I have been struggling with a leaky faucet problem for maybe the last two or three months. This is an outdoor hose bib faucet, the kind with a long internal stem. These help prevent problems with freezing weather and broken pipes; as the stem closes off the water supply deep inside the house’s walls where it’s warmer, and the rest of the water drains out of the faucet when you shut it off.
The faucet was leaking where the arrow is pointing in the picture: right out of the tip of the stem, by the handle. This is a key piece of information, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I was annoyed with this whole situation, because the plumbing in this house is nearly brand new, only two years old! I didn’t expect to have plumbing repairs so soon!
I first tried tightening the two connections: the packing nut, and where the stem piece threads into the faucet unit. This didn’t help. Next, I went to the store looking for replacement packing for the packing nut. But, I didn’t realize how many different designs there were, so I ended up coming home with the wrong size. I took the nut back to the store, and got a different packing. When I tried that at home, I realized that the packing nut’s threads were stripped. Back to the store, but they didn’t have that sized packing nut!
So, I tried a different local hardware store. The “plumbing expert” there listened to my description of the problem, took a look at my stem, and at the packing nut, and concluded that my situation was hopeless. I bought a packing nut anyway, since they had one that fit. At home, I cleaned the threads out carefully, and got it to go back together nice and snug. But, the leak was still there.
Next I took it to Home Depot. I actually found a real expert there (this is rare for me), a by-trade plumber. I described my problem to him, too. He shook his head. He did mention a tidbit that would come in handy later, he said, “that there is an Arrowhead brand stem.” But, he also told me that they change the designs on these so frequently, that it’s usually impossible to get replacement parts. He asserted that I’d need to buy an entire new faucet assembly. And cautioned to replace it on a weekday, as people often break their copper pipe when trying to replace these, and then I’d want to call a plumber for backup.
Grumble. By this time, I had probably shut off the water to the house, and taken this thing apart, about a dozen times. I took it back home, put it together again, and sat there and watched the water drip… Then, I started to wonder: why is it coming out of the tip of the stem? And only when the water is turned on. How can that be? Though the stem is hollow (the handle screw threads into the hollow tip), it’s supposed to be sealed. The plug end of the stem is obviously working fine, because when the valve is shut off, no water is getting by.
I took it apart again. I’m visualizing pressurized water flowing all around this stem on the way out of the faucet. And sure enough, tipping it on one end made water drain out of the inside of the stem. And, then, I see it. A tiny flaw in the solder joint on the stem. Very tiny. But, enough for pressurized water to want to get in there and leak out the other end. It must have taken two years for the water to slowly erode that flaw big enough to create a leak. I tried to solder it closed, but I’m no good at soldering, and I think fixing a tiny hole like that can be difficult, as there is not enough surface for the flux to bind to. It didn’t work. But now at least I knew what the real problem was: something that all three hardware store plumbing experts missed, despite my clearly explaining to all of them that the water was coming out of the tip!
I almost believed the Home Depot guy’s advice that I wouldn’t be able to find a replacement stem. But, I decided to give the Web a chance. And lucky for me that Home Depot guy knew the brand name: thank you Home Depot guy! Lo and behold, McClendons Hardware had the fix, for $12: they carry a whole line of these Arrowhead stems! Wow! I was a little confused about the sizing, when I measured my stem, I concluded that it was a 6″ one. But, when the 6″ replacement arrived by mail, it was too long, so I had to return it. What I actually have, apparently, is a 4″ stem (I’m not sure how they measure these to get those numbers, but ok, whatever). So, last week, I finally got the right sized stem, and replaced it yesterday. And choirs of angels sang: no leak. Thank goodness!
The Collie Farm Blog 
October 25, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Just wanted to thank you for this post. It was very helpful to me. I’m trying to fix a similar problem.
Marty
October 25, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Great to hear, glad my lessons were useful to somebody else too! 🙂
September 30, 2013 at 5:50 pm
Hi, Sorry to hear that this was such a dilemma to fix. I work with Arrowhead Brass & Plumbing, and I just want to leave a note that if anyone ever reads this and needs assistance with a faucet that says “ABP” on the side, or USA on the other, they can contact us at customer.service@arrowheadbrass.com; or locate our contact information at our website (arrowheadbrass.com). I apologize for the inconvenience that the leak caused and I’d be happy to help you or anyone else out if they ever have a leak or issue. Thanks,
Will Schneider
Arrowhead Brass Product & Customer Service Manager
September 30, 2013 at 5:56 pm
BTW, The reason you had water coming out of the hole by the handle (it’s actually designed that way to drain backflowing water- i.e. anti-siphon), is because a small little o-ring on the check assembly- on the end of the stem (the cone shaped device). Replacing that or the full stem would be the solution. If it leaks quickly after installation/repair, the cause is most likely leaving the faucet ON/pressurized for over 12 hours at a time. The “Y” split in the picture is something I see a lot- people unknowingly leave the faucet open, but shut the Y on/off when needed. That basically wears out all the rubber/plastic components quickly- could wear out in 2 years, could wear out in 2 weeks… depends on a lot of things. Best solution is to not leave this faucet on/open (even if water isn’t passing through- it’s still “sealing” the o-ring and wearing it out) OR replace it with a non-anti-siphon frost free model and use a backflow device on the outlet side of the y adapter.
