Dipping faucets

[Ray From Cleveland]

Why do some people need doom and gloom in their life? Worry about crossing the street.

Years ago I used to deliver home medical equipment. My coworker (and supervisor) told me a story of how a girl was afraid to go in her grandmothers bedroom where the hospital bed was for him to pick up. He gave her some sound advice: Don't be afraid of what you can't see. That's not what's going to get you. It's what you see that you have to protect yourself from.

Politicians (particularly on the left) have been trying to get more and more control over the people as time went on. To some degree they've been pretty successful. The two vestiges stopping them from total control is energy and healthcare. Once they get total control over those two entities, they will then have total control over all of us.

 

[Flopper]

SO much for dripping faucets. Hard to believe we can have over a hundred posts about dripping faucets.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

SO much for dripping faucets. Hard to believe we can have over a hundred posts about dripping faucets.

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And every dripping faucet in the country is still Trump's fault.

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[Flopper]

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And every dripping faucet in the country is still Trump's fault.

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If you say so

 

[whitehall]

You probably dump the equivalent of a week's drips with a single toilet flush. Save the drips if it makes you feel better.

 

[Flopper]

You probably dump the equivalent of a week's drips with a single toilet flush. Save the drips if it makes you feel better.

If you live in an area where freezing temperatures are common, then you probably need to drip faucets on exterior walls if you want to be safe. Some people leave the water running which is not needed. Just a slow drip is all you need, 2 drips a minute would be enough, except in the coldest climates and over a 24 hour period it would add up to about 1 quart of water wasted. Now if you set the faucet to run a small stream, say about 1/16 of inch, that can waste over 100 gallons a day. That is what you want to avoid. If you are really concerned about water consumption then you may have a rain barrow. Then you just add water that drips from faucet to your rain barrow.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

If you live in an area where freezing temperatures are common, then you probably need to drip faucets on exterior walls if you want to be safe. Some people leave the water running which is not needed. Just a slow drip is all you need, 2 drips a minute would be enough, except in the coldest climates and over a 24 hour period it would add up to about 1 quart of water wasted. Now if you set the faucet to run a small stream, say about 1/16 of inch, that can waste over 100 gallons a day. That is what you want to avoid. If you are really concerned about water consumption then you may have a rain barrow. Then you just add water that drips from faucet to your rain barrow.

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My home has those ugly but very useful hose bibs. As long as you remember to unhook the hoses before any real freezing, they never freeze up. We've been down to -24° and no problems.

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[Flopper]

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My home has those ugly but very useful hose bibs. As long as you remember to unhook the hoses before any real freezing, they never freeze up. We've been down to -24° and no problems.

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Do you have indoor cutoffs?

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Do you have indoor cutoffs?

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Meaning do I have access inside the house so I can shut off the water entirely?

Yes.

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[Flopper]

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Meaning do I have access inside the house so I can shut off the water entirely?

Yes.

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No, I mean a cutoff inside the house for each bibb. I'm not sure how a bibb provides any additional protection against freezing over a plain faucet.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

No, I mean a cutoff inside the house for each bibb. I'm not sure how a bibb provides any additional protection against freezing over a plain faucet.

Thanks. I'll ask a plumber.

I talked to the builder who built the houses on my street, and he said just disconnect the hoses and everything will be fine. It's a good question to think about.

 

[Concerned American]

No, I mean a cutoff inside the house for each bibb. I'm not sure how a bibb provides any additional protection against freezing over a plain faucet.

I have hose bibs that are "frost free" The seal is actually about a foot inside the wall so the water never reaches the extreme temperature where the valve handle is.

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Bluefin-SK050MC-12AS-12-1-2-MIP-x-1-2-Inside-Sweat-Frost-Free-Anti-Siphon-Sillcock-Lead-Free?utm_source=google_ad&utm_medium=Shopping_tm&utm_campaign=Shopping_TM_New_users&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_Izxzrj__AIVYw59Ch0smQPoEAQYAyABEgKs2fD_BwE

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I have hose bibs that are "frost free" The seal is actually about a foot inside the wall so the water never reaches the extreme temperature where the valve handle is.

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Bluefin-SK050MC-12AS-12-1-2-MIP-x-1-2-Inside-Sweat-Frost-Free-Anti-Siphon-Sillcock-Lead-Free?utm_source=google_ad&utm_medium=Shopping_tm&utm_campaign=Shopping_TM_New_users&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_Izxzrj__AIVYw59Ch0smQPoEAQYAyABEgKs2fD_BwE

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I'm really glad I have them because the one immutable fact about me is that I forget shit.

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[Concerned American]

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I'm really glad I have them because the one immutable fact about me is that I forget shit.

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Welcome to the club. I hate it when that happens. However we are out in the sticks and when such things happen, we are on our own. So I made a list that I do around the 15th of Sept. Every year. Put the hoses away. Install insulators over the hose bibs. Service the septic tank filter and clean the intake T. Spread "anti moss" on the roof. Service the boiler and replace the fuel nozzle. Service the emergency generator. All of this takes about two hours and it is time well spent.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Welcome to the club. I hate it when that happens. However we are out in the sticks and when such things happen, we are on our own. So I made a list that I do around the 15th of Sept. Every year. Put the hoses away. Install insulators over the hose bibs. Service the septic tank filter and clean the intake T. Spread "anti moss" on the roof. Service the boiler and replace the fuel nozzle. Service the emergency generator. All of this takes about two hours and it is time well spent.

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I'm impressed!

No longer being in Washington, I can skip the moss treatment and now need to have plenty of roof melt on hand in case the snow on the roof starts making ice dams.

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[Concerned American]

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I'm impressed!

No longer being in Washington, I can skip the moss treatment and now need to have plenty of roof melt on hand in case the snow on the roof starts making ice dams.

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I had heard of those before, but I had never seen one----until this year. I have a couple of minor ice dams this year that I've been keeping an eye on. I will add that to my list snow melt on the roof. Thanks a bundle.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I had heard of those before, but I had never seen one----until this year. I have a couple of minor ice dams this year that I've been keeping an eye on. I will add that to my list snow melt on the roof. Thanks a bundle.

Amazon.com : roof melt

 

[Flopper]

Amazon.com : roof melt

We have a hell of a problem with an outside faucet. It is about 50 feet from house in the yard. The owner at the time put it in himself but only buried the pipe about 18 inches under ground so the pipe freezes. The only way I have of protecting it is to run the water.

 

[Concerned American]

We have a hell of a problem with an outside faucet. It is about 50 feet from house in the yard. The owner at the time put it in himself but only buried the pipe about 18 inches under ground so the pipe freezes. The only way I have of protecting it is to run the water.

Put a ball valve and air disconnect on that pipe. Before the first freeze, turn off the water and blow the remainder out of the pipe with an air compressor. I do it with my sprinkler system every fall.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

We have a hell of a problem with an outside faucet. It is about 50 feet from house in the yard. The owner at the time put it in himself but only buried the pipe about 18 inches under ground so the pipe freezes. The only way I have of protecting it is to run the water.

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This is a really instructive post. I have thought about putting in a sprinkling system for my garden but what a PITA it would be to get a pipe deep enough that it wouldn't freeze.

Thanks.

My brother ran a huge community garden in a small town in the mountains of Western Montana and had an automatic sprinkling system and a big stainless steel sink right in the middle of the garden for washing roots. I wish he were still alive so I could ask him how he managed it. I'm going to guess that he just attached hoses in spring and removed them before winter. I remember that winter -- a mild one by all accounts -- to have lows that hovered around 0°.

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