Hose bib and outdoor plumbing repair in northern Utah

A hose bib leaks from one of a few places, and each place points to a different worn part.

• It drips from the spout when it is off. The washer on the end of the stem is worn, or the seat it presses against is pitted.
• It leaks around the handle when it is on. The packing around the stem is loose or worn.
• It sprays from the cap on top. That cap is the vacuum breaker. It keeps hose water from being pulled back into your drinking water. The City of Orem says that at a minimum a hose bib vacuum breaker should be installed between a hose and the faucet (source).
• Water shows up inside the wall or the basement when it is on. The faucet or the pipe behind it split when it froze. Turn the faucet off and leave it off.

A drip at the spout wastes water all season. A leak inside the wall soaks the framing and the insulation every time the faucet runs, so that one should not wait.

A frost-free hose bib keeps its water inside the warm part of the house. The handle is outside, but it turns a long stem. The valve that stops the water sits at the far end of a tube, several inches inside the wall. When you turn the faucet off, the water left in the tube drains out through the spout. An empty tube has nothing in it to freeze.

A hose changes that. With a hose, a splitter, or a spray nozzle still attached, the tube cannot drain. The trapped water freezes, expands, and splits the tube. Nothing leaks while the faucet is off, because the split is on the dry side of the valve. You find out in spring, when you turn the faucet on and water runs inside the wall.

Freezing nights are routine here. The 1991–2020 climate normals for the Salt Lake City International Airport weather station show a normal January low of 24.2°F (source). Take every hose off in fall. If a pipe has already split, see frozen and burst pipes.

Repair a hose bib when a small wearing part has failed. Replace it when the body, the tube, or the seat is damaged.

Repair makes sense for:

• A worn washer that lets the spout drip.
• Loose or worn packing at the handle.
• A worn vacuum breaker.
• A broken handle.

Replacement makes sense when:

• A frost-free faucet has a split tube. A split tube cannot be patched.
• The body is cracked or badly corroded.
• The seat is pitted, and a new washer does not stop the drip.
• The stem threads are stripped, and the handle spins without closing.
• A standard faucet sits on a wall where it has frozen before. A frost-free faucet in its place moves the valve inside the heated wall.

When an old faucet is already apart and several parts are worn, a new faucet is often the better use of the visit. We look at the faucet and tell you which one we recommend and why.

A stop-and-waste valve is a shut-off valve with a small drain opening on its outlet side. Closing the valve stops the water. On the buried kind, it also opens the drain, so the water left in the pipe past the valve can run out. An empty pipe cannot freeze and split.

You find one in two places. On a sprinkler supply line, it is usually buried in the yard and turned from the surface with a long key. In a basement, it can be the valve on the pipe to an older outdoor faucet, with a small drain cap on its side.

These valves sit untouched for months, so they seize. A buried one has to be fully open or fully closed. Left part way, it leaks out of its drain underground. Do not force a valve that will not turn.

Fall is when it matters. Lehi City says pressurized irrigation users must turn off their connections by October 15 each year (source). Our winterization page covers the fall shut-down.

Culinary water is treated drinking water. Secondary water, which some cities call pressurized irrigation, is untreated water that comes through its own pipes for lawns and gardens. American Fork says its pressurized irrigation water is non-potable and should never be used for drinking (source).

The two are kept apart because of backflow. If they are tied together, a pressure drop on the drinking water side can pull untreated water into your house and into the city main. So:

• Never join a culinary line and a secondary line, even with a hose.
• Sprinklers fed by culinary water need a backflow preventer. Layton City says a separate backflow preventer is required on all landscape sprinkler systems using culinary water (source).
• Many of those assemblies need yearly backflow testing.

We work on hose bibs, outdoor shut-off valves, and the water supply to an irrigation system. For sprinkler lines and heads, call and ask.

Replacing an outdoor faucet means working on both sides of the wall. The steps are:

1. We shut off the water to the faucet, or to the house if the faucet has no valve of its own.
2. We find where the faucet connects inside: a basement ceiling, a crawl space, or a finished wall that needs a small access opening.
3. We remove the old faucet and check the pipe behind it for freeze damage.
4. We fit the new faucet. A frost-free faucet has to be long enough to put its valve inside the heated part of the house, and it is set with a slight slope toward the outside so it drains.
5. We connect the faucet to the supply pipe, fasten it to the house, and seal the opening in the wall.
6. We turn the water on and check the faucet and the inside connection under pressure.

Adding a faucet where there was none also means a new pipe from the nearest cold water line. A gas line to a grill or a fire pit is separate work. See gas lines.

We give free estimates and do not post prices. These are the things that change the cost of hose bib and outdoor faucet work:

• Repair or replacement. A new washer or vacuum breaker is a smaller job than a new faucet.
• Access. A connection in an open basement ceiling is easy to reach. One behind a finished wall or in a tight crawl space takes more work.
• The faucet. A frost-free faucet costs more than a standard one, and a thick wall needs a longer one.
• The pipe. Copper, PEX, and old galvanized pipe each take different fittings to connect to.
• Freeze damage. A split pipe or a wet wall adds repair work.
• A new location. Adding a faucet means new pipe and a new hole through the wall.
• Buried valves. Replacing a stop-and-waste valve in the yard means digging down to it.

We tell you the cost before we start the work.