Freezing temperatures coming soon, don’t forget this simple task!

A frozen faucet

Well its that time of year again, fall has come and temperatures have dropped. It seems simple enough but every year it occasionally gets forgotten by the best of us. Time to winterize your exterior faucets and hose bibs. A couple simple tasks that generally take a few minutes and you are safe for the winter cold.

Here are the steps to take to insure your taps are safe:

1. Disconnect the hose and any fittings attached! This is by far the most important step and missed most frequently. When you leave hoses and splitters on; the exterior faucets cannot drain out and will be subject to freezing. Make sure all connection are off and stored away for the winter.

2. Ensure the faucet closes 100% without forcing it closed. There may be some residual water in the frost free hose bib. Walk away for a few minutes and then return to see if it is closed completely and the drip has stopped. If it has completely stopped the valve is working fine. If not, it will need to be serviced.

3. Any interior shutoff for outside taps can now be turned off. If it is equipped with a drain port you can open it up and bleed off any standing water into a bucket. This can be assisted by going back and re-opening the outside tap to let air in. This step is much more critical if your exterior faucet is NOT of the frost free type. If the hose bib is frost free you may not even have a shutoff inside as it is not required.

4. If you are concerned there may be water left inside you can leave the facet open or close it so no bugs make it a home over winter. Either is fine.

This task does not take long but can be very costly if missed. Basements can be flooded out, walls ruined, mold and rot created. Make sure you are safe over the freezing months. Call Zander Plumbing if you have any questions or need help securing your home for the winter.

Winterized faucet

We Make Water Work!