Water Hydrant Problem

[MikePA]

Hi Todd,
<font color="blue"> I have a shut off and drain inside the basement so I can turn off supply and drain it back when needed. </font color>
We have a shut off in our basement, too, but I hope it doesn't come to that. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Stoneheartfarm]

I watched while the guy installed our hydrants. He didn't use gravel either, instead he used a section of 6" PVC and set the bottom of the hydrant on top of it. Then he wrapped several layers of thick plastic over it and buried it. I asked him why and he said it provides more sump room than gravel and seems to drain better. He claims to have never had one freeze up.

Ours is buried 5' and the portion that gets plowed has 5" of foam over the plastic line.

Steve

[RichZ]

Mike, I had the exact same problem. I have two hydrants, one in the barn, and one outside, and they both were frozen. I dug down about three feet in the one in the barn and wrapped heat tape around it, and then wrapped foam around the pipe to keep the heat in. It's worked fine since then.

[MikePA]

Enough water must have drained from around the pipe because after a day or two of having to unfreeze it with the MAPP torch, it's been fine ever since. This summer I will dig it out and install something permanent.

[jerri2222]

My handle won't budge unless I get a torch....
It seems to freeze at the top part....The water is draining at the bottom ...so I can't figure out what is wrong with this.... worked fine all last winter.... the little plunger thing is frozen in place and when i torch it , it seems Fine... It's a Clayton Mark type...
The repair kit doesn't look like it will help from the pictures of the parts they show...
ANY good idea's...before my wife kills me for being in the barn an hour a DAY for a horse ?
JERRY
516 635 98465 jerri2222@aol.com [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[QRTRHRS]

Having grown up and spent a good portion of my life in Pa, I have to question a pipe freezing in southern PA if it is buried three feet deep.

At my last farm in the Tamaqua area, I buried the hydrants four feet deep that I installed but there was an existing one in the one barn that was only three feet. I had hydrants that were not protected from the wind and I did have some wind at that location.

You need to understand how these valves work. the actual valve is at the bottom of the pipe with a drain hole. When you shut off that valve lever, the water drains out of the pipe through that hole. There must be a means for that water to displace.

I do not believe that the frost line has gotten below say two feet in southern PA lately if that? While some cold will conduct down that pipe, I tend to think that with proper drainage, you should not have a frozen valve.

The lever mechinism will freeze. I have had to use hot water, a blow dryer or torch on that. Over time, the rod that runs the length of the pipe will get dry and or the adjustment bolt that secures it to the handle will loosen too. You might try lubricating the rod with some vegetable oil also.

FWIW, I would use two stainless clamps on the plastic pipe over brass nipples on the bottom of the hydrant. The clamps should be 180 degrees out of alignment as far as the tightening screws are located. With brass nipples, heating the pipe is usually necessary to slip it on followed by secureing the clamps while the plastic pipe is still soft. Black pipe is harder to eliminate any drips then the newer blue pipe is. I forget the name but the blue pipe has an opaque inner layer and is more difficult to evenly heat.

I like it as I have heard that over time, the black pipe can leach different compounds into the water.

I know of no other alternative to the hydrants for open air or unheated space use. Mostly, people do little to maintain them until there is an issue.