Frozen and Burst Outdoor Taps: A Free State and Drakensberg Hazard

A problem we pretend doesn't exist

Plumbing codes in most of South Africa don't require frost protection because most of the country doesn't get hard freezes. But anywhere above 1 400 m altitude — and that includes Bloemfontein, Welkom, Bethlehem, Harrismith, Underberg, Dullstroom, Lydenburg, Sutherland, Carletonville — winter nights regularly drop to –3 to –8°C.

That's enough to freeze a 15 mm copper or galvanised outdoor tap stub in under four hours. Water expands roughly 9% when it freezes. The pipe splits. You only find out at 8 a.m. the next morning when you open the tap and water sprays out of the wall.

Which taps are most at risk

• Garden taps mounted on north-facing walls in shade (no morning sun to thaw them in time).
• Taps with long uninsulated runs across exterior walls.
• Borehole headworks above ground.
• Pool pump suction lines in unheated pump houses.
• Outdoor solar geyser pipework without lagging.
• Cottages or outbuildings that are unoccupied and unheated.

Prevention — cheapest to most thorough

1. Drain the tap. The simplest fix: close the isolating valve inside the house, then open the outdoor tap to drain it overnight. Costs nothing, works every time.
2. Lag the tap with foam pipe insulation (R60 from any builder's merchant) and a plastic bag taped over it. Adequate for most SA cold snaps.
3. Insulating tap covers — a sock-and-foam jacket that slips over the spout. R150–R250 each, reusable for years.
4. Heat tracing tape — thermostatic electric heating cable wrapped around the pipe. R800–R1 500 per tap, only worth it for a very vulnerable installation.
5. Move the tap inside the wall envelope — proper long-term fix if you've already had one burst.

If the pipe has already frozen but not burst

You can save it if you act fast:

• Open the tap fully (so meltwater has somewhere to go).
• Apply a hairdryer or hot wet towels from the tap end backwards — never use a blowtorch.
• Never start at the middle of the frozen section; you'll trap expanding steam and split the pipe yourself.
• If you don't know where the freeze is, shut off the main supply and wait for sunrise.

After a burst

• Close the main stopcock and the geyser isolator.
• Drain the system by opening the lowest tap in the house.
• Cover the burst section with a bucket to catch ongoing drips while you wait.
• A plumber can usually replace 0.5–1 m of pipe and fit a properly insulated tap for R900 – R1 800 in most cold-region towns. Demand can spike after a cold snap; call early.

A note for landlords

If your property is in a freeze-prone area and you let it to short-stay guests in winter, frost protection is your problem, not the tenant's. A burst in an unoccupied cottage that floods for three days will run R30 000+ in damage. Lagging costs less than R500.