Detect and Prevent Burst Frozen Pipes This Winter

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Detect and prevent burst frozen pipes this winter by making some changes right now.*

Winterizing a home is great if you don’t live in it for the winter, but for those of us who live year round in polar (or close enough to polar!) climate, it’s nice to keep that indoor plumbing flowing leak-free year round–even during the sub zero months.

There are two concerns many of us have when cold temperatures roll around:

Concern #1: Water freezing in a hose bibb / sill cock / outdoor faucet / outdoor spigot (whatever your label is for the place where you attach the water hose outside the house).

Older gate valve hose bibb susceptible to freezing.

Points of exits for water jutting out into the weather are causes of worry. While most of your plumbing is nestled in the insulation and have some sort of buffer from the cold, the outside spigots are on the outside, full of water.

In all reality it is normally not the hose bibb itself, but the thinner wall copper pipe or deteriorating CPVC that ends up bursting as it holds water leading to the faucet. The pipe leading to the hose bibb can easily expand as water freezes and bursts a hole in the pipe, as many found out during the extended long sub zero temperatures last winter.

There are a few solutions to keeping the pipes warm and functional.

Easy answer: An insulated hose bibb cover is one way to keep the outside faucet warm.

Pretty much as it sounds, an insulated faucet protector is basically putting a coat on the old school gate valve hose bibb. A faucet cover allows heat from the water in the pipe, as well as rest of the house, to warm up the space beneath the cover.

You can check out a simple one here. There is nothing fancy (unless you go for a hard shell one like this), but it gets the job done.

Better answer: A frost- free hose bibb.

The frost-free faucet extends into your home several inches. Every time you finish using the spigot (and disconnect the water hose if there was one attached), it discharges the water from the back of the valve to the outside. Meaning, there is an air gap between the water and the outside edge of your house.

You get the idea…

Frozen air doesn’t do much.

It won’t burst frozen pipes.

Our favorite frost free hose bibb is the Aquor V2+ House Hydrant (the previous V2 version is pictured above).

Front view of the frost-free Aquor V2 House Hydrant.

Open view of the frost-free Aquor V2 House Hydrant along with the water hose attachment. If water was on at the manifold there would be a stream shooting out of this attachment.

It has additional features that separate it from the average frost-free hose bibb:

• The ability to attach a water hose in moments by attaching the blue extension shown above–no threading needed.
• A slick, low profile look is functionally perfect for small walkways where a protruding gate valve or quarter turn ball valve faucet could hook on items (or people!) while passing alongside.
• The inability to siphon water from your home without the specific attachment.

Side view of the frost-free Aquor V2 House Hydrant. We think it looks pretty slick and smooth, even on the plywood sheathing. This next post explains why we are not concerned about how much extra plumbing is necessary for the next steps of water barrier, possible exterior insulation AND siding.

The gotchas with a frost-free hose bibb are clear. You have to have enough space in the wall or have nothing and a way of additional length. For instance, you might have an outside faucet tapping in the same line as the kitchen sink. There won’t be enough room to place a frost-free hose bibb under a kitchen sink. It’s even worse is when a outdoor faucet is hidden in some random 2″ x 4″ wall.

Compare these compact situations under a sink or wall to a split level home. Split level homes often have the outside faucets going out through an unfinished basement wall. You won’t have a problem with room availability there!

Concern #2: How to quickly detect a leak.

If the outside spigot leaks or the plumbing leading towards it bursts, how would you know? Do you wait for a huge icicle to form when you discover it on the backside of your house weeks later or do you find out within the hour because your water monitoring system told you?

Answer: A water monitoring system such as Uponor’s Phyn or Moen’s Flo.

We’ve chosen to protect our home with Flo by Moen, but the following applies to both Flo and Phyn.

Flo is a whole house water monitoring system you place inline on the main stack coming into your home. Requiring WI-FI and power, it continuously monitors the water usage on everything past the device. It lets you know as soon as it discovers a leak of any size with some artificial intelligence based on your past usage.

In all reality, the water may spew or it may be frozen over solid. Once the weather warms up, you could have a trickle or a geyser spewing from your hose bib. Whether the leak springs now or later, Flo will be on 24/7/365 so you’ll know as soon as the water starts flowing.

If you are unable to replace a hose bibb with a newer frost-free hose bibb, a insulated faucet cover and a water monitor are absolutely good investments.

WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T LEAVE WATER HOSES ON YOUR NEW FROST-FREE HOSE BIBBS IN THE WINTER.

Don’t do this! In fact, you can see the warning ON the plastic attachment right up against the house.

The whole point is to drain the device when you aren’t using it. If a hose is connected, the water stays in place.

This is a big deal because if the hose bibb bursts INSIDE the wall, it is difficult for Flo to detect. This is one case where the leak is active when the water is turned on and it stops when the spigot is turned off.

Just to illustrate, imagine leaving a hose attached and the frost-free hose bibb bursts in January. Spring comes and you finally get around to washing the salt grime off your car. You didn’t have a leak this whole time because you did not use the hose bibb yet. Water goes shooting from the burst hose bibb into the wall of the basement, but once you finish washing the car and turn off the water the leak stops–remember how water is cut off at the far end of the device?

Flo will not detect it because your usage was sporadic and the level of water usage changes over the course of the hour. Again, the leak is not active when you turn off the water because water is actually turned off at the hose bibb end, well inside your house. If you don’t go down to the basement after washing your car you wouldn’t know the leak occurred. Then, later in the week you water plants. Next, it is rinsing off a pair of dirty shoes a week later… Water and mold damage anyone?

TLDR tangent?

WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T LEAVE WATER HOSES ON YOUR NEW FROST-FREE HOSE BIBBS IN THE WINTER.

Why are we talking about burst frozen pipes in the summer?

Preparing your house for winter can be addressed well before winter weather arrives. Specifically, during more temperate weather when it is actually enjoyable to work outside in the summer and fall. Working at your convenience is so much better than when you are in an emergency mode and freezing your A$$ (and fingers!) off due to a burst pipe.

Peace of mind is eliminating burst hose bibbs before they happen and detecting leaks as soon as they happen this winter and every winter after this one!

Your next polar vortex will only require more hot chocolate and marshmallows.

If you are considering upgrading to frost-free hose bibbs, consider the Aquor V2+ House Hydrant.

For a full on review of Flo by Moen, check out this post: Prevent Water Damage 24/7: a Flo by Moen Review

Read more on the benefits of a whole house water monitoring system here: Protect Your Home From Plumbing Leaks: Flo and Phyn

*Admittedly, this photo was taken when installing Flo. That circular cut around the pipe is obvious, but burst frozen pipes have striking similarities with water coming out…