Part of the spring & summer ritual is hooking up the outside garden hose. Whether it’s used for watering the garden or washing the car, nothing is as discouraging as to find out the faucet isn't working. Even worse, discovering that the basement has flooded because the pipe feeding the outside faucet has burst! You don't notice the leak until you turn on the spigot.
If a hose is left attached outside, water remains in the hose, and backs up into the faucet plumbing. It expands when frozen and splits the piping.
A frost free outside faucet is designed so that the pipe extends through the sidewall of the house, and combined with the flow valve, remains in the heated interior to prevent freezing.
A frost free outside faucet will not protect the pipe if the hose is attached. Rapid Service recommends that the hose be detached in the fall before the temperature drops. This Connecticut resident found out the hard way!
Spring and summer are a wonderful time of the year to think about installing this spigot because, as much as we may not like it, winter is just around the corner.
Here is a great diagram that shows the difference between a 'regular' outside faucet and a frost free outside faucet:
**Check out this video for a special extension of our spring sale. Mention you saw this blog post to receive your discount!**
