A Faucet Test Fixture

I'm restoring an old Moen lavatory faucet, and I'd like to be able to pressure-test it before I sell it or give it away or find a use for it. I've put a new cartridge in the faucet, so there shouldn't be any problem, but I prefer to be certain of these things. Final installation is not the time to discover that there's a flaw to be corrected.

I'd also like to do the test prior to full, final reassembly of the faucet, so as not to risk any damage to its finish. All that led me to construct this fixture.

It will let me test the faucet I'm restoring now, and it'll work with any faucet with 1/2" MIP (Male Iron Pipe -- straight thread) fittings on it, which is pretty much what all faucets have.

The copper items, the two braid-covered hoses and the black 1/2" feed hose were salvage. The two 1/2" copper-to-3/8" compression fittings, and the stuff to get from 1/2" copper to 3/4" hose I had to buy new. I had hoped to find a 3/4" male hose fitting that would attach directly to 1/2" copper, but all I could find was a hose fitting for attachment to 1/2" NPT iron pipe -- hence the cumbersome-looking hose attachment end.

Anyway, it's ready to go. Here's a view of the Moen faucet's innards, assembled to the point of being operational.

Now I just need a faucet with a male hose thread on it's spout, and I can connect this faucet and pressure-test it. I don't have any indoor faucets like that, so I'll have to go out to the carport for this.

And here's the faucet connected and under full pressure.

And it appears that all is well -- operation is as it should be, and there's no leakage whatsoever when the faucet is closed.

So, now I can carry on with restoration of the faucet's shell, and find a place to stash my test fixture where I won't forget where I put it.

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