How To Insulate Your Outdoor Faucets To Prevent Damage From Freezing Temperatures

Insulating outdoor faucets during winter will protect your plumbing from destructive damage and costly repairs. Conversely, skipping this important home maintenance task may leave you with one of the most frustrating mishaps homeowners face — frozen pipes. When water freezes inside of pipes, it can expand and cause them to crack or burst. Luckily, it takes only a few steps to avoid this damage. To insulate your outdoor faucets, simply drain them to get rid of any remaining water and then install your insulator. Rigid foam pieces are a popular choice, but you can opt for the softer vinyl or polyester insulators as well.

There are a few additional steps if you have exposed outdoor pipes. These are vulnerable to freezing temperatures as well, since any ice that forms inside can damage them. Insulating your outdoor plumbing is not all that difficult, so you should be able to complete the task and prepare your home for cold winter weather without the help of a professional.

The first step to insulating your outdoor faucets is to turn off the outdoor water supply. Doing so will stop new water from flowing into your piping and damaging your outdoor plumbing system once it freezes. If you have attachments like garden hoses or nozzles affixed to your outdoor faucets, your next step is to remove those. These accessories can hold water that would end up trapped as ice. Now, check to make sure your faucet is not leaking. Leaks in an outdoor faucet can cause low water pressure, so you may want to repair this issue now to avoid dealing with it in the future.

At this point, you can turn on your faucet and let the remaining water inside your pipes flow out. Do not place your insulator over the faucet while water droplets are still dripping out. Keep in mind that dripping indicates there is still water within your pipes making its way out. Wait until this process is completely finished. Next, install your insulation piece over the faucet. The Everbilt Outdoor Foam Faucet Cover is an affordable foam insulator you may want to consider using. You could also create an outdoor faucet cover with a pool noodle. That is the final step in the process. However, if you have exposed outdoor pipes, protect them by cutting some foam pipe insulation to size and fitting it around the pipe. You could do this with the MEIGS Flexible Foam Tube.