Attention all BoingBoingers who live in climates that experience freezing temperatures: This split hose bibb could happen to you.
From what I could see in the video, this person already had a frost-free hose bibb installed, but it froze and split anyway. Why is that? Frost-free hose bibbs do not work properly if you leave a hose or a hose splitter attached during the winter months.
The way frost-free hose bibbs work is, when you turn the handle to shut them off, actually shut off back inside the wall 4" to 6" to 8" (depending on the length of hose bibb that you buy). The water on the other side of the shut off then drains out of the end (this is why they don’t appear to shut off immediately). You don’t have to keep shutting it tighter, this can actually cause damage to the internal seal, on some models.
If, however, you have a hose or hose splitter attached, as this person appears to have done, water cannot drain from the hose bibb properly. This water then freezes inside the hose bibb, expanding the metal. This may not break it the first time, but copper does not rebound when the water thaws. It will keep expanding each freeze cycle until a split occurs. You will not know that the split happened, until you attempt to use the hose bibb the first time in the spring.
This person purchased another frost-free hose bibb, but that will not fix the problem if they continue to leave a hose or hose splitter attached, during the winter months.
Also, when choosing a frost-free hose bibb, you want as long a one as possible. The farther back inside your house the water shuts off, the less chance of freezing there is. The hose bibb should also be pitched just slightly down toward the outside, so that the water can properly drain.
Another alternative to the frost-free hose bibb, is to make your own. If you install a ball valve on the line leading to the outdoor hose bibb, and the line attached to the hose bibb is pitched slightly towards the outside, you can just turn off the ball valve leading to the hose bib for the winter months. Then open the outdoor hose bibb and let it drain. That way no water is present to create the freezing condition, that would have split the pipe.
And yes, I could have just called it a spigot, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to type bibb like 100 times 