Thanks for listening. 🙂
October 6, 2013 at 4:04 am
Thanks Will, good to know. Indeed, this is a faucet where we frequently leave the faucet on, and shut off the water at the Y (or not- this feeds some float valves in livestock tanks that we leave on most of the year). The fixed one has lasted all this time, knock on wood! Now I know where to get a replacement if I need one!
March 27, 2015 at 1:16 am
IMHO Arrowhead outdoor freeze proof faucets. are a piece of crap. I’ve owned homes with freeze proof faucets for years with never a problem. In my new home I have to replace the o rings in every faucet EVERY spring. Last year the “kits” with two O rings and a plastic cap were less than $2. This year the new improved kit with 2 plastic parts, which you never need, two O rings and the cap are almost $10. The Home Depot guy, a retired plumber, said that his company refused to install them because of this design. Sooo, now I’m going to take samples of the O rings and buy just those parts for about 20 cents per faucet.
Then there is the ridiculous design of the outlet being too short to screw a hose on without scraping your knuckles on the handle, and the handles breaking regularly from being turned off too tightly. Interesting that this is the company that sells faucet, handles, repair kits etc. I think they design in the problems and make their money selling parts.
March 27, 2015 at 5:04 am
Neal, interesting, I wonder if your house had gotten a bad batch of parts and/or design that has a higher failure rate than normal? We haven’t had too much trouble with these since. OTOH, we have ones from The Depot in our barn, and they are super sensitive to freezing, and then just flat-out don’t work. We try to keep heat wraps on them, but sometimes forget, so we often replace those faucets!
May 30, 2015 at 1:44 pm
I have searched high and low for these answers. Thank you so much!
May 30, 2015 at 3:08 pm
Glad it helped Griffster27!
August 31, 2016 at 4:16 am
Michelle, thank you for this beautifully written, sanity-saving post. It hasn’t solved my rather different problem, however, and I need to get in touch with Will Schneider of Arrowhead, who posted intelligent and helpful comments in your thread. I have been speaking to lovely people working for him, but have a couple of questions I do not think they can answer. My faucet has failed after 30 years of excellent service: the problem is with finding the right spare part for a repair job. Nightmare would be an understatement. The local plumbing supply store says that Arrowhead has changed the design of my faucet 9 times since 1992.
August 31, 2016 at 6:21 am
nrwrd–ooof, good luck with your challenge! In our barn, we’ve had the frost-free faucets fail a lot, as it is not well insulated nor heated. In that case, we just replace the whole shebang with any random brand, and that works ok since the walls are open and easy to access from both inside and outside. Not so easy if the faucet is embedded in a wall where you can’t get at the inside, tho!
September 7, 2016 at 11:18 pm
Will from Arrowhead Brass again. I’m not going to get in an argument with Neal here, but the truth is, all brands’ frost-free hydrants eventually fail. Any plumbing valve or pipe that you put in your house can and someday will fail, you can count on that. Unfortunately, frost-free hydrants fall into this category and get a lot of scrutiny because they can be a pain to replace. Repairing them can be a pain too, but only if you don’t know what your doing. I highly suggest to anyone looking to repair their ABP/Arrowhead hydrant that you contact our company BEFORE you go to a hardware store. We can point you in the right direction and tell you where to get it- which is NOT the home depot because they do not sell our repair kits.
Neal- feel free to call me anytime- I’ll send you a FREE repair kit for your troubles as long as you hear me out as to why you might have to replace the o-rings each year. If you
NRWRD- call me anytime- just ask for Will. 30 years is proof that we make quality products. There have been a few changes to our products (definitely not 9, maybe 3), and some old products can not be fixed, but we will try the best we can to get you something that works. You can email me too- will@arrowheadbrass.com
Michelle, keep up the good work. Other brand frost-free faucets are usually not made with the same quality components and materials that we use. Oh- and- BTW- we now are making all of our products out of a LEAD FREE alloy that contains 93% copper- ours may cost a little more, but you wont have to worry about lead or other harmful chemicals that other brands use in their products- especially any that claim they are lead free, most manufacturers replace the lead with arsenic.
