as yous pull and be gentle then yous don't loosen any pipe connections inside the wall. And so slide on the new spout and tighten the setscrew.

If the spout doesn't have a setscrew, information technology's a spiral-on spout (Photos B and C). Twist the one-time spout counterclockwise to remove information technology. If the piping that protrudes from the wall is copper with a threaded fitting (Photo B), simply cutting off the plumbing fixtures with a tubing cutter ($10) and install a new slip-on spout (Photograph A). If the piping coming out of the wall is steel (Photo C), you need a new screw-on spout.

Ideally, the new spout will fit perfectly onto the old pipe. Only there's a good chance that the pipe protrudes too far or not far enough. In that location's also a chance that the threads are too corroded for you to spiral on a new spout. Either way, you lot'll have to remove the former pipe (Photograph one) and screw in a new pipe of the correct length (Photograph 2). Short sections of threaded pipe (called "nipples") are usually available in 1-in. increments. They cost less than $two each, then purchase a couple of different lengths and salvage yourself a trip back to the store.

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Footstep 3

Spout types

Slip-on spouts

Slip

Slip-on spouts slide over one/2-in. copper pipe and fasten with a setscrew. This "universal" version likewise has threads inside, so it can spiral onto threaded pipe.

Screw-on spouts

Screw

Spiral-on spouts have threads deep within. They can connect to a copper threaded fitting or to steel pipage.

Screw-on spouts with threads at the back end

spouts

Screw-on spouts may have threads at the dorsum end. Most come up with a bushing so they fit either i/2-in. or 3/4-in. pipage.

These are the three most common types of spouts.

Tip:

Plumbers tell u.s. that leg-shaving is the leading cause of tub spout trouble. The spout makes a convenient footrest for shaving, merely that can harm the tub spout diverter or loosen pipe connections.

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Originally Published: November xx, 2022