Well prepared for the garden season: outdoor water supply systems

Spring is bringing new life to gardens. As the first warm days of the year arrive, it’s again time to get to work outside. Step by step, the garden is getting in shape for the summer months. There are beds to plant, patios and paths to clear, and garden furniture to take out of winter storage. And outdoor taps will also start to become used again on a regular basis. Read on to find out more about how the right outdoor tap makes all the difference for day-to-day gardening.

Preparing gardens and outdoor areas

A leisurely tour of your property is the best way to ensure a relaxed start to the season. Quick checks and little jobs help to ensure that things proceed as smoothly as possible:

• Clear and clean up paths, patios and driveways
• Check garden furniture and tools, and ready them for use
• Clear up beds and outdoor areas, and prepare them for planting
• Note and repair any visible damage (e.g. to fences, paths or patios)

Check that outdoor taps are working

Before getting to work in the garden, it’s worth checking over your outdoor taps. After all, frost and downtime during winter could have left their mark. Leaky pipes or damaged taps often only make themselves known once water is flowing through them again.

This simple checklist can be used to identify typical problems early on:

• Make a visual inspection of outdoor taps and fittings
• Turn on the water supply briefly and check for leakage
• Only connect up hoses once you’ve checked for leaks
• Be on the lookout for drips, pressure loss or unusual noises

Getting water into the garden should be quick, simple and reliable

Water is always needed in gardens. From watering plants and cleaning tools to quickly hosing down the patio – most garden jobs don’t get done without water. So it’s even more important that the outdoor tap works reliably, day in and day out.

This does tend to create unnecessary work, however, especially in the run-up to winter. Lines need to be emptied, outdoor taps and feed pipes need to be shut off, and connections need regular inspection. And despite one’s best efforts, damage is nonetheless only clearly seen or discovered when spring is finally here. Frost damage – like burst pipes and water damage – is especially troublesome and expensive.

A practical solution is to use products that ‘think ahead’ and prevent frost damage from occurring.

POLAR II: a tap that makes day-to-day life in the garden easier

Always there – and never needs fiddling with

If there’s one thing an outdoor tap needs to be, it’s straightforward. Open the tap, use the water, close it again – and all without thinking about draining or shutting off.

This is especially beneficial during the springtime: even in March or April, temperatures can still dip below zero at night – which can easily catch many people unawares.

Durable and hard-wearing

With the POLAR II, SCHELL has designed a practical, durable and long-lasting outdoor tap that easily handles permanent installation outside – whether as a patio, garage or garden watering-point. Thanks to automatic drainage, the tap is always protected against frost damage and wear. The POLAR II uses a durable O-ring as a seal instead of the typical flat gasket. Tap maintenance also couldn’t be easier: all you need to do is pull out the spindle.

Tip: If you only use the water from the outdoor tap for the garden, you can save on sewage charges. To qualify, there needs to be no water drain into the sewer system under the outlet and your plumber will have to install a tamper-proof water meter.