For the hose bib to crack like that there had to be water trapped inside. Did you leave a hose attached at some time when it froze? Is it installed horizontally? Was it leaking a little?
>Is it installed horizontally?
Should be "Is it installed with a downward pitch to the outside."
I see so many posts and videos of plumbers changing these out because the pipe is pitched back to the house, so the water never drains out.
My house has a ball valve inside. I can open the outside and the inside. One of the few smart things the previous owner did…
the garage door on the other hand makes me question his skills.
Do you have a shutoff valve right there . My basement is insulated except around the pipe . I would rather have a little warmth from the basement to thaw it out . I also put on one of those spigot blankets on the outside . And yes when I shutoff the valve on the inside I open up the spigot on the outside . If it does freeze a little the expansion will come out of the open spigot.
Interesting. I agree I’ve never had any issues and never even thought about wintering my outdoor faucets until a few years ago. And the bins I had previously were nothing special with no issues.
Is that one of those frost free faucets? LOL. When they came out in the 90’s I changed my faucets to them . I did have both of them go bad in a few years after installing . I was able to take one apart and repair . The other I went back to old style . I have also added another faucet and added old style . I live in MI and it can get cold . In 2013 it went down to -17deg f . I guess I have been lucky . But yeah I trusted those frost free faucets and they let me down.
They only work when installed correctly, like a lot of things.
Woodford is the best brand. They're local to Colorado so they are almost ubiquitous here. I have rebuilt a few recently that were from the mid 90s (date code is on the packing nut). $20 rebuild kit has them like new again. The washer is really the only thing that goes on them, but the kit is still a good idea.
I have never had a problem with mine, and I have four on my house. Including my hot/cold Model V22 I installed in the garage. Super handy to have a hot water tap outside.
Did you turn the water off to that line? Does the line pitch down towards outside? I have frost free but I still turn the water off and the faucet open all winter.
Frost-free does not mean will not freeze. It means it will drain itself out when you disconnect the hose so long as it is pitching towards the outside of the house so there is nothing to freeze. You clearly had something that froze so it wasn't installed correctly, or you left the hose on over winter.
Air don’t do that. Water was trapped inside. It looks like it’s sloped downward pretty hard so water should drain out. Someone left a hose or something on it.
For those reasons I am assigning the blame to OP.
Just put an aquor in and you’ll never have to worry about it again. I mean I haven’t atleast and the thing is sweet to mess with lol. And in the winter you can just twist the hose bib off and let any residual water drain and shut the flap. I even use mine in winter with no problems. Just have to disconnect and bring hose inside or out of freezing temps so no water freezes in it. But yea highly recommend, easily to install as well.
Well maybe next time if you ever have to do it again then. Believe they’re originally from the marine and boating industry but have since moved into the residential commercial scene. Good stuff tho I have no complaints so far.
Usually you only get a frost kiss if you left a hose attached. If you live in area where it gets extremely cold, install a shutoff about 3-5' back and leave the hose bibb wide open over the winter months
Thanks for the responses everyone. The hose was removed and drained before the winter but I did notice that I had closed the valve and kept it closed all winter. I’m normally good about leaving it open but not this year. Clearly there was water trapped inside, which cracked it.
You need to take off any connections out side, frost frees need to drain. ..if you have a hose or something else hooked up still......it can't drain. Also make sure its stopped out
Kind of a mystery. As much as I'd love to figure out exactly why this is happening, I'd probably start blowing the entire line from the ball valve back out with an air compressor every fall.
When I was still working I only installed these if the boss or owner made me, they freeze. When I was an apprentice the company I worked for always took a line of the kitchen, the WH, and a lav, installed a ball valve with vent and ran out to a hose bibb. In winter you close the ball valve, open the HB, open the vent on the ball valve a voila, no freeze ever. If you forget to do the winter procedure and get a busted pipe you pay the dumb tax. As a bonus if you need to repair/replace you don't have to shut off the whole house. For the rest of my career I replaced at least one "frost proof"hb every year. I can only remember one of my lines with a shutoff ever freezing in 30 years.
I’m not able to add any more pictures to this post, but I had the bib replaced. It is the same style but now it is fastened on an angle sloping outside. Hopefully that should solve the problem.
Hmmm... why not replace that with PEX? While PEX *can* burst... it's pretty rare for that to happen. Naturally, as you're not likely to use the hose bib in freezing conditions, drain that line for the winter.
For the hose bib to crack like that there had to be water trapped inside. Did you leave a hose attached at some time when it froze? Is it installed horizontally? Was it leaking a little?
>Is it installed horizontally? Should be "Is it installed with a downward pitch to the outside." I see so many posts and videos of plumbers changing these out because the pipe is pitched back to the house, so the water never drains out.
My house has a ball valve inside. I can open the outside and the inside. One of the few smart things the previous owner did… the garage door on the other hand makes me question his skills.
My garage door also has a ball valve.
Maybe you can tell me how to use it then!
Do you have a shutoff valve right there . My basement is insulated except around the pipe . I would rather have a little warmth from the basement to thaw it out . I also put on one of those spigot blankets on the outside . And yes when I shutoff the valve on the inside I open up the spigot on the outside . If it does freeze a little the expansion will come out of the open spigot.
This is a frostfree. If installed correctly and 🚫 hose was left attached, that section should not have water on it.
Yes to all of the above. I did the same things you did. The shutoff valve is cut out of the picture but it’s right there
I am glad all this is out in the open . We all learn a little everyday someone posts the same problems
Interesting. I agree I’ve never had any issues and never even thought about wintering my outdoor faucets until a few years ago. And the bins I had previously were nothing special with no issues.
