Another no freeze tap.

[QUOTE=loulac;547937]A small detail should be taken into account : when the valve is turned off the ball remains full of water : with a severe frost it will burst the valve, leaving a nearly invisible but leaking crack:no:. The whole pipe should be drained in winter and the valve left half open.[/QUOTE]

Heat trace and insulation is what I use.
My back flow preventer is above ground also and has three forms of freeze protection.
Insulation heat trace and an automatic water drippier when it gets cold.
If I lived some place where it really got cold and put my own stuff in I would plumb things a lot differently than they normally do.
Most of us here let out faucets drip when it gets cold enough.

A guy across the street from PA let his pipes freeze and bust two years in a row when it got to 10 degrees F.:lol:
I asked him if he protected his pipes and he said no I didn't think it got that cold here.
The weather man said it was going to get that cold I said.
Yes he said but I didn't think it would freeze here.
That's when I told him water freezes at the same temp no matter where you live.

Every time this happens the next day the stores are flooded with people buying out pipe fittings to repair busted pipe.
Poor devils.:lol:

The last thing I want to be doing is working on plumbing in cold freezing weather.:no:

Worth