Gardening season is bound to end and our focus shifts from the outdoors to the indoors. Many homeowners in Illinois will forget to shut off the water going to the outside hose spigots or hose bibbs. The brutal colds, freeze thousands of plumbing pipes every year and mostly due to homeowner negligence. It is imperative that every homeowner shut off the water feeding these hose spigots or out door faucets and drain them. Frozen plumbing pipes cause thousands of dollars in property damages every year. We here at All Affordable Plumbing Inc. get an outrageous number of calls each spring in relation to these frozen outdoor faucets.
Here is what homeowners should do to prevent frozen pipes this winter!
- Locate the shutoff valve on the pipe leading to the outside. Shut it off
- Go back outside and open the spigot to drain out excess standing water in the pipe
- After draining, make sure the valve is in the off position.
- Cover the spigot with a foam weather protectant cover
When should you call a plumber:
- If the spigot has a leak, it will freeze and cause a bigger issue.
- If the valve on the inside does not hold or close completely.
- If you don’t have a valve on the inside at all, get one installed.
Make sure you do all the above to prevent your pipes from freezing, before the 1st frost!
