Every January, plumbers across the Lower Mainland get the same call: a hose bib that split during the cold snap and is now pouring water inside the wall. It is one of the most common winter failures in the region and one of the easiest to prevent, because the damage is done weeks before anyone notices it.
How A Hose Bib Bursts
Water left in the pipe behind the tap freezes, expands, and splits the copper or the valve body. Nothing leaks while it is frozen. The leak starts when it thaws, often behind the siding or inside a finished wall, and it can run for days before a stain appears.
A hose left connected is the usual cause. It traps water in the fitting and defeats even a frost-free bib, which is designed to drain itself only when nothing is attached to it.
The Fall Checklist
- Disconnect every hose and drain it. Store the hose, and leave the bib open for a moment so any water in it can run out.
- Close the interior shutoff if the bib has one, usually on the pipe just inside the wall, then open the outside tap to drain the short run between them.
- Check for a frost-free bib. A frost-free type has a long stem that closes the valve inside the heated wall. If yours is a plain tap on an exposed pipe, an insulated cover helps, and replacing it with a frost-free bib is a small job.
- Look at the slope. A frost-free bib only drains if it is installed with a slight fall toward the outside. One installed level or tilted inward holds water and will still freeze.
- Drain irrigation. Sprinkler systems need to be blown out and the backflow device isolated before the first hard frost.
- Insulate exposed pipe in garages, crawlspaces and under decks, and keep heat on in any space with plumbing in it.
If You Missed It
If a bib freezes, do not open it to check. Shut off the interior valve or the main, let it thaw, then watch the wall and the ceiling below for a day. If you hear water running with everything off, or a section of wall goes cold and damp, shut the main and call.
The Permanent Fix
Frost-free bibs with an interior shutoff, installed with proper fall, on every outside tap. Done once, in the fall, and the January call never happens.
Related: an outdoor hose bib upgrade · 24/7 emergency service
Related guides
- Top 5 Mechanical Red Flags for Langley Buyers
- Pre-Purchase Plumbing: What Your Inspector Missed, Home Plumbing Inspection BC
- The Grohe Range Explained: What Each Product Actually Does for Your Home
- The Eight Jobs We Install Most From September to December in the Lower Mainland
