How Do I Winterize An Outside Faucet
From: Janice J.
How do you use styrofoam to protect an outside faucet? It is getting colder and I am worried. Thanks!
I would duct tape a big chunk around the faucet. Maybe break it apart so it fits snugly around the faucet and then just duct tape away until it’s on there tightly.
-Tawra
Depending on your faucet, I have taken 2 large styrofoam cups and put one inside of the other then taped. Be sure to get it as close to the house as you can.
This really works. I had my outside faucet freeze one year and what a mess so I don’t chance it any more especially since it is so easy to do.
-Jill
Mike: It might also be good to stuff some rags into any places where air might get in, wrap the outside with a plastic trash bag and tape it with heavy duct tape to prevent moisture from getting in. (If it’s in a sunny area, a black plastic bag will keep it warmer in the daytime, too be cause the black absorbs sunlight.) If you manage to keep cold air and moisture out and provide some insulation with the foam, rags and/or some other insulating material, it should not freeze.
Of course, if it’s possible to turn off the water to that faucet from inside the house and then open the faucet to let any water drain out before you wrap it, that would be even better.
We just turn the water off and don’t worry, have never had it freeze except once we forgot to turn the water off. Had a neighbour tell us we had the biggest icicle he had ever seen from the tap.
Thankfully it didn’t do any damage.
Had friend who was so organized he always took the faucet off and sealed the pipe. He said it saved him money.
Was funny the one year to see him at the hardware store buying a new faucet set. He forgot where he had told his son to put it for storage and the son had moved and he could not find it. So really not much money saved.
I was nice and never twitted him but it sure was tempting.
They sell styrofoam covers at Lowes, etc. Don’t know how much they cost but if you want an easy and ready made cover, they have them.
The styrofoam covers are about $1.50 and are a good investment because they are far cheaper than having to replace damaged pipes!
I’ve picked up the outside covers at WalMart on sale for as little as $1.00. These work extremely well and are super easy to get on & off should you need to use the faucet during the warmer daytime if necessary. I just hang them in the basement when the weather warms and then use them again in the fall. Couldn’t be easier and no messy Styrofoam/duct tape wrapping outside to look at!
When I started this web site it was to be very frugal and now it is more on saving on groceries. When we used the styrofoam/duck tape we were using what we had on hand. At that time just a dollar would pay for a couple of meals a day for my family so it felt more like $10 to me. I try too to get people to think out of the box and try to figure out what they have on hand to use and not to always run to buy something. I look at the generation after mine and it seems as if they have a very hard time with figuring things out and common sense so I am trying to bring that type of thinking back even if it is in the little things.
Seems to me that Walmart had the covers for 50 cents each (after winter) when I got mine about two years ago.
If one had a block of styrofoam and duct tape on hand, it might be cheaper to make the covers, but buying
them ahead when they are half price could be cheaper and a lot easier. They are easy to attach to protect
faucet. Since my house is brick, tape would not stick well—the gray super sticky stuff might work bette. Tommie
Yes several places had them for 50 cents after winter last year so keep your eyes peeled.
I just back my covered up grill to the faucet. Now problem for 28 years. I’m with you. I’m not spending money or performing work unnecessarily. Which is why I wondered why people bothered to make it their velvet cake RED. It costs money to purchase food coloring!
Like Grandma, we live in Canada’s frigid north. Most of our outside tap’s critical plumbing is tucked inside the outside wall of our house. However, we have animals to tend to all winter long, and so using the outside tap saves packing buckets of water from the inside bathtub. Usually, the very end of the tap would freeze up with an ice plug, come winter. My husband solved the problem, using an 18 inch cut off section of heavy duty garden hose. He just screws this segment on the way you would a regular hose. (If the hose were full length, it would look like we just had a hose attached to the outside tap.) For some reason, having the extra area for drips to fall down and drain from this flexible tube, stops the end of the tap from freezing up with a plug of ice. Once the temps. are below freezing, out comes this gadget. Because the hose is flexible, 5 gallon pails are easy to fill, and the whole thing never freezes, even in -40 degree temperatures.