Insulated outside tap?

[Drip]

Insulation on outside taps can be a pain. Insulation gets dirty and often falls apart after a bit of time. My current insulating cover wont fit on with the hose connector so I need to screw/unscrew the hose fitting every time I use it in the winter.

Are there any tap/insulation combinations that work well? I've seen one from arrow taps called 'Tap in a Box' which looks ideal but it is very expensive. Does anybody know whether these taps are good? They recommend to drain the water out of the tap in freezing conditions but I suspect this probably wouldn't normally be necessary on the side of a heated house in the UK.

 

[Scott_D]

Isolate and drain for winter

 

[Welder]

Insulation on outside taps can be a pain. Insulation gets dirty and often falls apart after a bit of time. My current insulating cover wont fit on with the hose connector so I need to screw/unscrew the hose fitting every time I use it in the winter.

Are there any tap/insulation combinations that work well? I've seen one from arrow taps called 'Tap in a Box' which looks ideal but it is very expensive. Does anybody know whether these taps are good? They recommend to drain the water out of the tap in freezing conditions but I suspect this probably wouldn't normally be necessary on the side of a heated house in the UK.

It's not cheap for a reason i.e. it's half decent. Unlike the cheap stuff installed previously.
ALWAYS drain in winter. Frankky to not do so is simply stupidity.

 

[Last Plumber]

If it's below zero for the right length of time it will freeze regardless of insulation. As the others have said, the only certainty is to turn it off and drain it.

 

[Drip]

I wonder how many people (people who aren't plumbers) actually isolate and drain their outside taps? I suspect it's less than 1% of people. I have never isolated and drained an outside tap in more than 10 years and never had a problem. The walls of a heated house are always a bit warmer. My isolation valves are currently hard to get to (one is behind the washing machine) so I'll probably move those any way and start draining taps in the winter.

 

[Welder]

I wonder how many people (people who aren't plumbers) actually isolate and drain their outside taps? I suspect it's less than 1% of people. I have never isolated and drained an outside tap in more than 10 years and never had a problem. The walls of a heated house are always a bit warmer. My isolation valves are currently hard to get to (one is behind the washing machine) so I'll probably move those any way and start draining taps in the winter.

FYI. It's people who will not listen who keep our families fed. You'll find it's an awful lot more than 1% - long may that stupidity continue.

I regularly found pipework INSIDE frozen too. In my experience, it was nearly always pipework which ran on an outside wall and behind kitchen units.

 

[Rob Foster]

When it dropped to -14 in west lancs where we are in 2014 it was often the outside tap and associated pipes running in thro wall that froze up other inside stuff...often behind kitchen carcass where no heat gets that
caused the trouble. So yes drain down. But it needs to be effective and then turn the turned off taps on to realease any pressure. We have holiday lets which are closed Oct to Feb and always adopt this policy.Drain cylinders, tanks, flush bog and drop sponge in pan soak up water and throw sponge away and leave all taps open . If I have any spare R100 drop it in the sink bath and basin traps, that goes down to minus very silly .
Rob Foster aka centralheatking

 

[BYP]

Last year I was called out to a couple as their outside tap pipe kept bursting, she told me that they must of had 3 or 4 plumbers out and it would still burst even though it was heavily lagged. The tap was on an outside wall fed up from the ground with a stop tap below before it converted to copper. Replaced the pipe and fitted a drain off, so it could be drained in winter. In a lot of cases all you will need to do it turn the supply off to the tap inside and then turn on the outside tap to remove any water left in the pipe.

 

[Rob Foster]

Last year I was called out to a couple as their outside tap pipe kept bursting, she told me that they must of had 3 or 4 plumbers out and it would still burst even though it was heavily lagged. The tap was on an outside wall fed up from the ground with a stop tap below before it converted to copper. Replaced the pipe and fitted a drain off, so it could be drained in winter. In a lot of cases all you will need to do it turn the supply off to the tap inside and then turn on the outside tap to remove any water left in the pipe.

And leave it open chking

 

[Svenedin]

I always isolate and drain down in Winter. Modern outside taps with internal check valves are easily ruined if they freeze even if the pipework doesn’t burst (I found this out by not draining in Winter one year). The symptom is in Spring the tap doesn’t work at all, no water flow.

 

[Plumb]

In the US they use freeze proof taps (faucets) which stops the water flow inside the house. Here's a youtube clip:

Googling "freeze proof faucet" gives info. Of course a double check valve would be needed inside the house.

 

[Ben-gee]

Just isolate and then leave the tap open if you have no facility to drain, often there is not. As the tap is open - if it freezes the water can expand out of the open tap and will not burst the pipe, sometimes it makes a pretty icicle.

 

[Drip]

I've installed the tap. I decided to get a normal tap with a built in double check valve. On the inside (under the kitchen sink) I have a ball valve (with a large arm so I don't need a screw driver to operate it) and a drain off. I'll be draining off during the winter and I've made it as easy as possible.

 

[Riley]

Should only really fit dc taps if it’s replacing an existing one

 

[Drip]

Should only really fit dc taps if it’s replacing an existing one

What's the reason? Are there some issues with them?

 

[Riley]

No it’s to encourage a check valve inside the property.

 

[Millsy 82]

What's the reason? Are there some issues with them?

It's because during cold weather they freeze up and then stick most of the time they stick closed but there is the possibility they could stick open and then you have the potential for contamination.

 

[Welder]

I still dismays me that people think insulation will stop freezing. All it can ever do is slow the rate of heat loss. Personally I always piped OS taps so they had a drain below the tap. Then by isolating and draining there was never a problem. Any water left could not expand enough to cause any damage. I only ever used a single check valve internally and that was located before the isolator.