Want to spruce up your gardens with outdoor faucets? Or perhaps your existing outdoor faucet is on its last legs and you need to replace it immediately?
Whatever the reasons are, you know that you cannot survive without your faucet as it has become the primary accessory in your kitchen. No matter if you have an indoor kitchen or an outdoor one, the faucet is crucial for doing all the activities.
Especially when it comes to an outdoor faucet, these are not only useful for cooking, prepping, and washing vegetables. Since they are installed outside in your garden, you can get a convenient water supply to irrigate plants or fill up your children’s paddling pool.
Most people do not realize the importance of their outdoor faucets unless they start giving them a headache. That’s the reason, it’s important to take good care of them and provide complete maintenance for enjoying long-term benefits. However, choosing the best type of faucet is also important and can affect your everyday activities.
Therefore, today we have come up with some popular types of outdoor kitchen faucets that can make your tasks a bit easier without having to spend tons of money on expensive faucets.
Outdoor Faucets: An Overview
If you are new to outdoor faucets, let us explain them briefly.
An outdoor faucet is actually a faucet existing at the outside of your house or might be in your backyard where a garden hose could be connected. Many people use outdoor faucets that are connected and attached to the outdoor water supply.
You can use these outdoor faucets for watering plants, cleaning lawns, washing cars, or even enjoying water-filled activities with your children in summer.
Popular Types of Outdoor Faucets
If you are planning to buy an outdoor faucet, make sure you check these types before so you can get the right type based on your needs, budget, and interior.
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Spigot Faucets:
Spigot faucets are generally the type of faucets that can be installed on the exterior of your house. Now, this is a standard option to consider which is better than other outdoor faucets.
Spigots always contain an irregular circle-shaped valve as well as a small metal pipe that has the valve you need to turn anti-clockwise so you can easily open it and then allow the water to flow. Unlike traditional indoor faucets, these faucet types are stylish yet elegant, but they cannot regulate the temperature of the water.
You can use the term ’spigot’ to refer to other types of outdoor faucets, such as yard hydrants as well as hose bib faucets.
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Hose Bib Faucets:
Hose bibs are also the type of valves that can be attached with a hose to control the overall flow of water. These faucet types comprise a small handle that can be turned so that a stem could be screwed into the seat and then seal the outlet opening or closing off the water supply.
There are different names of hose bibs. For example, lawn service, hose faucet, or even lawn hydrant. Outdoor faucets and hose bib terms are generally used interchangeably. However, hose bibs are usually outdoor faucets, but not every faucet is hose bid.
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Ball Valve Faucets:
A ball valve faucet features a very easy mechanism. It’s just based on a ball that has a hole that you can easily open and close. Ball valve faucets are an excellent choice if water flow adjustment is not a big problem for you.
For example, if you are looking for a shutoff valve, then the ideal option to choose is a ball valve faucet. However, if you don’t use the valve for many years then the average type with different rubber washers would get hardened with time and may not work quickly. If you have ever used ball valve faucets, you must have heard people calling it a “quarter-turn” valve as well.
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Frost-proof Outdoor Faucet:
If you are living in a cold climate zone, you need to choose a frost-proof outdoor faucet. In cold climate areas, freezing temperatures can ultimately cause your pipes to damage, crack and then burst. Therefore, frost-proof faucets are a great choice that is also similar to traditional faucets. Unlike a hose bib, these faucets have a tube attached that can be measured more than 24 inches.
You will always find a compression valve at the supply end of the tube that is further attached to the outlet handle via a rod. Now this produces the water connection and moves it inside the house where the water will never freeze due to cold temperature.
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Yard Hydrant:
Yard hydrants are another popular type of outdoor faucet type that usually establishes a connection with underground water pipes. Now just like frost-proof faucets, this faucet type will not be affected by cold temperatures, and hence offers easy access to water all year round.
On top of that, yard hydrants are usually installed away from your home unlike other types of faucets that are attached to the backyard of your house. If you have a big backyard and have piping that can easily cover enough distance, then yard hydrants are the best to have backup water access.
These faucets have simple and intuitive functionality. If you are pulling the handle up, you will find an opening that will allow the water to run. The further you pull the handle; the more water will run out.
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Outdoor Shower Faucet:
Have you ever seen an outdoor shower installed in someone’s backyard? If you haven’t yet, then it’s time to choose that convenient option now. These are outdoor shower faucets that are incredibly convenient for everyone. Especially if you or your children are involved in a lot of water-packed activities like a swimming pool or other fun games, then this is the ideal faucet to consider.
However, if you want this installation, then choosing a yard hydrant might not be a great option. You shouldn’t even use an old type of outdoor faucet. Thankfully, you can buy outdoor shower fixtures that are extremely functional just like the indoor showerheads.
There are two types of outdoor showers, wall-mounted showers, and free-standing showers. People love to choose both options as they are equally beneficial and appealing.
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Outdoor Kitchen Faucet:
Many homeowners choose to extend their living space into a fully functional backyard. For example, they tend to make an outdoor lounge area or even a kitchen. Especially if you are planning to cook meals outside, then you probably need a water source. That’s why you need an outdoor kitchen faucet which should be as tough as possible because it has to withstand all weather conditions.
So, when it comes to the outdoor kitchen faucet, you need to choose the most popular choice such as stainless steel as it never corrodes as well as lasts for years.
The best part is outdoor kitchen faucets are also quite affordable. You can buy them from as low as $100 to as high as $1500 and sometimes even more based on their features and functionality.
If your budget is big, then you can go for a commercial-quality faucet as it is a more ideal choice that is extremely useful, functional, and resilient.
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Anti-siphon Faucets:
These types of special faucets are invented to prevent water supply contamination. When you have an anti-siphon faucet, it will stop the entry of dirty water into the water supply system. This could usually happen when the hose starts to drop into a puddle, or when there is a sudden drop occurs in water pressure, then the dirty water can easily get sucked inside the system.
Should You Prepare Your Outdoor Faucets for the Winter Season?
Yes, of course, you should.
If you are planning to install an outdoor faucet, then it’s important to take good care of them. Look after them carefully as well as check the connecting pipes because they can prevent all kinds of issues associated with freezing temperature.
So, when it comes to preparing your outdoor faucet for cold seasons, you can do it by turning off the water supply. You need to use the shutoff valve present in the house which is responsible to connect the faucet with the water supply.
However, you need to ensure that your pipes and faucet are not wet, so that water cannot freeze inside them and cause any cracks. If you want to offer any additional protection to the faucet, then you need to cover it by using an insulation cover that can protect your faucet during cold winter months.
Conclusion
All the above outdoor faucet types are reliable and affordable for every budget. These faucets are not only charming in appearance but equally useful and effective in the long run. Therefore, we have mentioned each type with its features so that you can easily choose the one that best suits your needs.
We hope that we included all the important information in this guide. So now you can easily go out and purchase the faucet that seems more reliable and cost-efficient.