It is important to winterize your outdoor taps … you only forget once !!
First, you need to find the shut-off point for you outside water tap which is most likely inside in the basement. They are generally located in the basement, either near your water meter or can be located near the exit point that leads outside to your tap.
The shut-off valve may be a tap, lever or knob-style, turn it clockwise (to the right), to turn it off. If your shut-off valve is lever-style, turn the lever clockwise or in whichever direction the “off” arrow is pointing (usually if the valve is in-line with the pipe it’s on if it is on a 90 degrees angle it’s off).
Once the water is turned off on the inside, go outside to the tap and disconnect your outdoor hose. If there’s a nozzle on the hose, turn it on so that you drain any water in the hose before you store it for the winter.
Open the tap and drain the pipe. When the water stops flowing, turn off your outdoor faucet by turning the knob all the way to the right.
Return back to the basement or the inside shut off and Drain the inside valve. Which is a small drain plug ,place a bucket under the shut-off valve, then open the drain plug to allow any remaining water to flow out of the valve. The drain plug usually looks like a small metal cap located on the side of the shut-off valve. Once all the water has drained out, close the plug or cap.
Some homes have more than one tap that leads outside so make sure you locate and repeat the same steps for each one!
Some homes are equipped with frost free shut off taps Like This one that shuts off inside the wall this the only thing needed to do is remove and drain your outdoor hoseAs you can see the drain valve is on the shut off valve and needs to be drained
Re (the pic before the frost free valve ) some may still need to be drained
