How to Winterize Outdoor Faucets and Hose Bibs

The most common way an outdoor faucet bursts in winter is a hose someone forgot to unscrew. A connected hose holds a plug of water against the faucet, so when you shut the water off, the line behind the spout cannot drain. That trapped water freezes, expands, and splits the bib or the short pipe just inside the wall, often where you never see it until the thaw. Winterizing an outdoor faucet is really four small tasks done in order, and none of them takes special skill. This guide covers only the spigots themselves: disconnecting hoses, closing an interior shutoff if your home has one, draining the line, and protecting the faucet. If you want the full drain-down for a house you are leaving cold or empty, that is a different procedure, covered in our guide on winterizing your home’s plumbing (128).

Disconnect and Drain Every Hose First (the Burst You Cause by Leaving One On)

Unscrew every garden hose from every outdoor faucet before the first hard freeze. This is the one step that protects the most plumbing for the least effort, and it is the one people skip. The American Red Cross puts it plainly in its freeze-prevention guidance: remove, drain, and store hoses used outdoors.

Here is the mechanism, because understanding it is what makes the step stick. Water drains out of an outdoor faucet by gravity, forward and out the spout. A hose screwed onto the nozzle blocks that path. The University of Illinois Extension describes what happens next: if you leave the hose attached, water stays in the line, and as ice forms it can travel back into the spigot and on into the house. The faucet maker Woodford describes the same failure from the inside. With a restriction on the nozzle, the water cannot drain, freezing works its way from the outside back toward the interior, and once the line is iced shut and the faucet is closed there is no relief from the expanding pressure, so the tube eventually bursts to release it.

After you unscrew a hose, get the water out of it too. Stretch it downhill across the yard or driveway, lift one end, and walk the water toward the open end so nothing is left to freeze and split the hose itself. Store hoses somewhere out of the weather. This matters whether you have an ordinary spigot or a frost-free one, which is the single point most homeowners get wrong about the frost-free design.

Finding and Closing the Interior Shutoff That Feeds Your Outdoor Spigot

If your outdoor faucet has its own interior shutoff valve, close it for the season after the hoses are off. Many homes have one. Look on the inside wall directly behind the outdoor faucet, often in a basement, crawl space, or utility area, for a small valve on the pipe that runs out through the wall. The American Red Cross recommends closing the inside valves that supply outdoor hose bibs as part of winterizing.

You do not need to know the valve’s internal parts to use it. Turn a lever-style valve a quarter turn so the handle sits crosswise to the pipe, or turn a round wheel-style valve clockwise until it stops. If it does not move with reasonable hand pressure, stop. A valve that has not been touched in years can be brittle, and forcing it can break it open while the line is under pressure. For how shutoff valves are built and how to read open from closed, see our guide on shutting off the water to your whole house (131).

Some of these dedicated shutoffs have a small bleeder cap, a little cap or screw on the side of the valve body. The University of Illinois Extension explains its purpose: after you close the shutoff, you open the bleeder to let the water in that section of pipe drain out. Open it over a bucket or rag, because a cupful of water will come out.

If there is no interior shutoff behind your faucet, you have two honest options. You can rely on a frost-free spigot to protect itself, which the last section explains, or you can have one added. Installing a shutoff valve in a supply line that runs through a finished wall is not a winterizing task. It ties into the existing pipe and the wall, and it is a licensed plumber’s job, not something to attempt the week before a freeze.

Opening the Spigot to Drain the Line Behind It

After the hose is off and any interior shutoff is closed, open the outdoor faucet and leave it open. This drains the water still sitting in the exposed part of the faucet and the short run of pipe to the shutoff, so there is nothing left to freeze in that stretch. The American Red Cross is specific on the last part: open the outside hose bibs to let water drain, and keep the outside valve open so that any water remaining in the pipe can expand without breaking it.

That last detail is the one people undo by reflex. Leaving the spigot in the open position is deliberate. An open faucet gives any stray water and the ice it forms somewhere to push, instead of sealing it inside a closed line where the pressure has nowhere to go. If you closed an interior shutoff with a bleeder, you have already let the trapped section drain there; opening the outside faucet clears the rest and leaves the path vented. Walk back out after a minute and confirm the dribble has stopped. A faucet that keeps running means the interior shutoff did not fully close, or the faucet you are draining is fed from a line still under pressure, so recheck before you call it done.

This sequence handles a standard spigot. A frost-free faucet drains differently, and the section on spigot types covers what changes.

Insulated Faucet Covers: What They Do and When They’re Enough

An insulated faucet cover is a cheap second layer, not the main defense. These foam or hard-shell covers, sometimes called faucet socks or domes, slip over an exposed spigot and trap a pocket of still air around it. They add a thin layer of insulation and keep wet weather off the faucet body, which is why a cover beats wrapping a spigot in a towel or rag. A porous cloth soaks up rain and snow, then freezes against the metal, doing the opposite of what you want.

