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I continue to receive lots of questions about the B&K Mueller
frost free QuarterMaster silcock on my blog at StockValues.org
and this movie is an attempt to answer some of these questions.
First of all, there are two types of silcocks.
The more recent one is on the bottom of this picture
and that's the one that is flanged out, where the connection is to the pipe
and it also has a metal handle, as you'll see in a second
and this particular type has been around for about a year now.
The older type was with a plastic handle and it was not flanged out.
The two stems at the top are from the older version.
Now let's try to take one of these apart.
So, we're going to take the screw out first, then remove the handle.
Use Crescent or an adjustable wrench to remove the two screw on pieces.
There is a washer in between.
You probably want to arrange all the pieces that you remove in the order that you take
them out.
Again, using an adjustable wrench to loosen the second screw on piece
and remove it and then remove the stem.
The stem may need a little encouragement to come out,
in which case you can insert a pencil and tap on it lightly.
The length of the stem with the cartridge attached is the same in the two styles of
silcocks,
but the cartridges themselves are different.
The cartridge that is in the newer style is shorter and looks quite a bit different.
Now, above, the top cartridges, came out of the older style silcocks.
The one at the very top is the one that has the ceramic shut off, the ceramic part in
a cartridge,
and the one in the middle is the one that is all brass.
When you call B&K Mueller, you'll need to tell them which style of silcock you have,
so that they can send you the right size of the cartridge.
But in either case, they should send you the all brass cartridge,
because the ones with the ceramic shut offs had problems in the past.
It's pretty easy to replace the cartridge.
Just disconnect it from the stem; right there's the screw that does that.
And save the washer, save the spring, put it on the new cartridge and reattach
It is that simple.
In the past they used to send you the cartridge together with the stem.
But, it is just as easy to do this: to replace the cartridge onto the stem.
And there it goes: the new cartridge, new brass cartridge, spring, washer
and the screw goes back in there.
Now, we will put the silcock back together,
reversing the order in which we took it apart.
We may need to tap a little bit on the stem to get it in.
Put in the big screw on piece, and the washer,
and the second screw on piece,
then you put on the handle, of course,
the little label and the screw and tighten everything.
Use Crescent wrench to tighten parts, or it will leak.