Calling all plumbers

[Friz Freleng]

These valves are on the wall inside my garage, and they seem to be connected to the pipe that runs to a faucet on the outside wall of the garage. The black valve turns off the water to the faucet while the small chrome valve...I guess...releases air or water (onto the floor of the garage of course).

Question: What the hell are these things for? And what should I do with them?

 

[Shinyribs]

Turn the outside faucet off so it doesn't freeze, or keep people from stealing your water, is the typical reason for that.

If the chrome valve is inline between the outdoor faucet and the black valve then it's probably for draining the line going outside ( freeze protection again). Oti someone was planning to add a toilet, because that's a toilet valve.

 

[gpounce]

O.P. profile says San Francisco area so maybe not a freezing hazard, but concur that is the likely setup. The little toilet valve might be helpful for an icemaker or similar, though presense or not of a waste line nearby would be good to know.

 

[Friz Freleng]

Turn the outside faucet off so it doesn't freeze, or keep people from stealing your water, is the typical reason for that.

If the chrome valve is inline between the outdoor faucet and the black valve then it's probably for draining the line going outside ( freeze protection again). Oti someone was planning to add a toilet, because that's a toilet valve.

O.P. profile says San Francisco area so maybe not a freezing hazard, but concur that is the likely setup. The little toilet valve might be helpful for an icemaker or similar, though presense or not of a waste line nearby would be good to know.

Good catch about SF but the house is located in Oregon. Last night the temp went down to 28 degrees. The house was built in 2000 so I have to assume the plumbing setup reflects some sort of code requirement, but I've never seen this kind of thing before.

Okay, so it sounds like this is intended to protect the pipe from bursting due to freezing. I suppose I should close and drain the line considering the temps the past couple nights have been below freezing.