Wall-Mounted Surgery Here's a simple way to prevent a broken nipple in the wall when replacing a wall-mounted faucet. Many times when you are replacing a wall-mounted faucet, the old galvanized nipples coming off the wall have just a few threads showing. Trying to put a wrench on the threads may just break the nipple. And even if you use a nipple extractor, it may split open the nipple causing it to break, leaving you no choice but to open the wall.
Here's what I do: Hand-tighten a 3/4- or 1/2-inch galvanized reducer on the end of the nipple coming off the wall. Then, insert the nipple extractor. This allows the nipple to remain one and not split open. Then the nipple will come out fairly easy without causing a catastrophe.