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Understand Vacuum Breaker Importance and Reinstallation Option

3:52
5:30
101.3K views

At 3:52 in

GREAT LITTLE HOSE BIB HACK!

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What happens here

The presenter explains the importance of vacuum breakers in preventing backflow contamination into the potable water supply, especially if a hose is left submerged in dirty water (e.g., a swamp bucket) while household water pressure changes. He acknowledges that local codes often require them. If you choose to replace the vacuum breaker (model 1019-A-486 is shown as an example), he recommends inserting a hose washer into the vacuum breaker and then screwing it onto the faucet. This makes the vacuum breaker easily removable, unlike the factory-installed, threadlocked version, allowing for simpler replacement or maintenance in the future while still providing the necessary backflow prevention.

Goal: Decide whether to reinstall a vacuum breaker and understand best practices if doing so

Tools and materials

  • Vacuum breaker — Preventing backflow contamination if reinstalled. (Model 1019-A-486 mentioned as example)
  • Hose washer — Creating a seal if installing a new vacuum breaker

What they say

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any attachment to it now i know you're gonna say oh brian but that's illegal you have to have a vacuum breaker on here well you're right according to code these days you are supposed to have a vacuum breaker on here now i explained this to my friend and he assured me that he was not going to leave his hose in a dirty swamp bucket all right he said hey i get why i don't like it and he's the homeowner it's his thing he decides ultimately what he wants so if you wanted to just replace your vacuum breaker you still could this is a 1019-a 486 and what i would do is instead of putting more thread locker on and getting this to where it seals i would actually just take a hose washer put this down in there and then connect that like that right it's going to do the same thing as the other and then you've just made this removable so i totally understand why you want a vacuum breaker and it is a great safety feature but if you're not gonna leave your hose in a bucket and you're always gonna disconnect it or always keep it hanging well then you're gonna be safe right but what this is for is if you actually were to say turn on your roman tub upstairs and you're using big amounts of water and you had this hose bib on even partially and it was in a bucket like this it totally could siphon it back into your house and contaminate your drinking water nobody wants that all right

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