Taking the old head off is the part
people get wrong.

Two wrenches, not one

This is the single most useful thing on this page. A spray head screws onto a hose, and if you put a wrench on the head and turn, the hose turns with it. The hose twists, the internal liner kinks, and you have now bought a hose as well as a head.

Put one wrench on the hose fitting and hold it still. Put the second wrench on the flat faces of the head and turn that. You are holding one side and turning the other. That is the whole technique.

• Two adjustable wrenches — or one wrench plus a pair of pump pliers on the hose nut
• A rag to wrap the chrome before the jaws touch it
• A small container for the water that is still in the hose
• A torch or the room light — you want to see inside the hose end afterwards

Watch both halves of the job

Two short clips, shot on the actual part. The first is removal from the hose end; the second is assembly of the new head, including the filter that seats in the end of the handle. They are silent by design — the captions carry the steps, so you can watch with the sound off in a busy kitchen.

The job, in order

1. Close the supply stop under the sink. If the stop is seized or absent, close the fixture valve further back.
2. Release the pressure. Squeeze the trigger into a bucket until nothing more comes out. Skipping this is how you get soaked.
3. Wrap the chrome in a rag before the wrench goes on. Every scratch on a hose nut is a place that will weep later.
4. Hold the hose nut with wrench one. Do not let it rotate.
5. Turn the head with wrench two — counterclockwise, viewed from below. It is usually tighter than it looks, partly because of dried mineral deposits acting as a thread locker.
6. Look inside the hose end. This is the step people skip. There is very often a rubber washer or a flow restrictor still sitting in there. If you screw the new head on top of it, it will not seat properly and it will drip.
7. Check the old head's threads while you still have it in your hand. Whatever you are replacing is the evidence for what you are ordering.

Do you need thread tape?

Almost never on a pre-rinse spray head — and using it by habit is one of the more common self-inflicted faults. It comes down to which thread you have, which is the whole reason the fit guide exists.

The reason it matters: tape applied to a fitting that seals on a washer does nothing useful, and shreds of it break off into the line. Those shreds travel downstream and stop in the smallest openings in the system — which are the holes in your spray face. You fix a leak that did not exist and create a blockage that does.

Fitting the new head

1. Confirm the washer is present and seated inside the new head before it goes on.
2. Start it by hand. You should get several full turns with your fingers. If it binds immediately, stop — you have the wrong thread, and forcing it is how threads get destroyed. Go back to the fit guide.
3. Snug it with the wrench, roughly a quarter turn past hand-tight. Holding the hose nut with the second wrench, as before.
4. Do not lean on it. Over-tightening crushes the washer and can crack the head body. A washer that has been flattened does not seal better; it seals worse.

Turning the water back on

• Open the stop slowly. Full pressure into an empty line hammers everything in it.
• Watch the joint, not the spray. Run your finger around the connection and check it is dry. A drip here will not fix itself.
• Then check the fan. You want an even, complete pattern. An uneven one at this point usually means debris from the work rather than a fault in the head — see the descaling guide.
• Re-check after an hour. Thermal expansion and settling will find a joint that was borderline.

When not to do this yourself

• The hose is cracked, bulging, or weeping through the braid — that is a hose replacement, and the head comes off as part of it
• The valve body or the riser is cracked
• Your local code requires a licensed plumber for work on a commercial fixture. Many jurisdictions do, and this page is not a substitute for that
• The supply stop will not close fully — do not fight a live line

If the old head was worth saving

Before it goes in the bin, it is worth knowing whether it actually needed replacing. A head that was removed because the spray went weak is frequently a head that needed twenty minutes in vinegar. Rule that out first, then decide whether you want to rebuild or replace outright — that comparison is here.