Removing a Glacier Bay kitchen faucet can be tricky, as the mounting setup differs from most other leading faucet brands. Glacier Bay utilizes a FastMount system intended to accelerate the installation process. However, the unique appearance of the system may give you grief when trying to uninstall it.
While it would be easy enough to backtrack using the installation manual, you might not have kept it. So, if you didn’t hang onto your old installation manual, continue reading. This article will help you uninstall your Glacier Bay kitchen faucet to get you well on your way to installing a new kitchen faucet.
What Is The Glacier Bay Fastmount System?
Glacier Bay developed the FastMount system in an effort to make faucet installation easier. The purpose of the system is to create a tool-free installation process, which, in theory, is a great idea. The system consists of a black plastic tubelike structure that threads over the water lines until it is flush with the bottom of the sink.
Removing The Glacier Bay FastMount System
The Glacier Bay FastMount system should be easy to uninstall. Simply twist the black plastic piece counterclockwise until it loosens. Remove the system from the water lines, then lift the faucet out of the sink.
How To Remove A Glacier Bay Kitchen Faucet
You may be stumped on the removal process if your Glacier Bay kitchen faucet doesn’t have a FastMount system. Some of these faucets have a sort of hook that sits beneath the counter, restricting the faucet removal. Although they will loosen, you’ll be hard-pressed to remove the entire thing from the faucet effectively.
Here’s what you’ll need for this process:
- Allen wrench
- Adjustable wrench
- Bucket
- Towel
- Plastic putty knife
- Penetrating oil
- Headlamp
Clear Out The Cabinet
Before you start with the removal process, clear out underneath the sink. This will give you plenty of space to work underneath the sink.
Shut Off The Water
Start by turning off the water supply to the sink. There should be a shut-off valve located underneath the sink, but if there isn’t, you’ll have to shut off the main water supply. Once the water is off, drain any remaining water in the lines by turning on the faucet, which you will remove.
Disconnect The Water Lines
Place a bucket beneath the ends of the supply lines to catch any drips. Using your adjustable wrench, remove the hot and cold water supply lines from the shut-off valve by turning counterclockwise. Use the towel to wipe up any drips of water.
Remove The Hardware
If there are two hook-like nuts *Note: I’m not sure what they are called* on the bolts near where the water lines meet the base of the faucet, you’ll need to go above the counter to remove them.
On the backside of the faucet body, there should be an Allen screw. Using the Allen wrench, remove the screw. If the hardware doesn’t loosen, you may need to use penetrating oil to help loosen them.
Once the Allen screw is removed, lift the faucet body up and off its base. Inside of the base, there should be two more Allen heads. Remove both as they connect to the bolts below the sink.
After you remove those, the bolts beneath the sink should come out. This will free up the entire faucet and baseplate. Carefully lift the baseplate and the base of the faucet out of the sink, removing the water supply hoses as well.
If the baseplate doesn’t want to lift easily away from the sink, use a plastic putty knife to gently loosen it from the sink without damaging the sink itself. Clear away any residual gunk from where the faucet sat, wipe it clean, and then install the replacement faucet.