Outdoor Faucets Need Maintenance Too: Winter Covers, and Replacing Them Before They Leak

The problem

It was one of those hectic, busy weekends when our outside faucet started leaking. Fortunately it wasn't a huge leak, and we could point the water away from the house until we could deal with it. It was the middle of summer, and we were home to find it.

All of those things worked in our favor. But what if they hadn't? The same leak in January, behind a wall, while we were away, would have been a very different story.

Outdoor faucets (plumbers call them hose bibs or sillcocks) are one of those things you forget about because they're outside. But they need maintenance like anything else in the house, for two reasons.

They wear out. All that turning on and off wears the parts inside, and sitting outside through 10 or 20 winters is even harder on them. Ours were about 27 years old, original to the house, when the back one started leaking.

A forgotten hose can burst a frost-free faucet. Frost-free faucets work great, unless you leave a hose attached. You see it all the time in neighborhoods, and I've texted my neighbors more than once: it's December, and a forgotten hose is still connected and coiled next to the faucet. It's an easy mistake, especially for a new homeowner, but it can cost you. State Farm says its average frozen-pipe claim is more than $20,000. You do not want that to be you.

What you need

• An insulated winter cover for each outdoor faucet. Mine are hard plastic shells with a foam gasket that seals against the wall; a hook inside catches the faucet and pulls the cover snug. I get them on Amazon for $6.80 each.
• Frost-free faucets, if your house doesn't have them already. Your plumber can tell you which kind you have and which fits your wall.
• A shutoff valve inside the house for each faucet. If yours don't have one, ask for one the next time a plumber is working on them.
• A spot on your home maintenance schedule for covers on in the fall and off in the spring. My free Home Maintenance Checklist has this one built in.

How it works

A regular outdoor faucet shuts the water off right at the handle, so the pipe running through the wall to it stays full of water. On a cold night, that water can freeze and split the pipe.

A frost-free faucet puts the part that actually stops the water at the end of a long tube, inside the heated part of the house. When you close it, the water left in the tube drains out the spout, so nothing is left sitting in the cold part of the wall.

That only works if the water has somewhere to go. A hose, splitter or timer left on the spout holds the water in the tube, and the tube can freeze and split inside the wall. Mine has a warning about this molded right on it. The worst part is that you may not know until spring, because a split tube only leaks when the faucet is turned on, and then it leaks inside the wall.

This is why I like covers. They protect the faucet from the cold, but the real reason I use them is that you can't put a cover on without taking the hose off. Making covers part of my fall routine means the hose comes off every year, whether I'm thinking about freezing or not.

Setting it up

Every fall, before the first freeze:

1. Take off every hose, splitter and timer. Drain the hoses and store them somewhere they won't get brittle.
2. Close the faucet. A frost-free faucet drains itself once the hose is off.
3. If the faucet has an inside shutoff, close that too. It isn't required for a frost-free faucet, but it's extra protection, and if you have a regular (not frost-free) faucet, it's the step that matters most: close the inside valve, then open the outdoor faucet to let the pipe drain.
4. Put the cover on. Hook the loop over the handle, press the cover flat against the wall and tighten it.

Every 15 to 20 years, replace them before they leak. I'd treat 15 to 20 years as an outdoor faucet's useful life. Asking a plumber to swap them out on your schedule is a lot less stressful than finding a leak on theirs.

Plumbing in an outside wall isn't a job I'd try on my own. It means cutting into the supply line and sealing a new opening through the wall, and the faucet has to be installed with a slight slope toward the outside so it can drain. Hire a licensed plumber and follow your local codes.

When I had ours done this year, both faucets were replaced with frost-free ones, and the plumber added a shutoff valve and a short run of new pipe for the back faucet. It took a few hours, and the bill came to about $1,350, or roughly $677 a faucet. Price guides put a typical frost-free faucet replacement at a few hundred dollars each. Ours ran higher because of the new valve and pipe, and because the other faucet's pipe runs above a finished basement ceiling.

While they're working on the faucets, have them install shutoff valves. A shutoff inside the house means that if a faucet ever starts leaking like mine did, you can stop the water in a few seconds without turning off the whole house. Ask them to tag it, too, so anyone in the house can find it.

Upkeep

• Fall: hoses off, covers on. I do it in October, and my Home Maintenance Checklist reminds me.
• Spring: covers off, then turn each faucet on and look inside the house, near where its pipe comes through the wall, for drips or wet spots. A tube that split over the winter shows up the first time you use it, so this is when to catch it.
• Once or twice a year, turn each inside shutoff valve off and on so it doesn't stick when you need it.
• Watch for drips at the spout after the faucet is off, or from the cap on top while it's running. Both usually mean worn parts that a plumber can replace without changing the whole faucet.
• Keep the mounting block caulked and painted, so water doesn't get into the wall around the faucet.

What it doesn't fix

• Damage that's already done. If a faucet split last winter, a cover won't help. The spring check is how you find it.
• Other pipes in cold spots. Pipes in crawl spaces, garages and outside walls can freeze too. A leak sensor under a sink on an outside wall or near the main shutoff can warn you.
• A faucet installed level or sloping back toward the house. It can't drain, frost-free or not. A plumber can tell you if yours is.
• Freeze damage under warranty. My plumber's warranty on the new faucets specifically excludes freeze damage, which makes sense: the hose is on me.

If you only do one thing this fall, walk around the house and take the hoses off. It takes five minutes, and it's the difference between a faucet that lasts 20 years and a $20,000 claim.

Products named here are ones I bought and use myself. No sponsorships, no affiliate links.
I'm not a licensed electrician or other professional. Follow the product instructions and local codes, and call a qualified pro if you're unsure. Full disclaimer.