Replacing the Kitchen Faucet Without Removing the Water Heater or Cutting The Wall

BrucePerens · 08-01-2017, 05:30 PM

The Trailmanor kitchen faucet is installed while the outer wall is not present. Removing the faucet and replacing it can be a big hassle, because it's difficult or impossible to reach the plumbing under the faucet without either removing the water heater or cutting an access door in the outside of the Trailmanor.

I was able to do the entire repair without removing the water heater or cutting an access.

I took photos while doing this repair, but unfortunately it's difficult to get a good photo inside of the cabinet. So, I'm going to describe it in words.

The necessary tools and parts were:

A platic pipe cutter. A PEX ring crimper (cheap on Amazon, twice as much at Home Depot). About 10 feet of half-inch PEX pipe. 20 PEX rings. One "Shark-Bite" PEX butt fitting for putting together two PEX pipes. Brass PEX tee, brass PEX elbows, brass PEX butt fittings, two PEX male supply-hose fittings, one PEX female fitting for the water heater.

The new faucet, from Price Pfister, did not have its inlets in the same location, and did not use the same connectors. The new faucet has a single lever instead of the two knobs in the old one, and a hose and nozzle. So, it was going to be necessary to remove the PEX pipe under the faucet.

I first tore the old faucet apart from above the sink, until I got to the point that I could rotate the old parts from above to remove them while holding the fitting under the sink. This required first pulling the caps off of the knobs, then unscrewing the screws underneath, then unscrewing the ring at the base of the spigot. Then the plastic cover was removed from the top and the plastic parts underneath were pried apart until I could finally remove the entire faucet. There was one plastic nut anchoring the faucet that had to be turned from underneath, using just my fingers, to remove it. Pretty soon I was left with just the valves, which I turned from above while holding the PEX fittings below the faucet.

Now the faucet was gone, but the fittings were not in the right place to connect the new one.

At this point I removed the PEX fittings from the water heater, draining the water in it into a bowl.

The next step was to cut out most of the existing piping in the cabinet, so that I could relocate it and make it easier to work upon, and also to relocate some pipe that obstructed the use of the right side of the cabinet for storage. I was able to use the PEX ring crimper to do all but one of the new fittings. The one I could not reach with the PEX crimper, I did with one Shark-Bite butt connector.

I relocated the hot and cold sink outlets to the upper edge of the open area on the right side of the cabinet, and connected 16-inch flexible metal-braid-covered sink supply hoses at that point. I can now reach in to disconnect those hoses without any problem. I pulled those hoses through the center hole in the sink to the area above the sink, and connected them to the faucet there before installing the faucet in the sink. The sprayer hose had to be fed into the right hand hole in the sink and then out the center hole (beside the two supply hoses) to connect it to the faucet. Threading that hose in and back out so that the faucet installs correctly will be difficult for the geometrically challenged.

Having made all three faucet connections without first installing the faucet in the sink, I now carefully jammed all of the hoses in through the center hole, seating the faucet on the sink. It is just barely possible to squeeze all of the connections through that hole, given the sizes of the hoses and the fact that the connections are vertically offset from each other. Be careful not to cut the hoses on the stainless steel sink edges.

Then it was possible to screw down the faucet with a threaded shaft and plastic nut that come with the faucet.

Everything is water-tight and works excellently. Unfortunately this takes a long time to do, but if you ever have to replace the faucet again, it's going to be a lot easier the second time, using the braid-covered supply hoses instead of PEX directly to the faucet.

**Kidkraz** · 08-01-2017, 09:20 PM

Bruce, I also recently replaced my kitchen faucet. I went the cowards way and pulled the water heater. Hated doing it, but it was the only way for me to get access to the bottom of that facet. I did take several pictures during the process; one was a panoramic view of under the sink area as well as under the bathroom sink.

