Garage faucet mystery - newer house

[redwingwriting]

First may I preface this by saying that my husband and I are two of the least handy people I know, but we try.

Ok, now here's our plumbing problem:
We live in a two-year-old townhouse. We have a faucet in our garage, where the garden hose is hooked up. We tried to use the faucet for the first time since last fall, and no water came out. Just a slight dribble, which we thought might have simply been water sitting in the hose. So we disconnected the hose and tried again. No water.

Then my husband went into the utility room, which shares a wall with the garage where the faucet is. The valve was on, just like usual. He turned the valve (which is labeled "lawn faucet") to off, then on again. When he did that, a little dribble of water leaked from the valve area. But that's all.
I went back out to the garage, turned the faucet on, and no water came out.

We're stumped. Any ideas what could be happening? Our garage is pretty warm all winter, even though we're in Minnesota. It's surrounded on three sides and the garage door is insulated. I doubt temperature could have done anything to the faucet.

Any help (in as basic terms as possible) would be much appreciated!
Jenny

 

[havasu]

First, if you have a sediment screen in the faucet, remove it and see if you get water flow. Secondly, have you confirmed the valves under the fixtures are fully opened? Lastly, it may be possible that there is also another valve somewhere else, which controls the water flow, so this pipe can remain void of any water to prevent bursting pipes in the winter.

If none of these ideas work, you may have to do some investigation by following this water line to see it was cut and capped, or possible controlled by the other attached townhome, if this is the case.

Good luck and please let us know your outcome.

 

[Reedwalker]

It's also possible that the washer inside the "hose bibb" has come loose and is blocking the flow.

To assess this:

Turn off water supply to hose bibb
Disassemble until you get to the guts
Use logic, deduction, and experience to figure out what may be wrong

Have your neighbor put it back together

Seriously though. Just take it apart and see what you can figure.


Good Luck!