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In cold climates, the outdoor water spigots installed on the wall of your home can easily freeze and burst in the wintertime. If you are lucky, it is the body of the faucet itself that bursts on the outside of your home, but all too often the rupture occurs just inside the walls of your home, where it can lead to thousands of dollars in water damage if not quickly spotted. In northern climates, it’s not at all uncommon for pipes to burst while homeowners are away for a winter vacation, leading to a most unpleasant and expensive surprise when they return home.
Although there are freeze-proof faucets available designed to prevent this, even these faucets can freeze given the right circumstances—usually when they’ve been installed incorrectly. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to prevent freezing faucet problems, no matter what kind of outdoor faucet valve you have. The solution: performing simple preventative steps as part of an annual winterizing, and installing insulated faucet covers.
Preventing Frozen Pipes
One important preventive step is the simple, common-sense step of removing garden hoses from the hose spigots. A hose that remains attached to the faucet can trap residual water, which can back up and freeze, causing even a supposedly frost-proof faucet to burst.
Another very easy step is to install an outdoor faucet cover over each hose spigot on the outside of your home. Costing less than $10 each, these covers are constructed from soft foam or foam-lined hard plastic, and they can be purchased just about anywhere you can buy plumbing materials, including local hardware stores, home improvement centers, and online retailers. Another type of faucet cover is a soft bag with a drawstring, which is equally effective at protecting outdoor faucets.
Faucet covers are a great value because they can be reused for years before they need to be replaced. An end-of-season ritual that includes putting insulated faucet covers on all outdoor spigots is also a reminder to disconnect and put away your garden hoses for the season.
What Is a Hose Bib Cover?
A hose bib cover, aka outside faucet cover, is used to cover any faucet on the exterior of your house. These covers help keep water faucets and pipes from freezing in the wintertime. Faucet covers are insulated, and they confine the heat inside them that goes out of any pipes to the outdoor faucet, therefore protecting them and keeping any water from freezing and potentially breaking the pipes.
What You’ll Need
Equipment / Tools
- Wrench
Materials
- Foam faucet cover or bag-style cover
- Rope caulk or spray foam (if needed)
Instructions
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Remove Hoses
Unscrew the garden hose from the outdoor spigot. Drain any residual water from the hose, then coil it up and store it in a dry location.
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Position the Faucet Cover
Place the rubber loop located inside the faucet cover over and around the spigot body. Position the cover itself over the spigot, as tight as possible against the wall of the home.
If you are using a bag-style cover, slip the bag over the faucet and pull the drawstring tight to hold it in place.
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Tighten the Faucet Cover
Tighten the slide lock to hold the cover in place, using a wrench if necessary. It’s important that the cover is snug and secure so that there are no air gaps through which cold winter air can circulate. Make sure the gasket is tight against the side of the house. If there are any gaps, as may happen with some types of siding materials, you can use rope caulk or spray foam to seal them.
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