The Pipe That Bursts in October and Doesn't Leak Until Spring — Unscrew This Before the First Freeze

My name is Wade Corbin. My house is the last one on the line. The power goes out about ten times a winter out here, the nearest hardware store is forty minutes, and nobody is coming to sort it out for me. There is a pipe in your house that can break this month and not leak a single drop until April. No stain, no puddle, no sound. It breaks in the first hard freeze of the year, it sits there split all winter, and the first anybody knows is a warm spring morning when somebody turns on the outside tap and water goes into the wall as well as out of the spout. The thing that breaks it is almost always a garden hose left screwed on. In this video I walk through the manufacturer's own explanation of how a frost-free faucet works, and how a hose defeats it. The shut-off sits several inches inside the warm house and the tube drains itself empty — unless a hose is holding the water in. Then the ice works back toward the house, the copper splits, and, in the maker's own words, "no noticeable damage is visible in the home at this time." Because the split is past the shut-off valve, it does not leak until the water is turned on again. The weather is why this is going up now. NOAA's outlook this week puts the first frost on the map for parts of the Northeast, and this is an El Niño winter that leans mild across the north. Above normal is not the same as above freezing, and a mild forecast is exactly what makes people leave the hose on. We also cover the other places water sits when it freezes, what to do the night a hard freeze is forecast, how to thaw a frozen pipe safely — and why a blowtorch is the one thing you never reach for — where your main shut-off is, and the spring check to do the first time you turn that faucet on again. Go outside today and walk all the way round the house. Take every hose off every faucet and watch the water drain out of the spout. Then tell me in the comments what state you are in and whether you have had a frost yet. I read every one of them. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one. Stay warm. Stay dry. And remember, the people who had to work these things out for themselves usually got closer to the truth than the people selling you the answer. #FrozenPipes #FirstFreeze #WinterPrep #HomeMaintenance #RuralLiving #SelfReliance #Homestead #OldHouse #CheapFixes #ThingsThatWork #Plumbing #ElNino