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How to winterize outdoor faucets, and do you need to?

By The Downspout · Posted Nov 8, 2026 · 5 min read Share

Yes, if your nights ever drop below freezing. Before the first frost, unhook the hose, close the shut-off valve inside the house that feeds the faucet, open the outdoor faucet so it drains, and leave it open. Then add a foam cover. No indoor valve? Cover the faucet and insulate the pipe.

Frost is in the forecast tonight, and the garden hose is still screwed onto the faucet by the back door.

That hose is the first thing to fix. A hose left on the faucet is asking for trouble.^[1] Water expands as it freezes, and that puts a lot of pressure on pipes.^[2] Oddly, the pipe often breaks not where the ice is, but where water is trapped between the ice and a closed valve.^[3]

You may not know until spring. With a frost-free faucet, the break can hide inside the wall, so the first time you turn it on, water sprays out inside the house.^[1] A crack an eighth of an inch wide can let out up to 250 gallons a day.^[4] Picture a plugged sink left running on high while you're away.^[5] Shutting off and draining the outdoor faucet makes it less likely that the short stretch of pipe just inside the house freezes.^[4]

Do I need to winterize my outdoor faucets?

If your nights drop below freezing, yes. Bare pipes generally start to freeze when it's about 20°F outside.^[3] But plumbing out in the open air, like an outdoor faucet or a sprinkler valve, is the most exposed, and freezing nights can damage it.^[6] Pipes in unheated spaces such as crawl spaces, garages and attics are at risk.^[2]

How often it gets that cold depends on where you live. Columbus, Ohio, gets about 34 nights a year at 20°F or colder. Santa Rosa, California, gets one about once a decade.^[7][8]

To check your town, find the nearest weather station in NOAA's climate normals, the government's 30-year weather averages, and look for nights at 20°F or colder.^[9]

How to winterize an outdoor faucet

First, look at the faucet. A frost-free faucet has a long stem that shuts the water off inside the wall, where it's warmer. It only drains if it tilts slightly down toward the outside, so do these steps on it too.^[1]

1. Unhook the hose. Drain it and store it.^[1][2]
2. Close the indoor shut-off valve. Many outdoor faucets have their own valve inside the house. In older homes it's often near the ceiling close to the faucet; in newer homes, often next to the main shut-off and labeled.^[1]
3. Open the outdoor faucet and let it drain. If the spout has a vacuum breaker, a small cap that keeps hose water from flowing back into your pipes, it can trap water. Take it off if it unscrews. If it's fixed on, push the small post inside it to one side, or pull down its ring, to let the water out.^[1] If the indoor valve has a small drain cap, open it over a bucket, then close it again. Leave the outdoor faucet open, so any water that sneaks past the valve can drain.^[1][10]
4. Cover it. Use a foam faucet cover, or wrap it in rags covered with plastic.^[10][5] Wrap exposed pipe in foam pipe insulation too.^[2]

Our take on covers: add one after you drain, not instead. Portland's water bureau recommends them, but one home inspector calls them little better than nothing.^[10][1] A cover doesn't drain the water, and insulation only slows heat loss.^[3]

No indoor valve? Cover the faucet and insulate the pipe. Insulation slows freezing but can't stop it on its own on a long cold night, because it holds in heat rather than making any.^[3][5] Our take: if you live where it freezes often, ask a plumber about adding a shut-off valve or a frost-free faucet.

What about sprinklers and drip lines?

Sprinkler valves and the backflow preventer sit outside in the cold. The backflow preventer is the device on the sprinkler line that keeps yard water out of your drinking water.^[6][3]

• Shut off the valve that feeds the sprinklers. Then, as EBMUD, a Bay Area water utility, suggests, turn on each sprinkler area from the timer for a minute to drain the valves and pipes.^[6]
• Wrap the backflow preventer and other exposed sprinkler parts in insulation.^[6][3]
• Leave blowouts to a pro. A blowout, clearing lines with compressed air, can cause serious injury, Portland's water bureau warns.^[10]

Have a rain barrel too? See what to do with a rain barrel in winter.

Should I let faucets drip on cold nights?

Our take: a drained outdoor faucet doesn't need to drip. Save the drip for an indoor pipe on an outside wall on a night near 20°F, and open the cabinet doors under that sink so warm air reaches it.^[4][10]

Why not drip everything? Moving water is less likely to freeze, and several sources suggest a slow drip.^[2][4][10] But it wastes water. Utah State University Extension says to use it only when better fixes aren't possible, and EBMUD says not to.^[5][6]

If a pipe froze anyway

• Close the main shut-off valve first. Our guide to finding a water leak in your house shows where it usually is.^[5]
• Thaw it slowly. Open the frozen faucet and warm the pipe with a hair dryer, starting at the faucet end.^[5][10] Keep the dryer and cord away from any water, and never use a torch or open flame.^[5][4]
• If it leaks as it thaws, keep the main valve closed and call a plumber.^[10][4]

In Sonoma County

• Yes, winterize here too. Freezing nights are common, about 31 a year at the Santa Rosa airport, mostly in December and January.^[11] A night at 20°F or colder is rare, about once a decade.^[8]
• Protect what's out in the open. During a January 2023 freeze watch, the City of Sonoma told residents to wrap, drain or slowly drip outdoor pipes, and to drain in-ground sprinklers.^[12]
• Sprinklers: turn them off for the winter and let the rain water your plants.^[6] For timing here, see when to turn off sprinklers.

What it means for you

• Before the first frost, unhook every hose. Then close, drain and cover each outdoor faucet.
• Drain the sprinkler valves and wrap the backflow preventer.
• In spring, open the indoor valve and check inside for drips before you hook up the hose.^[1]

And the hose by the back door? Coiled in the garage, empty.

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