New Home Tips: Preparing Your Home Exterior Taps for Winter
Preventing Exterior Taps for Freezing
With cold weather soon to be here it is a good time to make sure all exterior water taps are shut off and drained to prevent them from freezing.
To do this you have to shut the valve off on the inside of the house. This valve is usually located in the basement ceiling close to where the water line goes through the wall to the outside. After the inside valve has been shut off you must open up the drainage cap in the same valve which will drain the water remaining in the line. There may be about a cup of water, which will drain out, so have a container handy. When the line has been drained go outside and open the outside valve, then reach into the tap (in the hole where the water comes out) and pull down on the vacuum breaker which you will find there. This will release any more water remaining. I hope these tips may be of some help.