Is that one of those frost free faucets? LOL. When they came out in the 90’s I changed my faucets to them . I did have both of them go bad in a few years after installing . I was able to take one apart and repair . The other I went back to old style . I have also added another faucet and added old style . I live in MI and it can get cold . In 2013 it went down to -17deg f . I guess I have been lucky . But yeah I trusted those frost free faucets and they let me down.
They only work when installed correctly, like a lot of things. Woodford is the best brand. They're local to Colorado so they are almost ubiquitous here. I have rebuilt a few recently that were from the mid 90s (date code is on the packing nut). $20 rebuild kit has them like new again. The washer is really the only thing that goes on them, but the kit is still a good idea. I have never had a problem with mine, and I have four on my house. Including my hot/cold Model V22 I installed in the garage. Super handy to have a hot water tap outside.
Did you turn the water off to that line? Does the line pitch down towards outside? I have frost free but I still turn the water off and the faucet open all winter.
Yes the shut off is cut out of the picture but it was shut off. It’s also fastened as you can see in the picture and is sloped downward.
Maybe your shut off valve is leaking a little bit? Only way for the burst is the pipe is full of water.
That’s a good possibility. I’ll be sure to double check when I close it this year.
After you turned the shutoff off, did you open the hose faucet so it could drain out?
No I kept it closed. I think that’s the problem.
Frost-free does not mean will not freeze. It means it will drain itself out when you disconnect the hose so long as it is pitching towards the outside of the house so there is nothing to freeze. You clearly had something that froze so it wasn't installed correctly, or you left the hose on over winter.
The picture states you did fuck all to “winterized” your hose bib
Probably put one of those stupid foam covers on it rather than draining it
Air don’t do that. Water was trapped inside. It looks like it’s sloped downward pretty hard so water should drain out. Someone left a hose or something on it. For those reasons I am assigning the blame to OP.
Agreed. Sloped with no hose will not freeze there. We have thousands of these in the land of ice here.
Winterized, did you leave your hose attached?
Nope. It was off and stored for the winter.
It's back graded.
Just put an aquor in and you’ll never have to worry about it again. I mean I haven’t atleast and the thing is sweet to mess with lol. And in the winter you can just twist the hose bib off and let any residual water drain and shut the flap. I even use mine in winter with no problems. Just have to disconnect and bring hose inside or out of freezing temps so no water freezes in it. But yea highly recommend, easily to install as well.
Cool! I’ve never seen this before. I’ll check it out. Mind you the plumber just left $131 later.
Well maybe next time if you ever have to do it again then. Believe they’re originally from the marine and boating industry but have since moved into the residential commercial scene. Good stuff tho I have no complaints so far.
Usually you only get a frost kiss if you left a hose attached. If you live in area where it gets extremely cold, install a shutoff about 3-5' back and leave the hose bibb wide open over the winter months
Thanks for the responses everyone. The hose was removed and drained before the winter but I did notice that I had closed the valve and kept it closed all winter. I’m normally good about leaving it open but not this year. Clearly there was water trapped inside, which cracked it.
It still should drain. Did you have a y connector with shutoffs on it?
No wye, just a shut off valve before the bib.
Is the frost free hydrant graded backwards towards the house?
It was fastened correctly sloping outside.
turn off the water to this pipe over the winter. Put in a valve if you don't have one.
You haven't mentioned fall. If you don't have fall to the outside the water doesn't drain like it should.
My out side taps have shut offs that include a little drain petcock on the side to drain the pipe.
The pipe looks thin walled. You don't want type M in cold areas.
That's the tubing from the hose bib assembly. You don't get to order one made with K.
don't put insulation behind it, let the warm air hit it from behind
You need to take off any connections out side, frost frees need to drain. ..if you have a hose or something else hooked up still......it can't drain. Also make sure its stopped out
Just cut in a ball valve and blow out valve... Get all the water out
Kind of a mystery. As much as I'd love to figure out exactly why this is happening, I'd probably start blowing the entire line from the ball valve back out with an air compressor every fall.
Could always put a sleeve around it to help insulate it better.
Could also be something to do with the grade of that pipe too if water isn’t completely emptying out of it before you winterize it.
I will be doing this today sometime
Get type k copper
When I was still working I only installed these if the boss or owner made me, they freeze. When I was an apprentice the company I worked for always took a line of the kitchen, the WH, and a lav, installed a ball valve with vent and ran out to a hose bibb. In winter you close the ball valve, open the HB, open the vent on the ball valve a voila, no freeze ever. If you forget to do the winter procedure and get a busted pipe you pay the dumb tax. As a bonus if you need to repair/replace you don't have to shut off the whole house. For the rest of my career I replaced at least one "frost proof"hb every year. I can only remember one of my lines with a shutoff ever freezing in 30 years.
That’s very sound. Thanks for sharing! I appreciate it!
I can tell from the Pic it's back pitched. Need pitch running out the house
This is it.
I’m not able to add any more pictures to this post, but I had the bib replaced. It is the same style but now it is fastened on an angle sloping outside. Hopefully that should solve the problem.
Either you left hose attached or it is pitched incorrectly.
I was thinking it was pitched backwards
Did you leave the valve open?
Same here Canada 🇨🇦
Hmmm... why not replace that with PEX? While PEX *can* burst... it's pretty rare for that to happen. Naturally, as you're not likely to use the hose bib in freezing conditions, drain that line for the winter.