Replacing outside hose faucet

[Philip McIntosh]

I have 2 outside hose faucets (I have also seen them called a sillcock or a hose bib) which have leaked for years (despite washer replacement) and I want to replace them before we get a freeze and I get into big trouble. The faucets are sweated to 1/2 pipe in the inner wall and come through the outer brick wall; thus the water cutoff is back in the inner wall where (in theory) there is enough warmth to prevent the pipe form freezing. I have chipped out bricks in the outer wall for access. My fear is that any use of a flame/torch will iginite something flamable in the inner wall and start a fire. Do you have any suggestions for how I could safely un-sweat the existing one and sweat on a new one? For example, are there any electrically heated elements that can be wrapped around the joint to bring it up to temperature to avoid the use of a flame? Thanks, Dick.

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