Many people have outdoor taps in their gardens, as they can be used for all sorts of jobs in the garden during the summer months. More often than not, they are used to provide convenient and direct access to water to help people complete various outdoor tasks.
The tap can be used for watering the garden, washing cars, cleaning patios and filling pools, eliminating the need to trail hoses or buckets from inside the house. They are really useful and can help to enhance gardening efficiency, and can even help to support eco-friendly practices such as connecting to rainwater harvesting systems.
However, according to experts, there’s something we should be thinking about as we head into autumn. As the colder weather sets in, frost starts to impact things, and nobody wants anything in their gardens to freeze during the winter.
In a TikTok video, Richard, known as Fix Make, a fixer and maker based in Devon, shared some handy advice. If you have an outside tap, you may want to pay attention.
Richard explained that sometimes outside taps stop working, and unexpected things can cause this to happen. He detailed what people need to know in a handy explainer.
Showing the tap, he said: “There’s a valve in here, in the main body, which you can change, but there’s also a stopper here, that stops the water running back in to the house – any dirty water coming from a hose pipe or anything like that.
“The only way to fix it is to buy a new tap. You can see the valve on the back there – that can break because of frost.
“So the only way to fix it is to buy a new tap. Switch off the mains, unscrew this one, put a new one on. Job’s a good ‘un, but remember to frost protect your tap before the winter comes.”
To prevent an outside tap from freezing, you need to start by turning off the isolation valve for the tap, which is usually found indoors. You need to do this to stop the water supply – from here, you can open the outside tap to drain any leftover water in the pipe.
Then, to offer extra protection, you should insulate the tap by covering it with a dedicated tap cover or pipe insulation. You need to secure it to prevent cold air from coming into contact with the pipe.
To help people out further, Severn Trent Water offers further advice on what to do. It’s crucial you take the steps sooner rather than later, especially if you’re spending less time outdoors.
The website states: “Garden and outdoor taps are vulnerable to the cold. Covering them up during the winter will really help to protect them.
“You should be able to buy tap guards from your local DIY store. If you’ve already lagged your pipes, make sure you protect your outside taps too.
“A frozen tap can increase the risk of a burst pipe. Covering it up from the cold can massively reduce this risk. If you are protecting your outdoor tap, make sure you also lag the pipe that leads to it, if it’s exposed.”