Is it true that a frozen sillcock will cause a water leak in the basement without any pipes bursting? Is the problem corrected by simply replacing the sillcock?
- posted
16 years ago
wet basement
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- posted
16 years ago
Is it true that a frozen sillcock will cause a water leak in the basement without any pipes bursting? Is the problem corrected by simply replacing the sillcock?
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- posted
16 years ago
Maybe.
Maybe.
IOW, take a look; can't see anything from here. You do have access there, no?
And, there are extended "frost-proof" sill-c**ks.
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- posted
16 years ago
No, do not have access. Water was leaking from ceiling in basement. I was told the sillcock had broken and caused the leak. The hose was attached, but not until below freezing temperatures had resided. Little confused re: how this could occur if teh hose was not attached during winter months. Possibly a faulty sillcock? Or pipes from behind the sillcock (above the basement ceiling)? Thanks!
Is it true that a frozen sillcock will cause a water leak in the
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- posted
16 years ago
...
There had to have been a break _somewhere_; water doesn't leak through an intact pipe/joint/valve/whatever...
Your changing of tense has totally confused what is past and present to the point I have no clue what happened when but sounds as though there _was_ a leak, somebody repaired it and now you're wondering what _might_ have actually been the actual leak???
If so, it could have been any of those things, but something had to have broken where the water was inside the house foundation to have come from the basement ceiling.
It's quite possible for a pipe to freeze when in that area if it isn't heated and having a hose on the sillcock can/will prevent even a "frostfree" version from draining so there's no difference in the end between it and a regular non-frostfree version at that point...
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- posted
16 years ago
Thank you. That is very helpful. I appreciate your time.
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- posted
16 years ago
Are you making a distinction between full scale bursting and forming a crack?
Are you not calling it bursting if no water comes out? Water rarely comes out at first because the water inside by the crack that is made is all or mostly frozen. It starts to leak when it thaws.
You have to replace the pipe that broke. IIUC a normal sill c*ck is entirely outside of the house. It's the pipe that feeds the sillcock that freezes, or the part of it that is cracked. If the sill c*ck itself cracked, usually the water would be pouring outside of the house (although I guess it could run back in, so check that out. But it's also cast metal and I think it is a lot stronger than most copper pipe.)
You should get a freeze-proof sill c*ck, where the water is turned off
10 or more inches inside the house, measuring from the outside of the wall. Then, unless the it is put in tilting up to the outside, the water drains out of entire 10 inches whenever the spigot is turned off. I think these sill c**ks come in at least two lengths, but maybe only one.