Notes on replacing the kitchen faucet

Our kitchen faucet was leaking.  Any time we used the hot side, we wound up with water where it shouldn't be, and water where it shouldn't be is a recipe for disaster in a travel trailer. So I replaced it.

Here are some notes on what I ran into, for the benefit of anyone who goes down the same path. 

The factory faucet is cheap, plastic, and not serviceable. However, it is a standard kitchen faucet size, not RV-specific.

I bought a single-handle brass faucet, much better quality, for $36 on Amazon. It requires only a single hole, but comes with an optional base that can cover the other two holes left when you remove the old faucet. 

If you prefer separate valves and a three-hole faucet, you'll probably find the project a little easier than I did. Cramming everything through one hole is a bit of a problem.

On the old faucet, Forest River directly connected the red and blue PEX water lines to 3/4 inch threaded faucet stubs. New faucets likely come with a 3/8 pressure fitting, so some plumbing work was required.

I had never worked with PEX before. It's easier than copper or glued PVC, but it requires some special tools. (No project is complete unless you've bought another tool.) 

To reach up behind the sink and unscrew the old fittings, unless you have rubber arms, you'll need a basin wrench ($6 Harbor Freight). 

To cut the PEX lines down to a reasonable length and prepare for new fittings, you'll need a PEX cutter. Another special tool. I spent $12 at Lowe's. You want nice, clean, square cuts, so don't try to cheat with a hacksaw. 

To go from half-inch PEX to your flexible lines, you'd think there would be some kind of reducer fitting. Don't bother looking for one; it doesn't exist. You'll need to buy two PEX-compatible shutoff valves with 3/8 compression fittings. (Remove the nut and brass washer and throw them away, leaving the threaded male connector exposed.) 

PEX fittings come in a couple of varieties, including a SharkBite version that claims you can simply press it on and it will grab the plastic pipe, without requiring any special tools. I tried that, but couldn't get it to grab. I took both valves back to Lowe's for exchange, intending to use crimp ring fittings instead. 

PEX crimp rings require a special crimping tool. Lowe's was happy to sell me one for about $100. Not gonna happen.

I went to Home Depot, and they had one for $50. I picked it up, came close to buying it, then looked on Amazon on my phone. I put down the crimping tool and ordered a complete $25 kit with an assortment of rings, the crimping pliers, and a PEX cutter. (This is what I should have started with.) 

Installing the valves with the crimp rings is fairly easy if you have three hands. I slightly pre-crimped the rings so they were finger tight on the supply line to make things a little easier. 

The hardest part of the project was physically installing the new faucet in the old hole, because it required threading all the lines through two washers and a nut that fits over the 1 3/8" faucet bottom, all performed way up there behind the sink.

The basin wrench isn't going to give you any help there.

On our RP179, the under-the-sink area is occupied by three drawers. Even with the drawers removed, you can't get under the sink. To reach all the way up, I needed to levitate about 16-18 inches, and stick a shoulder into a drawer hole. Hey, maybe I can use the ottoman cushions. No dice. They're just as useless under the sink as they are on the ottoman. 

After awhile I found the solution staring me in the face: That ungainly, annoying, unreasonably heavy R-Pod dinette table. It's designed to become a bed support. I was able to lay on my back on the collapsed table, and barely reach the faucet from the bottom, while my wife held it steady from above.

You spin the nut until it's finger tight, then, with a long Phillips screwdriver, tighten two screws for the final fit. This is where eyes up top are essential -- you don't want to tighten it down only to find the faucet is crooked when you're done. 

All finished. I hooked up the city water, pressurized the system, removed the aerator, flushed the lines, put the aerator back on, and everything now seems in order. 

Thank you for all the helpful tips, I just hope that I can remember any of them when it comes time to replace my faucet