A few weeks ago, our weekend project was to prevent your indoor pipes from freezing. Now, as winter draws ever closer, our project again involves plumbing, but this time, of the outdoor variety. The outdoor faucet that you use to hook up a hose or fill a watering can in summer can freeze up in the winter. Now’s the time to prevent it from freezing so that you don’t have to deal with it in January.
This video demonstrates two ways to protect your outdoor faucet. The quick solution is to buy an outside faucet cover, which is incredibly easy to install. But the more long term solution is trickier: installing a freeze-proof faucet, where the valve assembly is inside the house. This process involves cutting the old pipe, drilling a new hole, fitting new plumbing parts together, soldering the parts together, and applying flux to the pipes. Remember, when soldering, make sure to saturate the surrounding wood with water and to insert a fireproof cloth around the pipe.
This pipe replacement process might be tricky, but it will be worth it in the long run when you never have to worry about a frozen outdoor faucet again.
