Time to disconnect your outside water hose (house, camp)

[slyfox2]

Handyman Magazine wrote about this last year. Those of us here in Maine need to disconnect the hose from the house. We usually have a long outside connector to prevent freezing that runs through the house and turns off inside the insulation. But if the hose is still attached, then the water can freeze in there an expand and destroy the connection, and even cause it to break.

So Mainers, time to remember to make the disconnection.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

At camp, I get out the shop vac and connect it to the outside faucet. I open ALL the valves in camp and after the pipes have gravity drained, I get a cup of water in the bottom of the shop vac. I have done that for four years and have not had a split pipe or valve. I also remove the float valve in the toilet. That takes less than a minute and I put it back in the spring.

If you have access, at your house, it is a good idea to install a shut-off valve about four feet insde your foundation on any pipe leading to an outside faucet. Then open your outside faucet and let it gravity drain.

[Submariner]

Some of my hoses are coiled up and stored indoors [they were drained outside before I coiled them].

I have other hoses outside. These hoses are stiff now, and I know from previous experience that if I try to coil them, they will kink, and those kinks will become leaks next season.

What has worked for me previously, is if I run hot-water through those hoses, then while the rubber is warm, I can coil them without any kinks.

When the rubber is cold, it is brittle.

[Maineac]

Crap. Forgot. Got to run down cellar and close the outside valve. Thank you. Oh, and PEX is where it's at these days. I just replaced the bathroom fittings. Slick and WAY less prone to freeze damage and parting joints than copper.

[jdoll88]

here in idaho we cover them or I recently installed new faucets that if you turn them far enough drain themselves and also have built in backflow protection. I store the hoses in the garage.