Outside Taps & Garden Plumbing: Preparing for Winter
Twenty minutes of prep in autumn prevents the split pipes and frozen taps we see every winter.
Most of the frozen and split outdoor pipework we deal with over winter could have been avoided with a short bit of prep in autumn.
Isolate and drain outside taps
Close the internal isolation valve to your garden tap and open the tap to drain it fully. A frozen outside tap will split the pipe behind the wall, often without you knowing until the thaw.
Lag exposed pipework
Any pipe run through an unheated space — garage, loft, outside wall — should be lagged before the cold arrives. It costs very little and prevents the majority of winter burst-pipe callouts.
Irrigation and standpipe systems
If you've got a garden irrigation system, drain it down fully before the first frost — water left in the lines will freeze and can crack fittings that are expensive to replace come spring.