Winterize Your Outdoor Faucets Before the First Hard Freeze

A frozen outdoor faucet is a sneaky problem. The pipe splits in January, but you don't find out until April, when you hook up the hose, turn it on, and water starts running into the basement wall instead of the yard. Ten minutes in October prevents it.

01Step 1: Disconnect the hoses

Take every garden hose off its faucet, drain it, and store it. This one matters even if you have frost-free faucets. A hose left attached traps water inside the faucet, and that water can freeze and split the pipe inside the wall, where you can't see it.

02Step 2: Know which faucet you have

• Standard hose bib: the valve is right at the outside wall. The water in it sits in the cold. These need an inside shut-off.
• Frost-free sillcock: looks the same from outside, but the valve is at the end of a long pipe that reaches into the warm house. When you shut it off, the pipe outside the valve drains. To tell which you have, look inside where the pipe comes through the wall. A frost-free faucet's pipe usually comes through the rim joist or the wall with no separate valve right behind it, and the faucet body outside is often longer.

03Step 3: Shut off and drain (standard hose bibs)

1. Find the inside shut-off valve on the pipe that feeds the outdoor faucet. It's usually in the basement or crawlspace, near the wall.
2. Close it.
3. Open the outdoor faucet and let it drain.
4. If the inside valve has a little drain cap, open it over a bucket to let the last water out of the pipe. Then close it.
5. Leave the outdoor faucet open for the winter so any leftover water has room to expand.

04Step 4: Cover it

05Check the frost-free ones too

• The pipe should slope slightly downhill toward the outside so it drains. If it was installed level or tilting in, water can sit in it.
• Turn it on and off. It should shut off cleanly with no drip.
• Look for a vacuum breaker, the small cap on top of many outdoor faucets. It keeps hose water from getting sucked back into your drinking water.

06Signs a faucet already froze

• Water spraying or dripping inside the wall when you turn the outdoor tap on.
• Weak flow outside and a damp spot on the basement wall or ceiling near the faucet.
• A water bill that jumps in spring.

If you see any of these, shut the water off and call a plumber. Our guide to finding a hidden water leak shows how to check with your water meter.

07Don't forget the rest

Outdoor faucets are one item on the fall home inspection checklist. If you have an in-ground sprinkler system, it needs its own winterizing: the lines have to be drained or blown out before the ground freezes.

Source (1)

American Red Cross: Frozen Pipes

Photo by silviarita on Pixabay.

A foam faucet cover from the hardware store costs a few dollars and adds a layer of protection. It's not a substitute for shutting the water off on a standard hose bib, but it helps.