We are getting down to single digit fahrenheit here and my question is should I open up my frost free outdoor spigots to a trickle to avoid freezing. Yes I know they are not supposed to freeze but isn’t there a limit to how cold they can get closed? So some people have said yes leave them open a bit. But then others say that completely undoes the mechanism of keeping the water deeper in the pipe and away from outside exposure and that it spigot is MORE likely to freeze and crack.
Does anyone have the straight dope on whether or not I should crack my FF spigots and if so, what temperature should I worry about this?
We have ordinary garden taps. Every fall, I turn off the water inside the house, then open the taps and let the water drain out. That way there is no expansion or cracking when the temp goes down to -35 C. I think that’s standard around here.
Oh. You mean a standard Canadian garden spigot. I’ve never been in a house that didn’t have the interior valve a foot or more away from the wall. That’s what I turn off, and leave the outside one wide open.
I don’t understand how some could argue that outside tap could freeze. There isn’t any water in the outside tap once the inside one is closed and the outside one is open.
I think the idea was if the line is in an unheated place of the house, like my lines are in the crawlspace, it could theoretically get cold enough to freeze those pipes.
I don’t close off the water to those spigots. I merely open and close those spigots.
The only reason to open the frost free spigot in cold weather would be anticipating the temperature in your crawl space will drop below freezing. Normally, this area remains above freezing due to warmth from the soil but temps below freezing are certainly possible.
I have a remote temperature sensor in my crawlspace. They’re inexpensive and perhaps you might wish to install one. This would give you an idea of temperature lows and perhaps forewarn you it might be wise to turn on the spigot.
I’d never heard of a “frost free spigot” and on reading the linked article I see why. This is merely an ordinary outdoor spigot as installed everywhere in Canada. However, it depends on the interior part of the pipe, where the shutoff valve is located, being kept above freezing, which in the basement it always would be. The standard procedure is to close the interior shutoff valve, then open the outside valve to let the residual water drain.
If your crawl space gets anywhere near outdoor temperatures then you don’t really have a frost-free spigot. But possibly it doesn’t. My attached garage, for instance, is unheated but it never gets below freezing. I keep spring water and soft drinks out there all winter. Your best bet is to close the inside valve and open the outside one, and hope for the best. I mean, that’s standard procedure and is how these things are designed to work. Surely this is not the first winter this house is experiencing. Letting the water trickle all winter sounds like a terrible idea, not only wasting water but possibly inviting foundation damage or other bad side effects, depending on your house construction.
Make sure any hose is removed and their should be no reason to open the faucet in cold weather as the facet will drain out from the actual valve which is a foot or so from the wall on the inside.
On one of my rental houses (built in 1939) there was a valve about a foot inside the basement wall. During cold weather the homeowner would close this valve and open up the outside one and drain out the water. As I couldn’t count on a tenant to do this I replaced it with a freeze-proof one. Then again I have had to replace 2 of these (different houses) as the tenant left the garden hose hooked up and froze the valve anyways. I now send my tenants a text in the beginning of October reminding them to unhook their garden hoses from the outside faucet.
I second what @a6ka97 said, and add to it. If you have a multi-tap attachment to the spigot itself, make sure all the taps are open before it freezes, or simply remove the multi-tap from the spigot.
When I first moved here, the house inspector mentioned water under the kitchen sink, but he failed to figure out why. The previous owner had left a hose attached, but she removed it before the inspector came. When he opened the outside tap briefly to see if it worked, it did, but it also released water under the sink, from the frost-cracked spigot.
