High usage on frost free contributed to freezing it?

[greenmojo]

The frost free by the dogs house and one at the cow trough froze solid within a day or two of each other.

They both get used quite a bit, as the cows get about 15 buckets of water each day and sometimes more, and the dogs frost free is used by the kids and they are usually only opening it half way so they aren't blasted with water to fill dog dishes a couple times a day. The handle on the dogs frost free won't move, the cows frost free opens fully, but no water. Other frost frees for the horses (protected from wind), and I checked other ones around the property, they are all working fine.

I am wondering if the high usage has saturated the ground when it drains back, and then the windchill (-20 last week), sent that cold straight down the frost free into the saturated ground.

Interesting side note, the ground isn't frozen, you scrape off the top 1/2" of dirt, and it's not frozen yet.

Any insight from any experienced frost free freezing experts!?

Was also looking for some awesome tips and tricks to get them flowing again... I really don't want to dig them out and torch them...

~Moses

 

[sdef]

What type of frost free device do you have, hydrant, spigot, etc.? Not being an expert, I would think high usage would keep warmer water in the system lessening freezing issues.

Fortunately I do not have this problem where I live. But I do have frost free spigots. On mine, the spigot needs to drain freely after the water is shut off. This is no problem is there is nothing attached to the spigot (like a hose). If anything is attached, it effectively holds the water and the spigot is no longer frost free.

 

[greenmojo]

Frost free hydrants, nothing attached to them at all. Just lift the handle, get some Earth juice and close it for next time.

~Moses

 

[Egon]

If a properly installed Frost free hydrant is freezing up it's leaking or the surrounding ground is saturated preventing it from draining.

 

[nybirdman]

If a properly installed Frost free hydrant is freezing up it's leaking or the surrounding ground is saturated preventing it from draining.

Exactly;everytime you shut it off it drains the stand pipe to prevent freezing.If the ground is saturated it can't drain.Unfortunately a job for next summer.

 

[greenmojo]

If a properly installed Frost free hydrant is freezing up it's leaking or the surrounding ground is saturated preventing it from draining.

Funny, when you say it like that... it sounds so simple.

Exactly;everytime you shut it off it drains the stand pipe to prevent freezing.If the ground is saturated it can't drain.Unfortunately a job for next summer.

A neighbor of mine told me that he used to scrape the snow and a few inches of soil away, open it and build a big fire around a frozen frost free, he said usually a few hours into it he'd get them back running again.

I'm guessing his ground wasn't frozen and the heat was traveling down the pipe to thaw it.

Anyone done this!?

~Moses

 

[sdef]

Funny, when you say it like that... it sounds so simple.



A neighbor of mine told me that he used to scrape the snow and a few inches of soil away, open it and build a big fire around a frozen frost free, he said usually a few hours into it he'd get them back running again.

I'm guessing his ground wasn't frozen and the heat was traveling down the pipe to thaw it.

Anyone done this!?

~Moses

I might try blocking the wind from the hydrant and wrapping an electric blanket, heat tape, whatever and throw a blanket over it.

 

[Looking4new]

I might try blocking the wind from the hydrant and wrapping an electric blanket, heat tape, whatever and throw a blanket over it.

Don't forget to open the tap.

 

[greenmojo]

Well, the frost free issue spread like cancer, it dropped down through the Tee and into the main 1" poly line to the house.

A neighbor of mine was here and we considered getting the backhoe and started choosing where we'd dig up the line, to determine where it is frozen, and yada yada yada. What a mess. 200' of 1" poly from the water building to the house.

Well, then I came up with this little solution.



We used a fiberglass fish tape to find the ice blockage.

125' of 1/2" tubing that we pushed up through the 1" poly water supply line to the house. We put a bucket under the main line for water to drain back in to, and heated it up constantly with a weed torch. We used a Milwaukee transfer pump to pump hot water from the bucket up into the frozen 1" line, where the water then just poured back into the bucket.

We started from the house end, and found about 50' of ice, that took us HOURS to clear, and then we went up to the water building and repeated the process in the other direction clearing about 25' of ice, which took as there were more bends and Tee's to fish through.

All in all, with 1 break to run to town for some parts, a couple of slices of pizza, each of us taking turns when our arms were giving out, and we got water back on to the house at 5:30AM, we started the previous day at 1:30PM.

Not something I want to do again.

Now, I have a question I'm also going to send to a friend of mine that is a fluid dynamics engineer at Boeing. How can ice travel that fast in one day. Can it really go that far?!

~Moses

 

[Industrial Toys]

I thought the thread was about a fridge.

Had my water line freeze winter before last. What a pain!