Fall is a great time to do a plumbing inventory on your home. Starting with hose bibbs, the outside faucets that you attach your garden hose to, they should be covered to protect from freezing. I’m sure you have seen these at your local hardware store or on a neighbors house.
Modern hose bibbs have technology incorporated in them to protect from freezing, but in the event a hose is left attached, the water can freeze up the hose into the bibb and then your frost free bibb has now frozen.
This also applies to any type of wye fitting or splitter which can keep your bibb from draining properly.
Installing insulated boxes over your bibbs serves two purposes.
- It keeps your bibb from freezing.
- Whether you have a frost free bibb or not, you cannot have a hose attached once the cover is on and this is the other reason for the cover because you really shouldn’t leave your hose attached to your bibb during the winter at all.
Do you have any exposed pipes under your home? Make sure they are wrapped in pipe foam insulation to prevent them from freezing.
This is also a great time to take a good look around your water heater and furnace to catch any hidden problems. Check for any leakage a scale build up on all water connections. If you can catch a problem before it bursts on Saturday night you can save yourself time and grief. Who wants to spend hours cleaning up from a busted water heater when this could have been possibly prevented by a quick inspection.
Top Notch Plumbing provides a home plumbing inspection service in the greater Olympia, WA area. We can help you easily check and maintain your home plumbing system on an annual basis for an affordable price. Ask about our plumbing inspection services.
