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Hose bibs are they a concern?
June 05, 2014
Hose bibs are they a concern when Cold weather is around?
Living in the Northwest we deal with some crazy weather every now and again, and we may not ever know if it will be a hot summer day or raining cold drizzling weather the next. Here at Acqua Plumbing we have seen many hose bibs or for other terms hose spigot. Hoses being connected still may contain water, or you may even leave your hose on or have it leaking and not know it! Acqua Plumbing is here for helpful tips and here to explain why this occurs. You can save thousands over you and your homes lifetime by simply turning off & disconnecting your hose and properly protecting it, checking for leaks, and even installing the right type of hose bib.
Checking if you first have a frost free type hose bib as shown in the photo with a vacuum breaker. A vacuum breaker is a must to help prevent cross contamination. If you do disconnecting the hose as so the hose bib can properly drain the excess water from where the water sits in the hose bib itself. This release of the excess water helps prevent the device from freezing on the colder days.
If you don't have a frost free hose bib or do not disconnect the hose to let the water drain your at risk of paying thousands of dollars in repairs and potential water damage to your home. In the photos you can see how the hose bibs are designed to look, and when the water freezes it split the item inside the copper pipe portion, by expansion of the water.
(Broken Hose bib as shown here)
When the warmer months or days come you may not even notice the burst pipe at first. The leaks may be relatively small sometimes, and usually are in the walls or walls & crawl space of your home. You may not even notice the difference in water pressure, the leak will persist damaging your walls inner and outer, floors all sorts of items, & quite possibly giving a great environment for different types of mold to grow causing further damages to your health and home.
Acqua Plumbing has dealt with many hose bib replacements and water leaks caused by freezing pipes splitting the copper piping on the hose bib. The average cost of these repairs are anywhere from $250 and up, and that's just the repair. You still have to pay for replacing the damaged walls, floors, and other items. This money can be saved by installing a frost free hose bib and simply checking that your hose is disconnected in the cold weather.
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