Regards,
-Will Schneider
September 8, 2016 at 5:45 am
LOL, I had no idea this in-my-moment-of-exasperation post would attract eight years of visits and comments, but let ‘er roll, if it can be a conduit for information exchange! It may be a hint to your social media team, Will (you do have a social media team, don’t you?? Or are you on it?) that they need to up their game on web content creation, so that it pushes my blog post out of the running and replaces it with company-generated propaganda! 😀
September 16, 2016 at 11:40 pm
So what model is superior 460 or 470? What is tha flow rate difference between a 466 and a 468 if any? Will im going to email you with this questions please reply
June 20, 2017 at 11:40 pm
NICE story telling…I have a different problem but kept me interested.
August 30, 2017 at 4:30 pm
Just for the haters….Will Schneider is very responsive to questions and very helpful so kuddos to Will!!
August 6, 2018 at 6:19 am
Hi Michelle, what a great blog regarding Arrowhead (ABP) outdoor frost proof faucets, nothing like it else where on the web. Appreciate mentioning of McClendons Hardware as source for replacement stems.
We moved into a fixer-upper on Sammamish plateau 2 years ago.
After servicing our ABP faucet out back today, and how noisy it was prior, its clear it needs to be replaced at some point. The green copper stem suggests its the original from when the house was built in 1988.
Agree with entire new faucet assembly replacement on a weekday, with integrity of copper pipe and fittings in a home by a cheap builder. A plumber in queue, a must. There must be thousands of such through-out King County from the housing boom the last 30 years.
Complements to Will Schneider of Arrowhead, for standing behind the product and reaching out to homeowners who have inherited ABP faucets, and doing so on this blog, most impressive.
April 22, 2019 at 8:39 pm
Hello,
I don’t know if anyone will still see this after all this time but here is what is going on with me. We just moved into this new home 3 months ago and everything is brand new. My hose bib (Arrowhead Arrow Breaker 450 or 460 seriew) leaks when it’s on. When it’s off there is no leakage.
When I look closely, the water comes out of the little hole near the valve handle. I have only used this 3 or 4 times and it has never been left on. Is it possible that it would have this problem so early in its life? Could it have been installed wrong?
Here are a couple of photos I took to show the water coming out while it’s on.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Tony
April 23, 2019 at 5:50 am
Tony, this totally sounds like the same problem I had. We have different problems with our freeze-proof faucets on our barn, as they aren’t totally freeze proof, and often the assembly inside gets damaged from a hard freeze and never works right again. So I’ve gotten good at replacing the whole assembly. But they are $50 or something, and it’s easiest if you have access inside the wall to unscrew it (and hopefully it’s not soldered in). If this seems like it’s going to be a hassle, it’s definitely worth the gamble to try to find just the stem, so you can replace it from the outside. Good luck!
April 23, 2019 at 1:35 pm
Hi Michelle, it looks like your post lives on! Thanks for the reply. We are still under warranty. I can call the builder but I was just surprised to see this happen when it’s still new so that’s why I thought maybe these anti-backflow units maybe just do that. (what ever happened to the days of simple hose bibs that just worked!)
April 24, 2019 at 5:59 am
Tony, haha, yea, this post gets periodic hits, so we must all be vexed by the same problem! 😀 It does sound like yours had more like a manufacturing flaw if it is relatively new. Mine was a few years old before it failed.
April 26, 2019 at 9:11 pm
I contacted Champion-Arrowhead with my problem. (I had emailed but got no response, so I called) They sent me a warranty form to fill out and had me email it back to them along with pics of the original tag and of the leak problem.
To my surprise, they said my case would next be reviewed and they would get back to me if I was “approved”. Wow.
I own a product manufacturing company and if anyone ever contacts me with a problem, sends me photos of the problem and is even willing to fill out a warranty form, I jump at the chance to make it right. Then, I either send them a whole new product or the parts needed to fix it. (even if it’s out of warranty)
Needless to say, I won’t choose Champion-Arrowhead in the future, based on their response or lack thereof. Let alone that my faucet is only 3 months old and used a few times. They still haven’t gotten back to me so I’ll wait until next week and try calling again.
It shows me that they don’t care much about the end user. They do probably care a lot about large distributors, etc.
Oh well, that’s why open forums are good to have available.
April 27, 2019 at 3:59 am
Good grief Tony, indeed, they sound like their market is more about volume than repeat business…
April 27, 2019 at 3:03 pm
Thanks for letting me vent! ; )
April 30, 2019 at 6:21 pm
By way of final follow-up to be fair. . .
I contacted Champion-Arrowhead by phone again yesterday. They said I had been approved right away and a part had already been sent. The person who approved it just didn’t contact me.
Sure enough the part (actually they sent 2), which is the PK6026 check assembly, arrived that evening.
This morning I turned off the water supply, removed the stem and then replaced the check assembly. It took less than 10 minutes. Now everything is running perfectly again with no drips and I am happy as a clam at high tide!
I wanted to follow up because so often we bash a company when they do poorly and don’t praise them when they fix it. Champion-Arrowhead made it right but they just didn’t communicate that a part had been sent.
