Woodford 17 Anti-Siphon Thread Damage?

[Dvid]

One of my Woodford 17 outside spigots was leaking from the top. Ordered a replacement anti-siphon kit. When I went to remove the old one it was totally gunked with mineral deposits. Used vinegar and backing soda and a toothbrush and it loosened up enough to use channel locks to get it started.

When I went to insert the new one it would not screw into the top, it was cock-eyed. Backed it out and tried over and over. So I went back to the one I removed and it too will not screw in. You can visibly see it's not threading right.

I took the toothbrush, vinegar and baking soda and cleaned the treads. No signs of debris or damage. Washed them off and wiped them off, but can't get the new or old one back in. If I try with the channel locks it destroys the plastic threads.

1. Do you think the metal threads are damaged? (Not sure how from a plastic fitting???)
2. Is there anything metal I can screw into the thread (same thread as the anti-siphone piece) temporarily to fix the thread it or am I looking at replacing the whole spigot?

Thanks.

 

[Reach4]

Try putting the cap back on by rotating CCW a few times. Note when you feel a click as the thread falls, and note the angular position. Rotate CCW again until you just feel that click at the same position. Then turn CW. See if that gets your crossthreaded cap back in place.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dvid]

Try putting the cap back on by rotating CCW a few times. Note when you feel a click as the thread falls, and note the angular position. Rotate CCW again until you just feel that click at the same position. Then turn CW. See if that gets your crossthreaded cap back in place.

Will try. Thanks.

 

[Dvid]

Still wondering...

2. Is there anything metal I can screw into the thread (same thread as the anti-siphone piece) temporarily to fix the thread?

 

[John Gayewski]

It can be hard to screw plastic into metal. Plastic is forgiving enough to thread into anything, whether or not your starting perfectly square into the metal threads the plastic will want to thread in. This ruins the plastic threads fairly quickly and it can be very hard to use said plastic piece again. You either have to be very surgical on your placement of the plastic piece and guide it into the threads correctly or get a new plastic piece, as the one you have may be too far gone.

I'm not sure what threads are on a vaccum breaker like yours. But it could help if you could find something to chase the threads as you said.

 

[Dvid]

Called Woodford and to their credit they are loaning me a "tap" to improve the threads on the spigot, even sending me a replacement anti-siphon floating kit. Will report back if it works. I had been looking for something metal or brass to screw in there. She said she thought the tap was 7/8 - 16.

Also mentioning this for anyone who stumbles across this post.

One rep also told me to use a little dishwashing liquid to help the plastic screw in. He said the spigot can swell slightly in high heat and humidity. It did help a little bit with the original float but those threads are shot.
Another trick they gave me was to use a toothpick against the stem off the float at the top of the screw in piece in the center so when you flip it over and start screwing it in the float doesn't fall to the bottom and then can't align with the top hole. My method for that was to use some quality duck tape over the center hole at the top, insert the floater and the with a nail dimple the duck tape so it makes enough contact with the float it holds it in place. Then after you screw it in you can remove the duck tape.

Will report back on the "tap."

 

[Reach4]

Dvid, how about a photo or two when you get back to it.

 

[Dvid]

Dvid, how about a photo or two when you get back to it.

No problem. Thanks.

 

[Dvid]

Reporting back. Worked*

Woodford sent the tap, a new anti-siphon float kit, a plastic tightening tool to re-seat the anti-float kit and a return label.

Forum is not letting me upload photos so here is a Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1K94MZYOw1CgwHVAlmWmI59rGpW7cOOke?usp=sharing

If someone knows how I can upload photos here, let me know.

1. Cleaned the existing threads.
2. Lined up the tap. This was a bit tricky. I didn't want to make new threads, but fix the told ones. Took a little fine tuning to find the sweet spot. Used a wrench to tighten to the bottom and then remove. It definitely felt like it was following the previous thread grooves.
3. After removing cleaned out the threads from metal debris. Squeezed hose to back up water into the area to wash it out.
4. Used their toothpick trick to hold the new floater in place while screwing in.
5. But first applied a little dishwasking liquid (another trick from Woodford) to ensure the new part would go in smoothly.
6. Hand tightened.
7. Used their gray plastic tool tool to tighten a hair more but not too much.
8. Installed.
9. Cap back on and tested.

Now I wrote fixed* because it still has a bit of a leak. Not as bad as before though. I don't think this floater valve is ever going to be a water tight / perfect connection. It's a low tech / manual part. I can see it bob up and down, but it's not a stationery thick gasket. I don't love that it's not water tight, but it's better and this process saved me about $50 for the spigot, $70 for a crimper tool and a couple of dollars on pex and a sharkbite connector. I probably would have hired a plumber too, so all in all this saved me $200 or more. Good enough. I'll keep my eye on it because the deposits in my water are what eventually gunked up the floater valve.

Hope this helps someone.