Outside water tap

I have just moved in to a house which has an outside tap. It is connected directly to the cold water supply in the kitchen: pipe through wall, with a vertical drop of 5 inches outside before it is connect to the wall mounted metal tap. Is it worth boxing in the pipe/tap over the winter when I won't need access to it: or will it not be susceptible to freezing. (I know the ideal would be to be able to isolate the tap from inside: but that is not straightforward given existing pipework in kitchen)

Reply to
<me
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I think it all depends: where you are, whether we get a month with external temperatures below freezing, how well insulated your house is. Mine is fed with plastic pipe and I have never had a problem. I'd use the thicker "British Standard" split foam sleeve as well as a box. Or, at the risk of making a mess, fill the box with expanding foam.

Reply to
newshound

I've never bothered draining mine and its been fine, but I do live on the south coast.

Philip

Reply to
philipuk

My Daughter lives in Manchester, she came home one day from work to find the water running freely, thank goodness it was outside. I Live in the North Midlands and turn mine off every Winter, which reminds me!!!!

Reply to
Broadback

I turn mine off by an internal stop c*ck but it still froze and burst the pipe outside the year I forgot to drain it!

Mike

Reply to
Muddymike

I'm sure I've seen foam lined plastic boxes for this, but maybe you have to plumb to fit said boxes and the other way around would not be possible so it sounds like a definite diy job indeed. Glue bubble wrap inside a wooden cover perhaps? Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

IME most external pipes are set too close to the wall to accommodate wrap around foam insulation, but bubble wrap tied up with string would do for now. If you're south of Watford, probably not necessary.

Reply to
stuart noble

It might freeze but the ice plug has space to expand back along the pipework into the (warm) house). Idon't think you'll have a problem.

I've had the pipework to our external tap freeze and fail twice, first time it pushed a compression elbow apart, second it ruptured the pipe. This is a approx 5' section of pipe running through an unheated garage though.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I'd simply suggest looking at it. If it looks like it's been there many years and not got shiny new pipe or an internal isolation valve it's not frozen to date so is unlikely to freeze in the future. :¬)

Reply to
www.GymRatZ.co.uk

If it's all plumbed in copper pipe, the outside section might act as a radiator & use your indoor heating to keep itself warm enough to not freeze. You might also find lots of condensation on the indoor pipe.

I used plastic pipe for the section which runs through the wall, to act as a thermal break. I always shut off & drain the outside tap in winter.

Reply to
Sam Plusnet

Move to a country where we all have numerous outside water taps with no problems.

Reply to
F Murtz

My outside tap is fed from the sink in the utility room, just the other side of the wall. On cold nights I leave the cupboard door open to keep the pipes warm-ish. Experience tells me that with this arrangement the outside tap doesn't freeze until the outside temperature overnight is -6 degC; if it's going to be colder than that I wrap the pipe in kitchen paper. If it's a longer cold spell I use bubble-wrap.

Reply to
Terry Fields

ISTR that if the outside tap feed pipe enters the tap vertically upwards th e ice will push the tap off the end of the pipe. If it enters it sideways f rost will rupture the feed pipe.

We had -20c a few years back The water in the cistern of the outside toilet froze into a solid block from top to bottom fracturing the cistern. A pump that we use to deliver water to the garden also froze and ruptured despite having an insulation blanket. I drain it down at the beginning of winter n ow.

However the outside tap, outside the kitchen window and feed from under the sink gave no problems.

Reply to
fred

It is probably worth covering it with a piece of the thick foam insulation to prevent drafts playing directly on the pipe. A good freezing gale can penetrate buildings and cause trouble.

I have had this freezing problem happen in the garage despite draining down the more vulnerable external pipework. The problem was that the gale blew the up and over garage door partly open and the icy wind got onto the pipes inside. Now they are all insulated with foam wrap.

Even if the pipe is too close to the wall to wrap the sleeve entirely around it protecting what you can from the elements can only help. Heat leakage through the brick wall and along the copper pipe from inside will do more good if the exterior components are protected from wind and snow. It really depends how cold the winter is. Last year I still had pelargoniums and pot marigolds in full flower outside at Xmas and that was in North Yorkshire where it can be pretty severe at times.

I still have some outside in flower at the moment although it is unclear whether the recent frosts have done for them.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Isolate it - it's not that hard.

I stick a couple of jiffy bags over my outside tap for the winter. It might freeze, but it doesn't seem to do it hard enough to burst anything.

(Which is good, as it's the stopcock in the floor outside to isolate it, and lifting a concrete path to do anything better!)

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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