We all use them, whether it’s to rinse the sink out after washing the dishes, rinsing off vegetables, or filling an electric hot water pot to make our morning tea. The sprayer hose part of our kitchen faucet is ubiquitous, and some would say, indispensable. Delta is among the many brands with a sprayer hose.
How They Work – The Sprayer Hose Details
When you look beneath your kitchen sink, you will see supply lines bringing water to your faucet. When you examine a bit further, you will see a tube or hose from the faucet to the sprayer head.
Inside the faucet, a small fixture called a diverter lives up to its name by diverting water from the faucet to the sprayer head. It activates only when the sprayer is “on.”
When your Delta faucet sprayer is leaking, though, the first place to look is at the tube or hose that connects the faucet to the sprayer head. These hoses are usually snap-on rather than threaded. The snap-on can loosen, or perhaps it wasn’t a good fit. That means it’s time to replace the hose and make sure the fit is tight.
How Do You Remove a Delta Quick Connect Sprayer Hose?
- First, prepare your workspace. Clear out everything beneath the sink to give yourself enough room to work.
- And while you’re there, shut the water supply off.
Next, gather what you will need to do the work:
- Sprayer hose replacement parts – the Delta side spray assembly. You can source these from a plumbing supply store or one of the major DIY stores. Just tell the salesperson you are replacing your Delta side spray and need a new hose and sprayer hose assembly, and they will know what you mean.
- An adjustable wrench
- A basin wrench
- Pliers
- Screwdriver
- Flashlight
- A small bucket or bowl.
For those who aren’t familiar with a basin wrench, sometimes called a sink wrench, it’s a plumbing tool used to turn fasteners that are difficult to reach with any other kind of wrench. It has a long shaft, asymmetrical jaws at one end, and a handle at the other end. It enables you to reach, for instance, threaded nuts securing faucets to sinks that are often located in deeply recessed places.
Open the side spray to release any lingering pressure and water.
The Quick Connect Differences Among Delta Side Spray Hoses
Some Delta side spray connections (the hose to the fixture) use what they call a quick connect adapter. It joins and secures the hose connection. You can source it easily at a plumbing supply store or one of the major DIY stores.
In the same way, it is a quick connect; it is also a quick disconnect. Pinch together at the base of the black plastic halves, next to the hose. The top halves will spread apart, loosening the adapter and allowing you to pull it down gently. Then, just disconnect the hose.
There will likely be a bit of water in the hose, and this is where the bucket or bowl comes in handy.
Reverse this process when you replace the hose with your new one. It’s as easy as pinching again and moving it over the connection of hose to fixture, and then releasing the pinch.
However, there is also a plastic quick connect faucet fitting used in some Delta side spray hosing. It, too, connects the hose to the side spray and is both an easy installation and removal.
While words can be used to explain how they work, video shows it much more effectively.
The 37 seconds of this video saves many words and does a much better job than they could.
Removing The Spray Head
If it becomes necessary to remove the spray head, you’ll need only your fingers and thumb.
Remove the spray head from the large nut, called a slide nut or hose coupling that joins it to the hose by screwing it counterclockwise with your hand. Then, simply pull the spray head off the slide nut.
If it doesn’t turn easily by hand, a crescent wrench can be used to turn it a quarter turn clockwise and then counterclockwise to loosen it, and then unscrew it by hand.
Finish Up the Job
You now know the hose and spray head connectors and how to disconnect them. It is not a complicated process. It’s also not a complicated process to connect the replacement hose or spray head for your Delta faucet.
After replacing and connecting the hose and/or spray head, turn the water supply lines back on. Check each connection to make sure they are tight and there isn’t a leak. And, spray a bit to make sure everything is in order.
It’s an easy fix, and from preparing your workspace to assembling your tools and parts, you will have invested 30 minutes, tops. Another job well done.