It doesn’t freeze here too often, but when it’s going to we’ll go outside and set our faucets to drip to prevent freezing. I just have to remember to do this, and I worry that I’ll forget. Do those faucet covers work? Any other options?
It’s unclear if you mean an outdoor faucet appearing out the side of a house, or a freestanding garden spigot. But in either case, the full solution often involves replacing the spigot with a frost-free spigot. It prevents freezing by having the valve located somewhere warmer, such as within the house or underground.
The normal handle will turn a long rod connected to the valve, and when closed will drain the excess water out the spigot, leaving no water outside or above ground that can freeze. The freestanding spigot has the complication of needing an underground gravel base to drain the excess water into.
An alternative might be to use an air compressor to force water out of your spigots, as part of annual winterization. This only works if you don’t plan to use the faucet during the cold season, though.
Depending on the relative elevations and arrangement of stuff, you may not need a fancy spigot on the outside. My house has secondary valves inside the basement that can be used to shut off the water to the outside spigots in fall, along with a bleed cap I can open to let the water drain out of the pipe between the interior of the basement and the exterior spigot. There’s no need for an air compressor since if you leave the outside spigot open when you open the bleed cap gravity does all the work.
