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I was doing some spring cleanup and hooked my hose up. Unfortunately I forgot to put it back away when I was done and the temperature dipped below freezing overnight.

It was 25 degrees this morning when I went out to remove the hose and while the hose was frozen I was able to remove it from the spigot easily.

There’s frozen water inside of the outside spigot. What are my next steps to prevent any possible damage?

The spigot is a “Frost Free” variant and is connected to PEX piping inside. The basement is unfinished and I can see the connection easily. I don’t see any immediate issues.

isherwood
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fyrekcaz
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1 Answers1

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Either you burst the spigot, or you didn't. 25°F for a few hours, you probably didn't...

It's only frost free if the water drains, which is why the hose should be removed in freezing weather.

What you can do now is take some hot water out and pour it over the hose end of the spigot until you melt it enough that you can remove the hose. OK, you got the hose off without doing that. Still might be worth doing to get the ice thawed before it can freeze more, if it's still below freezing.

If your system allows shutting off the water supply to the spigot inside, do that as well, in case the metal part did crack. When you next use the hose, check inside when you have pressure on the hose and make sure there's no leak. If none, you got away with it. If it leaks, time to replace it.

A friend left their hose on their spigot all winter. The valve stayed closed, but the part through the wall burst. When they used it in the spring, they slightly flooded their basement, as that's the point where the burst part had water pressure in it, and they were out in the garden with low hose pressure...

Ecnerwal
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