BrucePerens · 08-01-2017, 10:39 PM

Well, it looks like nothing got better since 2004. I'm not thrilled with the way that romex wire is going everywhere in three dimensions, and they didn't try to make the PEX any neater than in my unit. I would have preferred to see that stuff all running along the walls with hold-downs along the runs.

It looks like you did the same supply-hose thing, just in a different place.

I think I have 34 inch arms, at least that's what my shirt size is. Shorter people might have trouble reaching the back of the cabinet.

HoMiPa · 08-02-2017, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrucePerens

I think I have 34 inch arms, at least that's what my shirt size is. Shorter people might have trouble reaching the back of the cabinet.

Yes indeedy. When I replaced my kitchen faucet several years ago, I had to get my shoulder and head in through the cabinet door opening to reach the clips holding the sink down. (I took the sink out to replace all the PEX) It wasn't pretty, and I'd never want to do it again, and, I never got all those clips back in place at the rear left corner of the sink.

**Bill** · 08-02-2017, 06:42 AM

A little late, I know, but perhaps for others. Access under the kitchen cabinet is greatly improved if you first remove the cabinet doors, and the vertical center piece (stile). Then you can unscrew and remove much of the kitchen sink drain plumbing, which opens up the area some more. They all come out quite quickly and easily.

Bruce - did you try a basin wrench? That helps, too.

Bill

HoMiPa · 08-02-2017, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

A little late, I know, but perhaps for others. Access under the kitchen cabinet is greatly improved if you first remove the cabinet doors, and the vertical center piece (stile). Then you can unscrew and remove much of the kitchen sink drain plumbing, which opens up the area some more. They all come out quite quickly and easily.

Bill

I did remove the cabinet doors, and the drain plumbing, but I couldn't remove the stile. I don't remember why now, but at the time I was quite disgusted that I couldn't remove it, and I considering taking my SawMax to it. I think it had to do with how the screws were installed - like the screw heads were covered with something else, which was covered with something else..... some crazy thing where I would have had to tear apart the entire cabinet, to include removing the fridge, just to get the stile out.

**Bill** · 08-02-2017, 07:59 AM

Sorry to hear that, Holly. On mine, there were 4 screws in the sides of the stile. Two were at the bottom, angled downward at 45 degrees and into the base frame. Two were at the top, angled upward at 45 degrees. As I recall, the screw heads were small so I used a size 1 (smaller) Phillips screwdriver rather than the standard #2, and they backed right out. On yours, it sounds like TM backfilled the screw holes with wood putty to improve the appearance.

Getting the stile out made an amazing difference.

Bill

HoMiPa · 08-02-2017, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

Sorry to hear that, Holly. On mine, there were 4 screws in the sides of the stile. Two were at the bottom, angled downward at 45 degrees and into the base frame. Two were at the top, angled upward at 45 degrees. As I recall, the screw heads were small so I used a size 1 (smaller) Phillips screwdriver rather than the standard #2, and they backed right out. On yours, it sounds like TM backfilled the screw holes with wood putty to improve the appearance.

Getting the stile out made an amazing difference.

Bill

I couldn't find anything that even remotely resembled putty filled screw heads, or I would have chiseled/drilled that right out of there. I do recall thinking "Did they start with the stile to build this cabinet!?!?" - it was that crazy. If I ever have to do work in there again, I'm cutting it out, and I'll just use flat brackets to reattach a new one to the bottom & top rails of the cabinet front.

BrucePerens · 08-02-2017, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

Bruce - did you try a basin wrench? That helps, too.

I didn't need to, the drain piping wasn't in the way. If I had not chosen to remove most of the existing PEX and re-route it, removing the sink might have been an option. But like Holly, I would never have been able to get those back clips in again, especially the one on the left.

**pmhellings** · 08-02-2017, 02:14 PM

My faucet was leaking in my new-to-me 2010 SL. I removed it with little difficulty and took it with me to Home Depot where I found a replacement of the same dimensions. Installation was a little bit of a challenge but fairly straightforward without any modifications to the PEX tubing or fittings. Perhaps other models are more difficult.

Paul