How to Fix a Leaking Outdoor Hose Bib

Turn on your outdoor spigot in the spring and notice water dripping from around the handle, or worse, spraying from the pipe itself, and you're looking at one of two very different problems. One is a five-minute fix. The other means the fitting needs to be replaced entirely, usually because it froze at some point over the winter.

First, figure out where the water is actually coming from

Turn the hose bib on and look closely at exactly where the leak is happening before you assume anything.

• Dripping from around the handle stem while the water is running: This points to a worn packing washer or O-ring inside the handle assembly, a simple and inexpensive fix.
• Water spraying or dripping from the pipe or fitting itself, even before you turn the handle at all: This usually means the body of the bib has cracked, most commonly from water that froze and expanded inside it over the winter.

Fixing a worn washer (the simple case)

What you'll need:

• Adjustable wrench
• Replacement packing washer or O-ring (bring the old one to the store to match it)
• Flathead screwdriver
• Plumber's grease

Steps:

1. Shut off the interior valve feeding the hose bib if your home has one, usually located in the basement or crawlspace directly behind where the spigot exits the house. If you can't find a dedicated valve, you'll need to shut off the main water supply instead.
2. Remove the handle by unscrewing the retaining nut, often hidden under a decorative cap.
3. Behind the handle, you'll find a packing nut and washer or an O-ring. Remove it and inspect for cracking or flattening.
4. Replace the worn part, coat it lightly with plumber's grease, and reassemble in reverse order.
5. Turn the water back on and test.

When it's a cracked bib body

A cracked hose bib is a different situation entirely and isn't something you patch. Here's why it happens and what to do about it.

Why it cracks: Water left inside the bib over winter can freeze and expand, and that expansion often cracks the metal body, even though the crack may not become visible or start leaking until the following spring when the water thaws and pressurizes the line again.

What to do:

1. Shut off the interior valve supplying the hose bib. This step is non-negotiable, since the bib itself can no longer be trusted to hold back water.
2. If you're comfortable with basic pipe work, a cracked hose bib can be unscrewed from the supply pipe and replaced with a new one, ideally a frost-proof model that extends the shutoff point further inside the wall where it won't freeze as easily.
3. If the connection is soldered copper rather than a threaded fitting, or if the interior valve is also old and unreliable, this quickly becomes a job that calls for soldering or cutting into a wall, work best left to someone experienced with it.

Preventing the same thing next winter

Disconnect garden hoses before the first hard freeze, since a connected hose traps water in the bib and dramatically increases the odds of it freezing. If your home doesn't already have frost-proof hose bibs, they're a worthwhile upgrade, since their shutoff valve sits further back inside the heated part of the house rather than right at the outdoor wall.

A simple washer swap is well within reach for most homeowners with basic tools. But if you've found a cracked bib body, can't locate or operate the interior shutoff valve, or the fitting is soldered rather than threaded, ProFlow Plumbing can replace it correctly and set you up with a frost-proof fixture so you're not dealing with the same problem again next spring.