Every spring, Kelowna plumbers get the same call. The outside tap was turned on for the first time, and water started running down the inside of the basement wall. The pipe split in January. Nobody knew until April.
It is one of the most preventable repairs in the valley, and the window to prevent it is now, before the first hard frost. Here is the fifteen minute version.
Why hose bibs freeze
Water trapped between the outdoor tap and the wall expands when it freezes. The pipe does not burst where you can see it. It splits a few inches inside the wall, and it only leaks when the tap is opened again.
The fifteen minute routine
1. Disconnect every hose. This is the step people skip. A hose left on holds water in the tap, even on a frost-free model, and defeats the whole design.
2. Find the inside shutoff. Most Okanagan houses have a small valve on the line feeding each outside tap, usually in the basement ceiling or the crawl space near the outside wall.
3. Close it, then open the outside tap. Let it drain and leave it open for the winter.
4. Open the bleeder cap on the inside valve if it has one, with a cup underneath, to let the last of the water out.
5. Irrigation is a separate job. Sprinkler lines need to be blown out with compressed air. That is an irrigation contractor, not a garden hose task.
What if there is no inside shutoff
Then the tap is either a frost-free model, which shuts off inside the heated wall, or it is an older tap with no protection at all. If the handle is on a long stem and the body angles slightly down toward the outside, it is likely frost-free. If not, having a plumber add an inside shutoff or swap in a frost-free tap is a small job, and far cheaper than opening a finished basement wall in spring.
Three other things to do the same afternoon
- Know where your main water shutoff is, and make sure it turns.
- If you leave for the winter, leave the heat on and the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls open.
- Look at any pipe that runs through an unheated garage or crawl space. Those are the ones that freeze first in a Kelowna cold snap.
When to call a plumber
If a tap drips from the handle, if the inside valve will not close, or if you found a water stain near an outside wall last spring, get it looked at before it freezes again.
Next Level Plumbing is a family-owned Kelowna company serving Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country and Vernon, with a 5.0 rating across 192 Google reviews. They handle general residential plumbing alongside on-demand water heaters, gas fitting, drain cleaning, Poly-B repiping and backflow testing.
See Next Level Plumbing on the Okanagan Trade Directory or nextlevelplumbingltd.com.