Hose connections outside your home (plumbers call them “hose bibs”) should be equipped with a shutoff valve inside your home, usually in the basement or on the first floor. It should be close to where the outside hose bib is mounted on the outside wall of your home. This shutoff valve should be equipped with a small drain on the side, almost like the screw-on cover of an air valve on your car or bicycle tires. Once you’ve located this shutoff valve with the drain on the side, you’ll need a small bucket or pan before you begin. Follow the steps below in order to winterize your hose bib:
- Close the shutoff valve. If it is a lever-type ball valve, the closed position should be one-quarter turn so that the handle runs perpendicular to the valve body and connected piping. If it’s already in that position, that’s fine. If you have a gate-type valve with a round handle, turn the handle clockwise until it is closed.
- Go outside to the hose bib and remove any connected hose(s). Open the hose bib to a full open position. You should see some water run out, but it should slow to a trickle quickly. If the hose bib is still under pressure, check the following:
- You may have turned off the wrong valve inside; check and reconfirm
- The inside shutoff may not be holding – reach out for assistance
- Once the hose bib is turned off and open, return to the shutoff valve inside.
- While holding your bucket or pan underneath, open the small drain valve on the side of the inside shutoff valve. A small amount of water should drain out for up to a minute. Make sure that your hose bib outside is open, because this will permit the water to drain freely inside. If water keeps draining out after a minute, your inside shutoff valve might not be shut off tightly. Try snugging it closer to the closed position to see if the water stops. Don’t overtighten it, or you could end up with an unwanted surprise. If you are still getting water flow at this point, your inside shutoff valve may be malfunctioning – reach out for assistance
- Once the water has been drained from your hose bib line, close the small drain valve again.
- Leave the hose bib outside in the open position until next Spring.
- Repeat the above process for all the remaining hose bibs throughout your home.
- That’s it! You’ve successfully winterized your hose bibs.
Pretty simple, right? Well, usually. As long as the valves and hose bibs are in good working order, this should all be easy. Common problems you might encounter include:
- Valve handles that won’t move or are extremely stiff
- Valves that have a grinding feel when you try to operate them
- Valves that feel closed, but are not stopping the water flow to the hose bib
- Drain ports on shutoff valves that won’t come apart
- Drain ports on shutoff valves that break or crumble when manipulated
- Excessive corrosion observed on any part of the valves or piping you are working with
If you run into issues with any of these steps, take care of it now before the first cold snap hits. Don’t wait, because the weather sure won’t, and you don’t want to be stuck with an unexpected leak due to freezing (which in our experience somehow always manifests at around 2:30am). Whether you’ve begun the process and uncovered a problem, or you just don’t want to deal with it yourself, we’re here if you need us. You can set up a visit painlessly by clicking here.
Hopefully this easy tip on winterizing your hose bibs will save you an emergency plumbing call – at least that’s our hope. And if you have any questions or comments, we love hearing from our clients. Just respond to this email to let us know how you’re doing.
Yours for Happy Plumbing,