It doesn’t freeze here too often, but when it’s going to we’ll go outside and set our faucets to drip to prevent freezing. I just have to remember to do this, and I worry that I’ll forget. Do those faucet covers work? Any other options?
It’s unclear if you mean an outdoor faucet appearing out the side of a house, or a freestanding garden spigot. But in either case, the full solution often involves replacing the spigot with a frost-free spigot. It prevents freezing by having the valve located somewhere warmer, such as within the house or underground.
The normal handle will turn a long rod connected to the valve, and when closed will drain the excess water out the spigot, leaving no water outside or above ground that can freeze. The freestanding spigot has the complication of needing a gravel base to drain the excess water into.
An alternative might be to use an air compressor to force water out of your spigots, as part of annual winterization. This only works if you don’t plan to use the faucet during the cold season, though.
UncleBadTouch@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
here in canada where it freezes 17 months out of the year, 99.9% of the houses have shutoff valve inside the house that supplies the outside tap. id recommend turning on the outside tap, then turn off the valve inside.
cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 9 months ago
And don’t forget to drain the line past the valve by unscrewing the bleeder cap.
KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 9 months ago
this is what i was taught by my dad. seems logical too.
Mamertine@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Northern USA is the same way.
When I lived in TX, the water supply came into the house above ground. It was really strange concept for me a Minnesotan. The winter I was there, the supply lines froze. You had to defrost them with boiling water, or hair dryers.
WashedOver@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
For me coming from the Westcoast with lots of rain at sea level the lack of drain fields around the houses in the Prairies was a similar moment for me when I was looking at homes for a move many years ago. Their drain spouts just run out into the yard above the ground. It was a what the heck is going on here?
Their basements are also fully enclosed under ground. On the coast we require a secondary drain field just for the down spouts and the basements are only halfway in the ground so it was very strange to me.