A little background... I got lucky when I bought my house that the previous owner had installed a cold and hot water tap near the garage. Of course after being in the house a couple of years, it decided to crack. So this past summer I had a plumber come out and put in a new hot/cold tap (for a pretty penny).

So, things were going great for a while; I had my hot water back. Today I head outside to wash my car, and of course, the new tap is cracked. I'm not sure if they didn't insulate it enough or hot/cold water taps tend to crack or what. Guess it's time to call them back and see what they'll do for me.

Annoying. No car washing today. Can't wait for the summer.

Anyone else have outdoor water taps that have cracked this winter?

 

^^^sorry to hear about your water tap! that sucks! i personally have not had one go out, but i did have a hot water tank leak in my garage last week. the bottom rusted out! had to go to home depot and have a new one installed. the yuck part is that you can't just install it yourself. you have to get a permit, etc. blahhh!

anyway....good luck installing your new one! and yes! can't wait until spring/summer! just think....in march, we get to set our clocks an hour ahead! whoopieee!

ps....i noticed that you posted in the NW section. where are you located?

 

Hot and cold water taps are prone to cracking in cold weather. I have had many crack in the past. On all the homes we now build we install a shutoff valve before the tap so you can drain it when not in use. Kind of a pain but it won't crack anymore.

 

BoxterGirlie01: I'm out in Sammamish. For some reason I can't find the "Location" field in my profile or I'd update it

zman: Thanks. That's good to know. Do you put in two shutoff valves (one for hot and one for cold)?

 

Yes, one for the hot and one for the cold. Then no more worries.

 

My hot/cold water faucet is in my garage so no danger of cracking pipes. It's lasted about 3 years thus so far. I've seen some of the newer faucet outlet designs for newer homes and aren't those insulated against the cold?

 

Yea, the one I had installed was supposed to be "frost-free." Which basically means that the shutoff valves extend 8-12" into the house. Didn't seem to help.

I just had the plumber come back out and he was surprised it had broken. He installed a different brand and also put shutoff valves inside the house just to be sure (thanks for the suggestion zman!).

Now I just need to test it out and patch up some drywall.