How to Get Your Outdoor Faucets Ready for Winter

Why this matters

An outdoor faucet that freezes rarely announces itself in January. Water trapped in the pipe freezes, expands and splits it, and because the split is often inside the wall or the rim joist, nothing leaks until the first warm day in spring when you turn the faucet on and the water runs into the wall or the basement ceiling instead of out of the spout. Getting a faucet ready for winter takes ten minutes per faucet, and the one step people skip, taking the hose off, is the step that causes most of the damage on faucets that were designed not to freeze.

Before you start, know which kind of faucet you have, because the steps are different.

The two kinds of outdoor faucet

FROST-FREE HOSE BIB (side view)

 HEATED SIDE   |  WALL  |   OUTSIDE
               |        |
 supply ===[SEAT]=======stem====[HANDLE]
               |  long  |       spout
 valve closes  | barrel |       |
 HERE, inside  | empties|       v
 the warm wall | out the|      hose
               | spout  |
 barrel pitched slightly DOWN toward outside

STANDARD HOSE BIB + INSIDE STOP

 HEATED SIDE   |  WALL  |   OUTSIDE
               |        |
 supply==[STOP]==pipe=========[BIB]
          |    |water   |   valve seat
      drain    |stays   |   is HERE, at
      cap      |here and|   the cold face
               |freezes |

Frost-free (also called a freezeproof sillcock). The handle is outside, but the valve that actually stops the water sits at the end of a long barrel, commonly several inches to a foot or more inside the wall, where the house keeps it warm. When you close it, the water left in the barrel drains out through the spout, as long as the faucet was installed sloping slightly down toward the outside and nothing is blocking the spout.

Standard hose bib. The valve seat is right at the outside face of the wall, so the water behind it sits in the cold. To protect it, the pipe needs an inside shutoff valve, usually on the basement or crawlspace ceiling near where the pipe goes through the wall, so the pipe can be emptied. That valve is often a stop and waste valve: a shutoff with a small drain cap on its side, sometimes called a bleeder, for letting out the water trapped between the valve and the outside faucet.

Telling them apart. Look inside, where the pipe comes through the wall. If the pipe connects to a long brass body that passes into the wall, and there is no shutoff on the pipe nearby, it is probably frost-free. If you find a shutoff valve on the pipe a short distance before the wall, it is probably a standard bib, though some homes have a shutoff on a frost-free line too. If you cannot tell, a plumber can tell you in a minute on the next visit; in the meantime, follow both sets of steps where they apply.

Step 1: Disconnect every hose, splitter and timer

Do this for every outdoor faucet, frost-free or not. Unscrew the hose, and also any splitter, quick-connect or battery timer screwed onto the spout.

Why this matters most on a frost-free faucet: a hose left on holds water in the spout and the barrel behind it, which defeats the whole design. The barrel cannot drain, the water in it freezes in the part that runs through the cold outer wall, and the barrel splits inside the wall where you cannot see it. This is the most common way a frost-free faucet fails, and it often does not show until spring.

Drain the hose and store it out of the weather. A hose left full outside can split too.

Step 2: Close the inside shutoff, where there is one

For a standard bib, find the inside shutoff and close it.

• A lever handle (a ball valve) closes with a quarter turn, so the handle sits across the pipe.
• A round handle turns clockwise until it stops. Turn it firmly but by hand.

Older valves that have not moved in years can be stiff, and some break or start leaking at the stem when forced. If it will not turn by hand, do not put a wrench on it. Leave it, and ask a plumber to replace it. If it starts to drip from the stem after you turn it, put a bucket under it and call.

Step 3: Open the outside faucet to let it drain

Go outside and open the faucet all the way.

• Standard bib with the inside valve closed: some water runs out and then it stops. Leave this faucet open all winter. With the valve open, any water that does stay in the pipe has room to expand, and you can see at a glance that the line is off.
• Frost-free: after the hose is off, open it briefly, let any trickle run out, and close it again. The barrel drains through the spout once the hose is gone; it does not need to stay open.

