Since our RV came equipped with ordinary residential faucets, replacing them is similar to doing the same job in an ordinary sticks & bricks house. But some RV plumbing systems can be a little different than a house, so we’ve made a step-by-step tutorial showing exactly how we did the job.
Last month marked 12 years since we picked up our shiny new RV. While the faucets were perfectly workable, they’re not a style we would have chosen if given the opportunity, both from aesthetic and functional standpoints. We prefer metal (either chrome or brushed) to the “crystal-look” plastic handles on the bathroom faucets, and having higher/longer spouts would make them more comfortable for us to use.
But a faucet that’s not an ideal choice is the epitome of a first-world problem. The idea of discarding a brand new piece of gear because it isn’t perfect isn’t our style. And so they stayed, in all their glorious imperfection, for nearly 12 years.
But last year, the kitchen faucet began to drip, and leak around the handle. While we could simply have replaced the cartridge, this was juuuust enough justification to replace it with something more to our taste. Our attitude in this situation is often “If we’re going to spend money, let’s consider spending some extra to get betterment.” And we had gotten over a decade of use out of it.
The fact that Costco so often seems to have just the right thing available didn’t hurt either. We’re not so picky that we require hundreds of choices to find something we like, but Costco stores are usually the other extreme, sometimes offering only one or two styles of a given product. But it never ceases to amaze us how many times they carry exactly what we would have picked out of a much wider selection. Not only did we love the sole kitchen faucet they had on the shelves that day, but it was a fine brand (Hansgrohe) at a great price. No surprise there… this is Costco after all!
So when both of our bathroom faucets recently started dripping at about the same time, it was back to Costco to see if lightning would strike twice. Sure enough, the one style they carried was gorgeous (in our opinions of course), high quality (Hansgrohe again!) and priced extremely well (Costco)! :)
We know that replacing our RV faucets wasn’t all that different than doing the same job in a regular house. So maybe this video will come in handy even if you’re not an RVer. Keep in mind that RVs vary considerably though. Less-expensive rigs tend to use less expensive components, like plastic sinks and faucets for example. So the materials and techniques required will likely vary depending on year, make and type of RV. Fortunately, many RVs don’t require RV-specific faucets. So you can probably choose a higher-quality model designed for regular household use and make it work… maybe with a couple of adapters, like we did.
If you’re confident and handy enough to install a new faucet, keep in mind that some adaptation may be needed, and hopefully you’ll glean enough information from this video to make the job as easy as possible. Let us know how you make out in the comments below!
One last note…. we did realize, after the fact, that we forgot to mention one minor detail. After shutting off the water, but before removing the water lines, you should open a faucet somewhere in the RV to relieve pressure in the system. If you didn’t do that, and got a little wetter than you would have, we’re sorry!
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We purchased our replacement faucets at Costco… one of those “treasure hunt” items where they just happened to have what we wanted when we were at the store. Effectively, any household faucet will work, as long as it fits the hole pattern in your counter.
- HansGrohe Metris Single-Hole Faucet (Chrome)
- Hansgrohe Cento, Steel Optik (Kitchen)
- 3/8″ Compression to 1/2″ MIP Brass Adapter – we needed 2 of these to adapt the 3/8″ compression fittings that came on the new faucet so they’d connect to the 1/2″ plastic fittings on our water supply lines. Check your fittings first to see whether you need these, or other, adapters.
- Pipe Sealant Tape
- Plumber’s Putty – NOTE: standard plumber’s putty can stain porous materials, such as natural stone or plastic. In that case you can use either non-staining plumber’s putty or silicone sealant instead.
- Slip-joint Pliers
- Dremel 4000 – you won’t likely need one of these, but since our under-mount sink had a thick lip around the edge, the mounting hardware for the faucet wouldn’t fit without minor modification, as shown in the video).
jesse g. jorgensen
Saturday 24th of October 2020
what is the best access for kitchen plumbing on a 2005 fleetwood discovery. trying to find a leak. thanks
TheRVgeeks
Saturday 24th of October 2020
Hi Jesse! Sorry to hear you're having a leak! We're not familiar enough with your year/make/model of RV to be able to give you any specific recommendations. But we CAN tell you that you should try posting in the Fleetwood Owner's forum over at iRV2.com (https://www.irv2.com/forums/f107/). It's free to join & post... and there's a much better probability that someone with your era of Discovery will be able to help guide you.
Hope this helps! And good luck locating the leak!
Ken Leek
Friday 26th of July 2019
Hi, I liked your video. I want to replace my kitchen faucet in my RV. However, the previous owners glued the plastic fittings shut. I can't find where to get replacement plastic fittings to save my life. Do you know where I can find them?
TheRVgeeks
Friday 26th of July 2019
Hi Ken. Thanks! But we're sorry to hear the previous owner did something like that! Guess they didn't want to have a leak! We've had good luck finding most fittings we've needed for our RV at big box hardware stores like Lowe's/Home Depot/RONA... and the few we couldn't find there we picked up at either a plumbing supply store or local RV repair place. But since most of the fittings are fairly standard, so they SHOULD be fairly easy to locate. If you can manage to remove one (even if you have to cut it out... which would be a LAST resort, but may be necessary in the long run, anyway), you can bring it to the store with you, and the person who works the plumbing supply section should be able to get you fixed up (if you have a section of the plumbing, too, they'll be able to confirm what size fittings you need).
Hope this helps!
John Smith (@JohnSmi32665076)
Tuesday 6th of November 2018
Nice post! The first step to replacing bathroom faucet and drain connections is adding the faucet to the sink and after that things should be done step by step. If a person is willing to replace the faucet, they should make sure that faucet is centered on the drain before completely tightening the mounting ring. Faucet Repair Chattanooga
John Schretlen
Friday 9th of June 2017
One of my kids just bought a condo and he said his first 'to do' item is replace the faucets. I would have never thought about Costco as a place to find plumbing parts so I sent him your Costco links and included the whole video as well.
I was MOST impressed at how clean the drain was when you pulled it up. It looked more like 12 hours old, not 12 years. ;)
TheRVgeeks
Friday 9th of June 2017
Thanks John, but we guess you're referring to how good the drain looked AFTER cleaning, which is what we were showing up close. Because it was DISGUSTING when we first pulled it! It's where the sink overflow meets the main drain, and besides never being totally dry, the very high ratio of toothpaste, dirt, body oils, hair, soap residue, etc that are much-less-thoroughly flushed away by using the least possible amount of water when boondocking had really built up over 12 years. We showed it off up close after cleaning it like crazy because it was SO much better than how we first found it!
Mike
Thursday 8th of June 2017
Being a son of a Plumber all I can say is you guys did an excellent job showing the proper and careful way to replace and update your faucet. You made it easy for people to follow with point on instructions. I also liked how you made a modification to your instal showing how to make it fit by taking an additional step. So gents you are now on your way to the leak proof world of plumbing and do remember a Plumber is not just some old guy who picks plumbs!!! Way to go men! < FISH <
TheRVgeeks
Thursday 8th of June 2017
Best comment of the day, Mike! Thanks so much. Great to hear some validation from someone with more professional knowledge than we have that we didn't totally screw it up! LOL Much appreciated.