18/10/2018
Winter is coming
Its time to start to prepare your house for winter.
Today's tip concerns your outside taps.
We typically spend a lot of time in the spring replacing outside taps because they have froze and burst over the cold winter. Especially non-freeze hose taps which usually confuses many people as the name implies that this should not happen.
To avoid this mess and repair take preventative action before it gets cold out and you will be much happier when the warm weather finally returns.
First locate the outside faucets on the exterior of your home and remove any connections that you have on them. A garden hose or hose reel are the most common culprits that cause hose bibs to freeze and burst, people forget to disconnect them and residual water in the hose from the last time it was used freezes. When water freezes it expands, that is ok in a rubber hose because the hose will allow for expansion. However when the water in the hose freezes and expands back into the brass or copper these metals cannot handle expansion and will burst and crack. To avoid this make sure nothing remains attached to the taps on the outside of your house when the temperature is below zero. Other items that could cause restrictions are splitters with shut offs and hose quick connects.
Second locate the shutoff valves on the inside of the home for your outside taps and shut them off for the season. These shutoffs are typically located inside the house where the outside tap goes through the wall. They may be exposed or they might be inside an access panel. Sometimes they are in a random area which is useless unless they are labelled and sometimes they are dry-walled over which again is useless if they are inaccessible. Sometimes they are installed on the header if you have this type of water distribution system in your home and hopefully they are labelled if this is the case. Finally it is also possible that you do not have shut off valves installed in which case we recommend that you get some installed. Once you locate your shut off valves this is what you should do, turn off the water to the outside taps by closing the shutoff valves on the inside. Next go outside and open the tap and allow any residual water in the pipe to drain out. After the water stops dripping you can closes it again for the winter and leave it till the warm weather comes back in the spring.
I hope this tip helps you out.