Step 4: Empty the short section between the inside valve and the wall

This step applies only to a standard bib with a stop and waste valve. Put a small bucket under the drain cap on the side of the valve, then unscrew the cap slowly.

You should get a little water, often a cup or less, then a few drips, then nothing. Air coming in through the open outside faucet lets it drain. Screw the cap back on when it stops.

If water keeps coming out under pressure and does not stop, screw the cap back on right away. Either the valve is not fully closed, or it was installed facing the wrong way so the drain cap is on the house's side of the valve. Neither is something to fix with the water on. Close the main water valve if the cap will not seat and water is running, then call a plumber. See related: How to Close Your Main Water Valve and Fixture Stops.

Step 5: Cover the faucet

An insulated faucet cover, the foam dome that straps over the spout, adds a little protection on the coldest nights. It is a help, not a substitute. A cover over a standard bib that is still full of water will not stop it freezing in a long cold snap, and a cover over a frost-free with a hose still attached does nothing for the barrel.

A worked example: two faucets, two methods

A homeowner had a hard freeze in the forecast for the weekend and two outdoor faucets.

The front faucet. Inside, the pipe ran to a long brass body that disappeared into the wall about 10 inches in from the outside face, with no shutoff nearby. Frost-free. A hose with a spray nozzle had been on it since summer. They unscrewed the hose, opened the faucet, got a short trickle, and closed it. They checked that the spout pointed slightly downward and nothing was stuffed into it. Cover on.

The back faucet. Inside, on the basement ceiling, the pipe had a round-handled valve with a small brass cap on its side, about a foot from the wall. Standard bib with a stop and waste valve. They turned the handle clockwise until it stopped, by hand. Outside, they opened the back faucet: a short burst of water, then nothing. Back inside, with a bucket under the cap, they unscrewed it slowly. About a cup of water came out, then a few drips, and within a minute it stopped. Cap back on. The outside faucet stayed open, with a cover over it.

What they wrote down. "Front: frost-free, hose off. Back: stop and waste on basement ceiling, closed and drained, outside left open." On the inside of the back valve they hung a tag reading "Closed for winter, open in spring." See related: Your House Records File and What Goes In It.

In spring, they closed the back outside faucet, opened the back valve slowly while watching it and the pipe for drips, and ran a hose from the front faucet for the first time while someone watched the basement ceiling under it for drips. Watching inside on that first run is the only way to catch a split barrel before it soaks the wall.

What would change this

• The faucet drips from the spout when closed. A frost-free that drips is usually worn at the inside seat. A dripping faucet can still freeze at the spout, and the drip itself can form ice that holds water in the barrel. Ask a plumber to repair it before the deep cold.
• You have a standard bib with no inside shutoff. You cannot drain it. A cover helps a little. Ask a plumber about adding a shutoff or replacing it with a frost-free faucet; until then, it is the faucet most at risk on the house.
• You have an in-ground lawn sprinkler system. It is separate from your hose faucets and is usually winterized by blowing the lines out with compressed air, which is work for an irrigation contractor. Its backflow device outside is exposed too; ask the contractor what yours needs.
• The house will be empty for the winter. Draining the faucets is one part of a larger job. See related: How to Prepare Your House Before You Leave for a Long Trip.

If a faucet line has already frozen

If the faucet gives no water on a cold day, or you see frost or ice on the pipe inside, leave the faucet open and do not apply a flame or high heat to it. If water is leaking from a split pipe inside, close the main water valve. See related: How to Handle a Frozen Pipe Before the Plumber Arrives, and Frozen Pipe Prevention + Thaw Reference.

References

• See related: How to Handle a Frozen Pipe Before the Plumber Arrives
• See related: Frozen Pipe Prevention + Thaw Reference
• See related: How to Close Your Main Water Valve and Fixture Stops
• See related: Your Home's Shutoffs: Water, Gas and Electric
• Manufacturer's installation instructions for frost-free hose bibs (installation slope and hose removal)