All is well, thank you!
Tony
May 1, 2019 at 5:10 am
Thanks for the follow-up Tony!
June 18, 2019 at 3:11 am
After a numbing amount of research, finally ID’d my exterior frost-free hose bib as an Arrowhead Brass valve….emailed them in LA CA and they said it is a 420 series valve and to remove the internal cartridge and take specific measurements and photos and sent to them to ID the rebuild kit….it was now leaking 3-5 drops per second….fatefully checked a hardware store I’d never been in today and found they had an entire section devoted to Arrowhead Brass valve replacement cartridges (just unscrew and screw in a new one)….went Home and secured the water and removed the failed unit and went back and purchased a replacement and….it’s healed…..$24 for the cartridge and $6 for a new valve handle.
https://www.mclendons.com
June 18, 2019 at 6:25 am
BJ, yayy!! I actually live reasonably near McLendons as well, but was too lazy to drive there, so ordered from them online! 🙂 They are well known for having all the weird stuff that other hardware stores don’t!
September 7, 2019 at 9:51 pm
Michelle, Thanks for starting this blog. It was very helpful to me as I worked through a leaky check valve issue. I first hired a professional plumber to get the job done “right”. After three visits and almost $200, they threw up their hands and blamed my hose length! Then I found your blog and I contacted Will from Arrow. I got a new check valve assembly and fixed it myself – all okay now and it was great to work with Will. Now to post a review of the plumber …
September 7, 2019 at 10:52 pm
Steve thanks for the note, haha, when I wrote this, I had no idea how many people would find it! 🙂
June 8, 2020 at 6:42 pm
Well, here is to reviving this post once more. I have a 420 series and like Tony, after replacing with a brand new cartridge (stem), I am getting this leak right behind the handle through that little hole right there. I was having the same problem with the previous stem and reason for replacing it. Prior to it leaking there it was coming out the vacuum breaker which I replaced earlier last week. So I have a new stem and it leaks there. I need this on all the time as it is hooked up to a timed sprinkler for my back yard. I did not want to replace the whole thing, but now after rebuilding the arrowhead one ($10 for vacuum, and $24 for stem), I should have just bought a new one as they are about $35. I don’t have to worry about copper pipes as mine are all CPVC. But looks like these Arrowhead ones should be left for houses that do not use their hose bibs (ie decoration).
June 9, 2020 at 4:53 am
haha, yeah, Dan when I wrote this post on minutiae, I had no idea how many people would find it over time! I think somewhere in here the Arrow rep commented that really none of these are designed to be left on all the time. I have a different brand in our barn, whatever Home Depot carries, and it has a different failure mode. It is extremely sensitive to the lightest frost, and it damages the valve somehow so almost no water can come out. I always discover it in the spring when I want to use the hose. For those, it’s easy for me to replace the whole unit since I have interior access in our barn. But our Arrow one is a “shorty” that’s jammed up next to a floor joist and soldered in, so I loathe thinking about the day I must replace more than the stem…
June 9, 2020 at 11:44 am
I called Arrowhead, and they confirmed because of the anti-siphon (backflow preventer), it is doing its job and not meant to be under pressure for long periods of time. So options are get one that is not, change the stem to one that is not, or I was thinking of installing a timer on this inside of my house so the spigot would only be under pressure when the timer is on and then the sprinkler would be on too.
September 20, 2020 at 2:18 am
I replaced my arrowhead inner stem and it still drips…..Why? can I try putting a larger rubber washer at the inner shut off?
September 20, 2020 at 4:27 am
@Ken, I don’t know! :-0 It does seem like if the stem is new, that the seal at the washer is suspect. I have another brand of frost-free faucets in our barn and they are very vulnerable to being ruined by frost, and I find I have to replace the whole unit to fix. But those don’t usually have a dripping problem, it’s more that they don’t allow much water flow even when turned on.
July 15, 2022 at 10:08 pm
Like several other readers reported, my Arrowhead anti-siphon spigot was leaking water from the small hole in the handle. The discussion in this thread was very helpful in diagnosing the problem and getting to a solution. Thank you!
Shout out to The Collie Farm for keeping this thread up. And, big thanks to McLendon Hardware. I brought in the valve assembly. The guy at McLendon’s found the right tip (breaker check assembly) and replaced it for me on the spot. We thought we were going to need a plumber to replace the spigot. Ended up being an $11 repair.
July 16, 2022 at 4:06 am
Awesome Karlis!
August 10, 2022 at 7:02 pm
You’ve successfully narrated the last 3 months of my life. It seems I also have a flawed stem. Mystery solved! Thanks for sharing.
-S.
August 11, 2022 at 6:05 am
You’re welcome Stephanie! I had no idea when I wrote this post what a community of people we are who all have this problem! 😀