Understand the limits, because a cover alone is not winterizing. It slows heat loss from the faucet body for a night or a cold snap. It does not drain the line, and it cannot save a faucet that has a connected hose trapping water inside it. The order still matters: disconnect the hose and drain the line first, then add the cover as backup on an exposed standard spigot, especially one on a windy or north-facing wall. A cover is most useful on an older standard spigot whose valve sits right at the outside wall, and it does little for a properly drained frost-free faucet, since that faucet’s protection comes from the water already being gone.

For a faucet that drips, leaks at the handle, or will not shut off, a cover will not fix it, and a faucet that will not fully close cannot be drained for winter in the first place. That is a repair, not a winterizing job. See our guide on why your outdoor faucet leaks or won’t shut off (161) for the diagnosis and the fixes.

Standard vs. Frost-Free Spigots: Which Winterizing Steps You Actually Need

Which steps you need depends on which kind of spigot you have. A standard compression spigot has its shutoff valve right at the wall, where the cold is, so water sits in the exposed faucet whenever the line is charged. This is the spigot that needs the full routine: disconnect the hose, close the interior shutoff if there is one, open the faucet to drain, and add a cover. Without an interior shutoff to close, a standard spigot is genuinely exposed, which is the case where adding a shutoff, or upgrading the faucet, is worth a conversation with a plumber before next winter.

A frost-free faucet, also called a frost-proof sillcock, is built to drain itself. Woodford, a maker of these faucets, describes the design: the actual shutoff valve sits at the far inside end of a long stem, back inside the heated wall, and the faucet is installed with a slight downward pitch toward the outside. When you close it, the water in front of the valve drains forward out the spout by gravity and the exposed tube is left empty, with nothing outside to freeze. A frost-free faucet generally does not need a separate interior shutoff or a cover to survive winter, as long as it drains.

Here is the catch that sends frost-free faucets to the same burst as standard ones. The self-draining only works if nothing blocks the spout. Leave a hose attached and the water cannot drain past it, so it stays in the tube, freezes, and bursts the faucet exactly as it would a standard one. Woodford states it directly: the hose must be removed in freezing weather or the faucet may freeze and burst. So a frost-free owner gets to skip the cover and often the interior shutoff, but never the hose. One step is non-negotiable on every spigot you own.

Two more honest notes. Frost-free does not mean freeze-proof. The University of Illinois Extension cautions that these faucets can still freeze depending on how cold it gets and how well the wall cavity around the supply line is insulated. And some frost-free models are built with a pressure-relief valve specifically to resist bursting even if a hose is left on, which Woodford describes for its anti-burst line; that is a feature of certain faucets, not a reason to leave hoses connected. If you want to understand how the frost-free mechanism is built in more detail, see our guide on what a frost-free hose bib is and how it works (162).

If your home has an in-ground sprinkler system, that is a separate winterizing job with its own drain and blow-out steps, covered in our guide on winterizing a sprinkler or irrigation system (163). And a spigot that has already frozen and split is past winterizing; it needs repair.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to cover a frost-free faucet?
Usually not. A frost-free faucet drains itself when you close the valve, as long as the hose is off and the line slopes correctly, so the exposed tube is left empty with nothing to freeze. An insulated cover is aimed at older standard spigots whose valve sits right at the outside wall. The step a frost-free faucet does need is the same as every spigot: the hose must come off, because a connected hose blocks the self-draining and can still cause a burst.

Where is the shutoff for my outdoor faucet?
If your faucet has a dedicated interior shutoff, it is usually on the inside wall directly behind the outdoor spigot, on the pipe that passes through the wall, often in a basement, crawl space, or utility room. It may be a small lever or a round wheel valve, and some have a tiny bleeder cap on the side to drain the line after closing. Not every home has one. If you cannot find a valve behind the faucet, your spigot may rely on a frost-free design instead, or adding a shutoff is a job for a licensed plumber.

This article is general information, not professional advice. For installing a shutoff valve, any work inside a wall, or a spigot you cannot fully drain or shut off, consult a licensed plumber.

Sources

American Red Cross, Preventing and Thawing Frozen Pipes: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/winter-storm/frozen-pipes.html
University of Illinois Extension, How to winterize outdoor plumbing – irrigation, hoses, spigots: https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-11-26-how-winterize-outdoor-plumbing-irrigation-hoses-spigots
Woodford Manufacturing, How a Standard Frost-Proof Faucet Works: https://www.woodfordmfg.com/woodford/HowAFaucet/How%20a%20Standard%20Frost-Proof%20Faucet%20Works.pdf
Woodford Manufacturing, Model 19 Anti-Burst Faucet: https://www.woodfordmfg.com/model19/