Frost-Free Outdoor Faucet? Why You Should Disconnect the Hose Before Winter
Frost-Free Outdoor Faucet? Why You Should Disconnect the Hose Before Winter A frost-free outdoor faucet can help protect your home during cold weather, but the name “frost-free” does not mean the faucet can be ignored all winter. One of the most common fall maintenance mistakes is leaving a garden hose, splitter, timer, or other attachment connected to an outdoor faucet when freezing weather arrives. For many standard frost-free faucets, proper drainage is an important part of how the faucet protects itself from freezing. That means one simple fall task can make a real difference: Disconnect the garden hose before freezing temperatures arrive. How Does a Frost-Free Outdoor Faucet Work? A standard outdoor hose bib usually shuts the water off relatively close to the exterior portion of the faucet. A frost-free faucet is different. On a typical frost-free design, the operating stem extends farther into the building, and the actual shutoff point is located deeper inside the warmer po...