With the arrival of winter comes a rush of winter weather-related problems. From slippery ice to snowy streets, there’s plenty of obstacles we have to keep an eye out for.
One other obstacle homeowners have to defend against is freezing pipes. As water damage can be a significant expense, it’s also essential to protect your home’s pipes from freezing—and potentially bursting.
If you are unsure of how to turn off an outdoor hose correctly, we’ll go over the process and discuss additional steps you can take to prevent frozen pipes. Follow these simple steps to shut off the water to your hose in winter properly:
Remove Any Hoses
Before we get into how to turn off your outdoor hose, locate and identify any outdoor garden hoses that are still attached to hose bibs. You must remove these hoses from the faucets and drain the water from them.
Hoses that remain connected to your faucets can still hold water even while the tap is off. When temperatures plummet, this water will freeze in your hoses. As a result, the water in your supply line may freeze, and pipes can burst.
Shut Off Outdoor Faucets
To shut off water to your hose in winter, first, locate the shutoff valves on your water supply line that lead to your outdoor water faucets. Water supply valves are often located in basements, crawlspaces, or garages. These lever-style valves have bleeder caps that allow you to drain any remaining water.
Open the faucets and then proceed to open the bleeder cap on the shutoff valve. When you do this, you’ll drain any water out of the pipe. Don’t forget this last step—forgetting to drain the pipe can freeze the pipe and ultimately lead to cracks.
Now that you know to turn off your outdoor hoses, there are additional tips you can follow to safeguard your faucets and pipes against the freezing winter temperatures.
Install Outdoor Faucet Covers
Once you’ve removed your hoses and shut off the water to your hoses in winter, there are further steps you can take to protect your outdoor faucets from the elements. The first tip is to install outdoor faucet covers. When secured in place properly, these faucet covers are a simple yet effective way to avoid costly water damage to your home.
If you need help preventing or repairing frozen pipes, it’s also a good idea to reach out to your local plumber for assistance. In Toronto, frozen pipes are a huge concern for most homeowners, and a plumber can help you winterize your outdoor faucets to avoid a bursting pipe.
Invest In Frost-Free Faucets
If you think you may forget to shut off water to your hoses in the winter, you may want to consider using frost-free faucets. Frost-free faucets are specifically designed to endure even the coldest of temperatures.
Don’t Risk Damage From Frozen Pipes
While you now know how to turn off an outdoor house, the unfortunate truth is that frozen pipes can pop up at any time. This problem can be incredibly inconvenient, so it’s vital to take two steps immediately:
- Shut off the water supply connected to the frozen pipe.
- Get in touch with your plumber.
Priority Plumbing & Drains has you covered when you need a 24/7 emergency service in Toronto that you can trust. We understand the dangers of frozen pipes and will have the issue fixed as soon as possible. Contact us to learn more about our frozen pipe repairs.